Fandango Must Ditch Dancing Gimmick to Succeed in WWE

Going into Sunday's Survivor Series pay-per-view event, WWE was touting the return of Fandango on the kickoff show. Fandango spent time on the sidelines after being taken off WWE TV in late August and was expected to be repackaged upon his return.

The "new and improved" Fandango entered the Scottrade Center in St. Louis to an unfamiliar tune as his latest valet, Rosa Mendes, danced in the ring. Sporting an all-new look, he seemed to have undergone a makeover during his absence.

However, in actuality, there really wasn't much different about Fandango at all.

Sure, WWE have may tweaked the character a bit, but it's essentially the same. Fandango, aka Johnny Curtis, is still as great a wrestler as he's always been, but it's his outdated persona that will prevent him from reaching his full potential in WWE.

In all honesty, being a valet may be the best role for Rosa Mendes at the moment. She's among the worst wrestlers (male or female) on the roster at the moment, so this should keep her out of the ring, or at least for the time being.

Ultimately, though, her addition to the act will do next to nothing for Fandango.

Regardless of whether it's Summer Rae, Layla or Rosa Mendes by Fandango's side, it doesn't matter. The Fandango gimmick died a death in early 2013 and has shown zero signs of life since.

The most surprising part about Fandango's recent "repackaging" is the change of entrance music. The new music fits the new character, but it was Fandango's original entrance theme, "ChaChaLaLa," that got him over with the WWE Universe to begin with.

Fans were hesitant to get behind the character when it first debuted in March 2013, but following an impressive win over Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 29 and a strong showing the next night on Raw, they took a liking to him.

One may argue that it was the entrance music that got over at the expense of the gimmick, and while that is true to an extent, there's no denying that Fandango made the campy character work to the best of his ability. He's shown complete dedication to the persona from the start in an effort to get the most out of it.

However, an untimely injury suffered in June 2013 put Fandango on the shelf for several weeks, forcing him to miss the Payback PPV. This was the same event where it was strongly believed he could potentially win the Intercontinental Championship.

Upon his return one month later, Fandango was involved in nothing of note. He engaged in a forgettable feud with The Miz and contended for the Intercontinental title on occasion, but other than that, Fandango was an undercard act mainly relegated to working Main Event and Superstars.

Chris Jericho recently expressed his disappointment with the way the Fandango character turned out in an interview with Peter Rosenburg. As a seasoned veteran in the business, even Jericho can admit that WWE dropped the ball with what it had going with Fandango in early 2013.

Going into 2014, Fandango became an afterthought. He was involved in a pointless program with Layla and Summer Rae over the summer that saw them feud over his attention only for the two Divas to team up against him.

A new look and new entrance theme won't change peoples' perceptions of the Fandango character. He's been branded as a failure this past year and will never ascend beyond a certain level in WWE.

Johnny Curtis is capable of much more in WWE. That's not to say he's a world champion-caliber Superstar, but he's much better than this silly gimmick and can be a solid midcarder if taken seriously as a wrestler.

The recently repackaged Fandango has been back on WWE TV for all of a week at this point, so it might take time for WWE to realize that the dancing shtick just isn't working. The writers can give him as many different dancers as they want, but it's not going to change the fact that Fandango is damaged goods.

Either way, it'd be in WWE's best interest to scrap the Fandango character if it doesn't wish to put another great wrestler to complete waste.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is a journalism major at Endicott College. Visit his website at Next Era Wrestling and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.

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