Fandango Returns To WWE On NXT, Challenges Lexis King For Heritage Cup (TNA News)
JDC is the latest TNA star to cross the line and appear in NXT.
With WWE and TNA nowadays in a formal working relationship, you can now add JDC - as in, the former Fandango - to the list of TNA names who have crossed the line and turned up in NXT.
Last night's NXT saw Lexis King discussing potential changes to the Heritage Cup rules, only for the second-generation star to be interrupted by Fandango's old entrance theme. While that song was obviously familiar to the NXT faithful, the 41-year-old made it very clear that he was JDC and was there to represent TNA as part of the System.
JDC revealed that he'd spoken to NXT General Manager Ava and had got himself a shot at King's Heritage Cup next week. And on that front, as for those changes, Lexis declared that the previous European rounds format was in the past and that the Heritage Cup would be defended in regular one-fall matches from here on out.
As for JDC in TNA, he signed with the promotion back in the summer of 2022, initially using his Dirty Dango moniker. Last June saw Dango align himself with the System - that being Moose, Brian Myers, Eddie Edwards, and Alisha Edwards - and change his name to Johnny 'Dango' Curtis, or simply JDC.
Fandango's WWE History
Having made his in-ring debut back in 1999, the real-life Curtis Hussey was signed by WWE in 2006, initially spending time in Deep South Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling before being a part of the fourth season of NXT when those letters represented the mentors-and-rookies gameshow.
While going by the Johnny Curtis name by that point, the Portland native bounced between the main roster and NXT until his career was taken to a different level in late 2012 when he was repackaged as Fandango, a ballroom dancer whose entrance theme soon became a pop culture sensation. As part of that run, Fandango got the biggest spotlight of his career at WrestleMania 29, where he picked up a somewhat shock win over Chris Jericho.
The next few years wouldn't match the highs of that initial Fandango burst, but teaming with Tyler Breeze in 2016 as the Fashion Police made for some fun TV, again both on the main roster and in NXT - with the team eventually winning the NXT Tag Team Championships.
Both Fandango and Breeze would be part of WWE's mass releases of 2021, bringing Dango's time with the company to an end after 15 years. In addition to these days calling TNA home, JDC has also worked various independent dates and likewise popped up in Billy Corgan's NWA.