page_title: Fandango (wrestler)
section_title: Championship pursuits (2013–2016)
hierarchical_section_title: Fandango (wrestler) / Professional wrestling career / World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE / Championship pursuits (2013–2016)
caption_attribution_description: fandango
context_page_description: Curtis Jonathan Hussey is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Fandango. He is the one-half of the current NXT Tag Team Champions with Tyler Breeze in their first reign.
  Hussey began his professional wrestling career in 1999. He competed in several Independent promotions in New England, winning the PLW New England Championship, the PWF Northeast Tag Team Championship with Kenn Phoenix on more than one occasion, the PWF Northeast Heavyweight Championship, NCW New England Championship, the Tag Team Championship with Damian Houston, and the SCCW Lightweight Championship.
  In 2006, Hussey signed a development contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and was assigned to their developmental territory, Deep South Wrestling. He was then moved to Florida Championship Wrestling in June 2008, where he won the Florida Tag Team Championship on more than one occasion with Tyler Reks and Derrick Bateman. In December 2010, he competed in the fourth season of NXT as Johnny Curtis, and he eventually won the competition in March 2011.
  In 2013, Hussey re-debuted as Fandango.
context_section_description: At the October 23, 2012 SmackDown taping, Hussey debuted a new ballroom dancer character named Fandango in a dark match, with vignettes for the character airing by November. After months of promotional videos, the character of Fandango debuted on the March 1, 2013 episode of SmackDown. As part of his act, Fandango was portrayed as fussy, flamboyant, and sultry-voiced. He was also accompanied by a female dance partner, mostly by a dark-haired and unnamed Andrea Lynn (a real-life dancer and college student) and later Summer Rae, a developmental wrestler.
  Despite his debut, Fandango refused to wrestle his first match on numerous occasions because the ring announcers and his opponents could not pronounce "Fandango" to his satisfaction. On the March 18 episode of Raw, Chris Jericho mispronounced Fandango's name intentionally and repeatedly to start Fandango's first feud. At WrestleMania 29, Fandango defeated Jericho in his first match. Fandango wrestled in his first Raw match against Kofi Kingston the following night. Despite Fandango being a heel and winning via disqualification from Chris Jericho attacking him, he still received an enthusiastic ovation from the live audience as they boisterously sang his theme music and created a dance for it as well. Not only did this take place during and shortly after his encounter, but it also took place long after the show itself. The song became an overnight hit as many fans took to iTunes to buy the single, causing it to gain considerable momentum and move from #175 to #11 in one day on the UK chart, before settling at #44 by the week's end. In spite of the phenomenon which WWE labelled as "Fandango-ing", the Fandango character continued to insult audiences. At Extreme Rules, Fandango was defeated by Jericho in a rematch to end their feud. Fandango moved on to a three-way feud for the WWE Intercontinental Championship against champion Wade Barrett and fellow challenger The Miz. Days later, Fandango distracted Miz by dancing at ringside while Miz was wrestling Barrett; then he attacked Miz, resulting in Miz gaining a disqualification win over Barrett. Fandango later pinned Barrett in a non-title match after Miz, who was the special guest referee, attacked Barrett. A triple threat match for the Intercontinental title was set for Payback which Fandango was booked to win. However, he suffered a legitimate concussion during a SmackDown taping against Zack Ryder in June and was removed from the match. His replacement, Curtis Axel, won the match and the championship.
  Fandango returned on the July 1 Raw, losing to Sheamus via count-out. At the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Fandango competed in the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank ladder match, but was unsuccessful as the match was won by Damien Sandow. On the September 2 episode of Raw, Fandango had his nose broken during a match against The Miz, which he lost. Fandango then lost a dance contest to The Miz, which also involved R-Truth and The Great Khali, as well as losing another match to him at Night of Champions. His losing streak came to an end on the September 16 Raw, where he defeated R-Truth. At Hell in a Cell, Fandango and Summer Rae defeated Natalya and The Great Khali in a mixed tag team match. On the December 23 Raw, Fandango defeated Dolph Ziggler in a "Present on a Pole match" to earn a WWE Intercontinental Championship match against Big E Langston the following week, however he was ultimately defeated. On the March 3 episode of Raw, Fandango and Summer Rae lost to Emma and Santino in a mixed tag team match, when Emma once again made Rae submit.
  At Wrestlemania XXX, Fandango competed in the "André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal" match in a losing effort. The following night on Raw, Fandango and Summer Rae were once again defeated by Emma and Marella in a mixed tag team match, with Emma making Rae submit. The following week, Layla replaced Summer Rae as Fandango's dancer and valet, and quickly became embroiled in a feud with Emma and Santino Marella. Rae returned on May 19, attacking Layla. On the July 11 episo
caption: Fandango in November 2013
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