The Vaudevillains

The Vaudevillains are a professional wrestling tag team performing in WWE on the SmackDown brand, composed of Aiden English and Simon Gotch. Their gimmick is a pair of Vaudeville-era throwbacks. During their time in WWE's developmental brand NXT, they captured the NXT Tag Team Championship.

History

NXT Tag Team Champions (2014–2016)

In June 2014, English formed a tag team with Simon Gotch, known as The Vaudevillains.^[2] The Vaudevillains made their in-ring debut as a team of heels on the June 19 episode, defeating Angelo Dawkins and Travis Tyler.^[3] In August, The Vaudevillains participated in a tournament to determine the #1 contenders to the NXT Tag Team Championship, losing to The Lucha Dragons (Sin Cara and Kalisto) in the final.^[4] On the October 30 episode of NXT, The Vaudevillains won a tag team battle royal to become the #1 contenders to the NXT Tag Team Championship.^[5] They received their title match at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution against The Lucha Dragons, but were unsuccessful.^[6] After a brief hiatus, The Vaudevillains returned on the June 3, 2015 episode of NXT, defeating Jason Jordan and Marcus Louis. On the July 8 episode of "NXT", the Vaudevillains defeated Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady to become the #1 contenders to the NXT Tag Team Championships. On July 15, Blake and Murphy defeated the Vaudevillains to retain their championships after Alexa Bliss interfered. Afterward, Alexa Bliss insulted and slapped them both, turning them face in the process. General Manager William Regal then announced that there would be a rematch at a later date.^[7] At NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, the Vaudevillains (with Blue Pants in their corner) defeated Blake and Murphy (with Alexa Bliss) to become NXT Tag Team Champions for the first time. The Vaudevillains were eliminated in the second round of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic by Dash and Dawson, setting up a future championship match. On November 11, The Vaudevillians lost the title to Dash and Dawson, ending their reign at 61 days.^[8] The pair later failed to regain the titles on the November 25th episode of NXT. The duo once again turned heel after a losing streak continued with a loss to American Alpha when they refused to shake hands with the two, showing a lack of sportsmanship. They would later compete against the duo on the 21st March episode of NXT in a match to determine the #1 contenders to the NXT tag team titles where they would lose again. They made their final NXT appearance on the 13 April episode of NXT, losing to Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.

Main roster (2016–present)

On the April 7, 2016 episode of SmackDown, the Vaudevillains made their main roster debut as heels, defeating The Lucha Dragons.^[9] On the April 11 episode of Raw, the Vaudevillains were announced as one of the teams to participate in the #1 contenders tournament for the WWE Tag Team Championship, where they defeated Goldango (Goldust and Fandango) in the first round later that week on SmackDown and The Usos on the April 18 episode of Raw in the semi-finals.^[10][11][12] At Payback, the Vaudevillains faced Enzo and Big Cass in the finals of the tournament. The match resulted in a no-contest due to Amore suffering a legit concussion, and the Vaudevillains were declared the #1 contenders.^[13] At Extreme Rules, the Vaudevillains received their shot at the titles against The New Day in a losing effort, marking their first defeat via pinfall.^[14] At Money in the Bank, the Vaudevillains would receive another shot at the titles, competing against The New Day, Enzo and Big Cass and Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows in a fatal-four-way tag team match in a losing effort.

On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, the Vaudevillians were drafted to SmackDown in the tenth round of picks. In August, a tag team tournament for the newly created WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship was set up by SmackDown general manager Daniel Bryan and SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon, where the winner of the tournament would be crowned the inaugural champions. On the August 30 episode of SmackDown, the Vaudevillians would compete in the first round match of the tournament, where they were defeated by The Hype Bros. On the November 8 episode of SmackDown, the Vaudevillians were defeated by Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango) in a qualifying match for a spot in Team SmackDown at Survivor Series.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Director's Cut (Cobra clutch lifted and dropped into a sitout side slam)^[15] - English
  • That's a Wrap (High-angle middle rope senton bomb)^[16][17] - English
  • Gentleman's Clutch^[18] (Bridging cobra clutch underhook suplex)^[1][19] - Gotch
• Double team finishing moves
  • Whirling Dervish (Uppercut to the back of the opponent's head (Gotch) followed by a swinging neckbreaker) (English)
  • The Gentleman's Congress^[20] (Rolling fireman's carry slam (Gotch) followed by That's a Wrap) (English)^[3]
• Double team signature moves
  • Dukes Up (Simultaneous arm trap back hand chops to the back (Gotch) and chest (English), followed by simultaneous double jabs, with theatrics)
• Managers
  • Blue Pants
• Nicknames
  • "The Artiste" - English
  • "The Gentleman Bruiser" - Gotch
• Entrance themes
  • "A Quicker Accomplishement" by Art Test Music (NXT; May 30, 2014 – September 25, 2014)
  • "Voix de Ville" by CFO$ (NXT/WWE; October 2, 2014 – June 24, 2015; April 14, 2016 – present)
  • "Vau de Vire" by CFO$ (NXT/WWE; July 1, 2015 – April 7, 2016)

Championships and accomplishments

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked English #171 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016^[21]
  • PWI ranked Gotch #175 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016^[22]
• WWE NXT
  • NXT Tag Team Championship (1 time)
• WWE
  • WWE Tag Team Championship #1 Contender Tournament (2016)

References

External links

• The Vaudevillains on Facebook
• Aiden English on Twitter
• Aiden English on WWE.com
• Matt Rehwoldt at the Internet Movie Database
• Simon Gotch on Twitter
• Simon Gotch on WWE.com
• John Smith at the Internet Movie Database