Fandango (wrestler)
Curtis Jonathan Hussey is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure with WWE, where he performed under the ring name Fandango from 2013 to 2021. He is also known for his tenure with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he performed under the ring name Johnny Dango Curtis.
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 as Johnny Curtis, 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, and he eventually won the competition in March 2011. In 2013, Hussey re-debuted as Fandango. Subsequently, WWE audience members started singing and dancing to his entrance music, which rose substantially on the iTunes charts and generated coverage in mainstream media. He later formed a tag team with Tyler Breeze called Breezango, with the duo winning the NXT Tag Team Championship in August 2020.
After departing WWE in June 2021, Hussey signed a contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he performed as Dirty Dango before re-introducing himself as Johnny Dango Curtis , becoming a member of The System stable.
Early life
Curtis Jonathan Hussey was born on July 22, 1983, in Portland, Maine. Hussey is a Native American of the Cherokee tribe.Professional wrestling career
Independent circuit (1999–2006)
Hussey trained under Killer Kowalski and debuted in September 1999. He wrestled for various independent promotions in the New England area over the next few years. He competed in Power League Wrestling from 2000 until 2003, during which time he won the PLW New England Championship. He held the championship, after defeating Chris Blackheart at Power-fest 2002, from May 19, 2002, until May 18, 2003.He also competed in the Premier Wrestling Federation during this time, and he teamed with Kenn Phoenix to win the PWF Northeast Tag Team Championship from Fuzion on October 28, 2002. They held the championship until November 15, when they were defeated by Paiva and Kid Mikaze. Now known as The Talent Exchange, Hussey and Phoenix won a three-way Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match to win the championship again on February 15, 2003. They held the championship until April 4, when Phoenix and Dean Ripley, The Talent Exchange's manager, lost the championship to the Storm Brothers. He also wrestled for NWA: Total Nonstop Action, Chaotic Wrestling, and NWA Wildside.
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE (2006–2021)
Deep South Wrestling (2006–2008)
In 2006, Curtis signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and was subsequently assigned to the Deep South Wrestling developmental territory. Curtis made his debut for the territory on November 9, where he lost to David Heath. After losing consistently over the next several weeks, Curtis scored his first victory in DSW as he and Robert Anthony defeated The Headliners on February 15, 2007.Curtis continued to team with Anthony and after winning a few more matches, the team faced the DSW Tag Team Champions Team Elite in a match for the championship on March 15, but they were unable to win the title. Curtis then became a singles competitor once again and after losing two matches, he won his final match in DSW by defeating Frankie Coverdale on April 12.
Florida Championship Wrestling (2008–2010)
In June 2008, after WWE severed ties with DSW, Curtis and all the other talent in DSW were transferred over to the newly established Florida Championship Wrestling. On June 26, Curtis made his FCW debut as he defeated former tag team partner Robert Anthony. After mixed success as a singles and tag team wrestler, Curtis defeated Chris Gray on December 18 to become the number one contender for the FCW Southern Heavyweight Championship. On January 8, 2008, he wrestled Ted DiBiase Jr. for the championship, but lost the match. On September 18, Curtis made an appearance at the SmackDown/ECW tapings, where he defeated Armando Estrada in a dark match.On December 11, 2008, Curtis teamed with Tyler Reks to defeat The New Hart Foundation for the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship. The team of Curtis and Reks proved to be successful, and they retained the championship on several occasions. After beginning a feud with Caylen Croft and Trent Beretta, Curtis and Reks retained the title against them on a few different occasions before finally losing the title to Croft and Beretta on April 30, 2009, after Curtis did not appear for the title defense, leaving Reks to wrestle alone.
After Reks was called up to WWE's main roster, Curtis renamed himself Jonathan Curtis and became a villain. The two then faced off for Reks' Florida Heavyweight Championship on June 25, but Curtis was unable to win the title. On July 2, Curtis wrestled in a triple threat match for the FCW Florida Championship also involving Alex Riley, but was again unsuccessful as Reks retained the title. Soon afterwards, Curtis reverted his ring name to Johnny Curtis.
Beginning in 2010, Curtis began competing at house shows for the Raw brand, with his first match being a loss to Evan Bourne on January 8. After losing several matches to both Bourne and Paul Burchill at house shows, Curtis wrestled his first dark match, which he lost to Kung Fu Naki on the January 19 episode of ECW.
On August 12, 2010, Curtis teamed with Derrick Bateman to win the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship by defeating the team of Donny Marlow and Brodus Clay and the defending champions, Los Aviadores in a three-way tag team match. After a near three-month reign, Curtis and Bateman lost the championship to Wes Brisco and Xavier Woods on November 4.
NXT (2010–2012)
Curtis was part of the fourth season, with R-Truth as his mentor. He made his in-ring debut on the season premiere on December 7 episode of NXT, defeating fellow rookie Jacob Novak in singles competition. The following week, Curtis was unsuccessful in the "Karaoke" challenge, but was successful in the "Obstacle Course" challenge, earning points towards immunity from elimination. On the December 21 episode of NXT, Curtis lost the "Wheelbarrow Race" challenge, and suffered his first loss in a rematch to Jacob Novak. Curtis was then defeated by pro Dolph Ziggler on the December 28 episode of NXT, and afterwards won both the "Power of the Punch" challenge and a "Talent Show" contest. On the January 4, 2011, episode of NXT, Curtis was defeated in singles competition by Brodus Clay. It was later revealed that he was immune from elimination that week. On the next week of NXT, Curtis lost both the "Slingshot Challenge" and the "Superstar Password" challenge, and competed in singles competition defeating pro Ted DiBiase after a failed interference by his rookie Brodus Clay. Curtis was unsuccessful in the "How Well Do You Know Your WWE Pro?" challenge on the January 18 episode of NXT, and was safe from elimination that week. On the January 25 episode of NXT, Curtis was unsuccessful in the "Out-think the Fink" challenge, and competed in a fatal four-way match with Brodus Clay, Derrick Bateman, and Byron Saxton with Clay winning the match.On the February 1 episode of NXT, Curtis won an "Arm Wrestling" challenge, but was unsuccessful in the "Talk the Talk" challenge, and also lost in a tag team match along with R-Truth against Derrick Bateman and Daniel Bryan. On the next week of NXT, Curtis was unsuccessful in a "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Rookies" challenge, "WWE.com" challenge, and in singles competition against Brodus Clay. On the February 15 episode of NXT, Curtis lost the "Smash and Grab" challenge and the "Save Your Trivia" challenge. Curtis was then successful in the "Grace Under Pressure Physical" challenge and in a triple threat match against Derrick Bateman and Johnny Curtis. During the season finale on March 1, Curtis was declared the winner of NXT, defeating Brodus Clay in the final.
After various dark matches, Curtis debuted on SmackDown on the June 3 episode in a bizarre backstage promo where he said that his promised tag team title shot was "not going to happen" in light of R-Truth's recent villainous turn. He then began to sarcastically cry and proceeded to pour milk onto a plate and then over his head, in reference to the saying "don't cry over spilled milk". After weeks of backstage promos playing on words, Curtis made his SmackDown in-ring debut on the August 12 episode, being squashed by Mark Henry in less than a minute, which was his only non-battle royal match on SmackDown in 2011.
Curtis then made his return to the fifth season of NXT as a heel on November 2. Curtis turned his attentions to wooing Maxine, whom he had formerly dated, and therefore ignited a feud with Maxine's storyline fiancé, Derrick Bateman. As the weeks passed, Bateman and Maxine ultimately broke up as Maxine gave a kiss to Curtis on the December 28 episode of NXT Redemption, thus solidifying their relationship. On the January 4, 2012, episode of NXT Redemption, Curtis and Maxine revealed that they would marry in two weeks time in Las Vegas during Bateman's match with Darren Young. On 100th episode of NXT, Derrick Bateman interrupted Curtis and Maxine's wedding ceremony. Derrick showed a clip of Curtis sending a message on Bateman's iPad to Theodore Long. Maxine then slapped Curtis and reunited with Bateman once again after finding out that it was not true. Curtis then started to use his new catchphrase "Let's Get Weird" which was also printed on his trunks. In the next weeks, Maxine dumped Bateman for Curtis again. On the March 14 episode of NXT Redemption, Curtis and Maxine were defeated in a mixed tag team match against Derrick Bateman and Kaitlyn, who kissed at the end of the match, solidifying their relationship to the annoyance of Maxine.
After William Regal was appointed as NXT's authority figure, Maxine enlisted Curtis' help to allow her to get close to Regal. On the March 21 episode of NXT Redemption, Maxine and Curtis knocked out Matt Striker with chloroform so that Maxine could join Regal on commentary. However, Striker was then kidnapped by unknown persons, later revealed to be Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks, who intended to blackmail Curtis and Maxine into using Maxine's charms to get Regal to leave Hawkins and Reks alone. Striker was rescued by Bateman and Kaitlyn on the April 11 episode of "NXT Redemption". On April 18, William Regal forced Maxine to sign a contract as Curtis's manager if the two still wanted to be employed to NXT and then handcuffed them together. On the May 9 episode of NXT Redemption, Regal allowed Curtis and Maxine to be uncuffed.
For the rest of 2012, Curtis formed an occasional tag team with Michael McGillicutty. On the final episode of the fifth season of NXT on June 13, Curtis teamed with McGillicutty but lost to the Usos. After the conclusion of the fifth season of NXT, NXT transitioned into the renamed Florida Championship Wrestling developmental territory. Curtis continued appearing on NXT, where at the October 11 tapings Curtis finally received his tag team title shot from winning season four of NXT, when he teamed up with McGillicutty in a loss to champions Team Hell No.