Welcome to the first of many “Strange Bedfellows†a column where I, The Intellectual Savior of the Internet Masses, will be tagging with different topics each week! I will spare you the long winded introduction about my wrestling street credentials and go right to the topic you have been yearning for… Fandangoo!
The Fandangoo character has epic failure written all over it. WWE is taking a guy who has been a total jobber for the past 2 years and giving him a Dancing With The Stars inspired gimmick. While some see this as having failure written all over it, I on the other hand see gold!
Johnny Curtis has potential and somehow managed get over enough to win NXT season 4 despite WWE pushing for Brodus Clay to win. Unfortunately he went on to follow up with his big win to become the guy who poured milk on his head and did a bunch of vignettes that ultimately led to him debuting in a squash match against Mark Henry. Curtis then returned to NXT where he had some solid matches and feuded with Bateman in what would be the only thing of worth to happen in the time between NXT going off TV to the rebooted FCW merger. Following the merger Curtis got lost in the shuffle and lately topped his horribly booked TV debut with an even dumber tag title cash in using his NXT win against Team Hell No. Rather than teaming with his NXT pro (R Truth) as he was supposed to, he teamed with his Perfectly Weird tag partner Michael McGillicutty to lose a match an untelevised title match.
Now I’m sure the webmaster of the OFFICIAL Johnny Curtis fansite is up in arms that he is being given a ridiculous new gimmick as an over the top dancer. They will likely gripe “Ermagerd! Johnny Cakes is so much better than The Shield or Dolph Ziggler why is he being held down by HHH!†Because many don’t realize that the guy who performed bad puns on himself and went on to create a gimmick where he is a self-proclaimed weirdo is actually better off as a dancer. Curtis has failed to get over with the audience so far in his career, so it makes sense to give him a character that will naturally attract heat. I’ve seen a few of his house show matches as Fandangoo and I must say it seems to be working. The gimmick should be his ticket onto a main roster. Whether he will drop the ball or run with it is to be seen but I’d rather be playing a joke character on TV than being a joke off TV.
The question is how do you debut a character like Fandangoo and make it stick? Well, since this is a wrestling audience most people in the crowd will assume he is playing a homosexual character, because men that dance are always gay (rolls eyes). Which is why it makes sense to attach a diva to Fandangoo that can dance with him and help interfere in his matches. Since the divas division is an utter disaster the diva selected doesn’t really matter and for most the super model selected is probably better fit as a dancer rather than an in ring performer anyhow.
From there we need an opponent. Assuming WWE aren’t completely brain dead Fandangoo will be a heel when he debuts, so you want a credible baby face to be his first victim. My selection would be Brodus Clay because audiences love him, he has a dancing character, and the two have worked together in the past having been NXT season 4 finalists. Book Fandangoo to criticize Clay’s dancing technique and start attacking Clay every time he starts to dance leading up to a match on one of the meaningless PPVs. Other potential opponents could be Hornswoggle and Khali who I think have been dancing around together ( I try to not watch these segment) however beating up a midget and giant while performing a dance number will likely garner cheap heat from crowds. Sure, it’s stupid but sometimes it’s less about creating a classic feud or putting on a 5 star match and more about getting over. Curtis needs to get over. At this point it isn’t about making a splash it’s about staying on TV longer than a month because if this character gets axed Curtis might not be far behind.
Follow Doug on Twitter: @douggarbark
(If you guys want to see any topics discussed in future “Strange Bedfellows†columns, request them via Twitter and I shall give you a voice.)
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