Fandango Announces Impending In-Ring Retirement
Former WWE Superstar Fandango has announced he will be retiring from professional wrestling in a few months.
He took to Twitter in order to reveal the news, "I'll be stepping away from the ring in couple months. Goodbye forever."
Fandango, who is currently working with the NWA under the name of Dirty Dango, did not provide any further explanation on the situation. However, it appears that he is going to be hanging up his boots. Originally, he debuted back in 1999 after being trained by Killer Kowalski. He worked for a variety of promotions on the independent scene before being signed by WWE.
Fandango joined the company in 2006, originally being part of the Deep South training system. He transitioned to FCW after that before moving on the game show version of NXT. However, he then took on the ballroom dancing gimmick that fans know him for as Fandango, defeating Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 29 during his in-ring debut.
During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet Fandango revealed there were plans for him to become Intercontinental Champion at that time. However, a concussion stopped that from taking place.
"You know, they were going to put the IC Title on me, then I got concussed working with The Great Khali. I didn't tell them. I didn't tell them I was concussed," Fandango explained. "If you go out, get concussed, and then get hit again, it's a lot easier to get concussed. If you don't give the swelling enough time to go down, it's really easy to get concussed again.
"I was concussed, and I kept performing. I didn't tell anybody and I think I wrestling Zack Ryder at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, and I took like a shoulder tackle and I was completely out. Somehow, got through the rest of the match, then got to the back and I thought I'd just wrestled Khali. Your brain kind of goes back to where you originally got f***** up.
"I ended up stooging myself, and the company's protocol I was completely wrong. You should definitely tell them when you're hurt because they don't want any of their athletes to get seriously injured, but you know, if someone's going to put the IC Title on you, you don't take yourself out of the game. They took me off TV for like a couple of weeks, three or four weeks, and then I think Curtis Axel won the IC Title. I think kind of derailed me a little bit, I was partying a lot, bro, at the time too. I kind of let up."
Fandango did eventually get the opportunity to hold gold within WWE. This took place when he returned to NXT alongside Tyler Breeze. As Breezango, they captured the NXT Tag Team Championships.