Has Fandango Already Peaked in WWE?

It’s not every week that you see a new superstar become a huge sensation overnight, but it recently happened with WWE superstar Fandango.

Just a few short months ago, Fandango was an unknown commodity with a couple of previously failed stints on WWE TV. But thanks in large part to the raucous post-WrestleMania Raw crowd, Fandango is now one of the hottest acts in all of pro wrestling.

Or should we say that he was one of the hottest acts in all of pro wrestling? 

After all, the buzz that was surrounding Fandango just five or six weeks ago no longer seems to be there. While Fandango is undoubtedly generating a reaction from the crowd, it’s not at the level that it was at when “Fandangoing” first became a global trend. 

Unsurprisingly, that has a lot to do with the creative team. It had a really good thing going with Fandango, but the new superstar’s momentum took a couple of major hits, thanks to a forced “Fandangoing” segment on Raw, Fandango walking out of a match with the forgotten R-Truth and poor booking of his feud with Chris Jericho.

Now, all of the hype that the WWE could have capitalized on to turn Fandango into an overnight superstar just isn’t there anymore. It’s not all gone, but the vast majority of it is. 

That really makes you wonder, too: Has Fandango already peaked in the WWE?

Perhaps it’s too soon to make any sort of final judgment on that, but then again, perhaps it isn’t. After all, this wouldn’t be the first time that a superstar debuts to a lot of buzz and hype only for things to quickly go sour. 

Just recently, a guy like Ryback quickly emerged as one of the WWE’s most popular babyfaces. It didn’t take him long to earn the support of the fans, and only five months into his stint on the main roster, the fans were buying into him as the challenger for CM Punk’s treasured WWE Championship. 

But now? Hardly anyone is buying into Ryback, who’s become a victim of some really questionable booking, the latest example of which took place this past Sunday at Extreme Rules.

Heck, you can even look at a guy like Alberto Del Rio, who debuted in the WWE with a ton of buzz and excitement in 2010. Almost instantly, fans across the world were reacting to Del Rio, labeling him a future main-event star and expecting him to evolve into one of the most entertaining guys in the company. 

But how quickly did the fans turn on Del Rio? 

Despite all of the success that he had (winning the Royal Rumble, the Money in the Bank and two WWE Championships), fans quickly began saying things like, “Ugh, Del Rio. I just can’t buy him as a top star.” 

In other words, Del Rio peaked very early on in his career. Just a few shorts months after his debut, fans were singing his praises as if he was the greatest superstar ever, and just a few months later, he won the Royal Rumble at what was arguably the peak of his career. Yet, the fans no longer cared about him. 

What are the odds that Fandango suffers a similar fate? Probably pretty good.

While there’s no doubt that Fandango has enough talent to solidify himself as a major force in the WWE, the company may have already missed out on the opportunity to make that happen. 

The WWE had a similar opportunity with Daniel Bryan around this time last year and made the most out of it. Bryan instantly became one of the biggest stars in the company, and a year later, he’s still one of the most over acts in all of pro wrestling.

That’s what the WWE should have done with Fandango. But instead of capitalizing on what can only be considered a golden opportunity, the company really screwed the pooch.

Fandango’s feud with Y2J has been terribly booked, after all.

Fandango lost to, of all people, R-Truth by walking out of a match against him. The creative team booked a Raw segment in which it tried way too hard to keep the “Fandangoing” craze going when it would have happened naturally anyway. Then, the company decided to center this Y2J/Fandango feud on dancing instead of wrestling.

Why, WWE? Just why?

Just over a month ago, you had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity hand-fed to you with a silver spoon when “Fandangoing” became all the rage on the Raw after WrestleMania.

But what did you do? Did you make the most of it? Did you ensure that the craze would continue and that Fandango would become a huge star? 

No, you ruined it, and not even two months later, all of the buzz surrounding Fandango—a buzz that was unlike anything we had seen since what happened with Daniel Bryan a year ago—has cooled off considerably. 

Sure Fandango may ultimately prove to have a successful career down the road. But as of right now, the only thing that appears to be true is that Fandango has peaked.

Yep, already.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter!