Reader Reyan Ali of the Hartford Advocate recently conducted an in-depth interview of WWE superstar Fandango last week. Here are some highlights:
Vince McMahon’s Original Idea For His Gimmick:
“Initially, Vince McMahon had an idea of a male stripper. We kind of did that in a few dark matches as simply Johnny Curtis. I think they saw it and realized real quick that it’s a little risky. It was Fandango a little more sexy, a little not quite PG. Vince had an idea to do the ballroom thing, and I embraced it, man.
“Thing is, if you can play a hard character, a real complicated character like this or The Undertaker – anything that’s really far out there – I think you can make money with it if you really embrace it, you know what I’m saying? If you just go into it not really into it, people are going to see right through it and see just a guy playing a character. I’m like, ‘This is an opportunity I’ve been waiting for for 13, 14 years. I either gotta really embrace this thing or just go back to working for EWA in Maine making 50 bucks a night.'”
Fandangoing Taking Off The Night After WrestleMania:
“I almost started smiling when they were doing it just because that Monday Night Raw was unbelievable,” Curtis said. “First thought in my head was, ‘Oh, can we make some money off of this?’ That’s all I thought about honestly. We did the Europe tour right after that. The Raw after Mania we went to Europe for two weeks on tour, and just the crowd reaction over there was unbelievable, so maybe I’m like the new Hasselhoff where I’m just big over in Europe. [Laughs]”
Keeping His Character Fresh:
“I would like to add a little more dimension to the character in terms of being more aggressive, more of a buttkicker in the ring, not just a flamboyant, light on his feet kind of thing. Maybe put a little bit more wrestling into the character down the road, whether it’s going for the Intercontinental Title with Wade Barrett or having some good matches with The Miz or something like that, definitely evolving more into a wrestler while keeping the character.”
Teaming With Curtis Axel In NXT:
“I think Triple H or (William) Regal saw us tag one time just randomly and they liked the way we looked together,” Curtis said. “They started tagging us on house shows and live events. Arn Anderson helped us out a lot. I really feel like McGillicutty and Curtis tagging broke us through that stagnant no man’s land of getting a look. That’s what got me in a position where they had enough faith in me to pitch that Fandango idea to me, and obviously, they liked Hennig enough to keep him around and give him this huge push that he’s getting right now over the last week.”
Being A Huge WCW Fan When He Was A Kid:
“Yeah, I was a huge WCW fan. I was a huge fan of the lucha libre, the lightweight division, the Cruiserweights. Juventud Guerrera, at the time Chris Jericho but we all know how that worked out, Chavo Guerrero, Dean Malenko, the whole Cruiserweight division.”
Which Feud Hooked Him On Becoming A Wrestling Fan:
“I think for me obviously, being 14, 15 in 1997, ’98 was a great time because that’s when the Monday Night Wars were really starting to get really hot. At 14, 15, as a young man, you’re really into the NWO and you’re switching over to USA to see the New Age Outlaws and Stone Cold and stuff like that. For me, though, like you just mentioned, I was really into the high flying. The Rey Mysterio and Dean Malenko matches really hooked me into WCW. On the other side, it was more the story lines that got me into the WWF or WWE.”
To read the rest where Fandango talks about his take on WrestleMania, the post-Mania Raw, his travelingpartners, inspirations and ideas for the Fandango character, etc., click HERE.
To read the main prose feature and cover story, click HERE.
Picture of the cover:
