10 Wrestlers Who Got A WrestleMania Singles Match Before Dolph Ziggler

3. Fandango

Fandango WrestleMania 29
WWE

A noble failure on WWE's part to get something over in its original form, the Fandango character was something of a New Generation throwback at first. Fandango was a dancer that was also a wrestler that fortuitously happened to have a name related to his other profession, a bit like H.O.G the pig farmer, Duke 'The Dumpster' Droese or TL Hopper the guy that unblocked the toilets.

If all those examples feel perilously close to sh*t in one form or another, it's because they all shared the trait as wrestling personas. Fandango's success - which is generous, considering how things went when WWE got their hands on it - came from fans taking the p*ss out of the character rather than embracing it.

"Fandangoing" became A Thing following his WrestleMania singles win over Chris Jericho, with people doing a finger dance to his jaunty theme the night after the 'Show Of Shows' after getting bored at Raw. iTunes downloads briefly soared, so WWE sent hot young thing Jerry Lawler out there the following week to bring the young star out to explain the joke to those that hadn't got it.

This was death for the gimmick, but at least he'd been permitted to feel alive first.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett