The Vaudevillains

The Vaudevillains
Tag team
Members	Aiden English Simon Gotch
Name(s)	The Vaudevillains
Heights	Aiden English: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1] Simon Gotch: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1]
Combined weight	436 lb (198 kg)
Former member(s)	Blue Pants (valet)
Debut	June 2014
Years active	2014–present
Promotions	NXT WWE

The Vaudevillains are a professional wrestling tag team in WWE, consisting of Aiden English and Simon Gotch. They are former one time NXT Tag Team Champions. Their gimmick is a pair of Vaudeville-era throwbacks.

History

WWE

NXT (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 as heels on the June 19 episode, defeating Angelo Dawkins and Travis Tyler.^[3] In August, The Vaudevillains participated in a tournament to determine the number one contenders to the NXT Tag Team Championship, before 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 number one 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 number one 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] On August 22, 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. Their reign came to an end after 61 days when Dawson forced Aiden to submit after the duo disabled his knee with an elevated stomp off the turnbuckle.^[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.

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 number one contenders tournament for the WWE Tag Team Championship, where they defeated 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 Amore and Colin Cassady in the finals of the tournament, where it would be ruled a no contest following a legitimate head injury Amore suffered during the match.^[13] The following night on Raw, the Vaudevillains would be announced as the number one contenders for the titles.^[14]

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Director's Cut (Cobra clutch lifted and dropped into a sitout side slam)^[15] - English
  • That's a Wrap (Swanton bomb)^[16][17] - English
  • Gentleman's Clutch^[18] (Bridging cobra clutch underhook suplex)^[1][19] - Gotch

• Double team finishing moves
  • The Gentleman's Congress^[20] / Whirling Dervish (Uppercut to the back of the opponent's head (Gotch) followed by a swinging neckbreaker (English)) 2015-Present
  • Rolling fireman's carry slam (Gotch) followed by That's A Wrap (English) 2014 ^[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 Aiden English #207 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2014^[21]

• WWE NXT
  • NXT Tag Team Championship (1 time)

References

1. "Simon Gotch". WWE. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
2. White, James (June 7, 2014). "WWE NXT report 6-6 Tampa". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
3. James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT Report 6/19". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
4. James, Justin (September 4, 2014). "James's WWE NXT Report 9/4". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
5. Melok, Bobby (October 30, 2014). "WWE NXT results – Oct. 30, 2014: Sami Zayn tries to take down Titus O'Neil, tag teams battle for title opportunity". WWE. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
6. Clapp, John (December 11, 2014). "WWE NXT TakeOver: R Evolution results". WWE. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
7. Trionfo, Richard (June 3, 2015). "WWE NXT REPORT: NXT TITLE MATCH ANNOUNCED FOR JAPAN, RHYNO VERSUS BALOR, SASHA BANKS VIDEO PACKAGE, A TAG TEAM RETURNS". PWInsider. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
8. "WWE NXT results: Nov. 11, 2015 - Finn Bálor confronts Samoa Joe, Dash & Dawson capture NXT Tag Team Championship". WWE.
9. Decker, Kyle. "WWE SmackDown results, live blog (April 7, 2016): The Miz vs. Zack Ryder". Cageside Seats. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
10. Caldwell, James. "4/11 WWE Raw Results – CALDWELL’S Complete Live Report". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
11. Decker, Kyle. "WWE SmackDown results, live blog (April 14, 2016): Tag team tournament!". Cageside Seats. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
12. Rueter, Sean. "WWE Raw spoilers (April 18, 2016): Tag tournament finals set in London, more!". Cageside Seats. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
13. Caldwell, James. "5/1 WWE Payback Results – CALDWELL’S Complete Live Report". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
14. Mrosko, Geno. "WWE Extreme Rules 2016: New Day vs. The Vaudevillains tag team title match official". Cageside Seats. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
15. Clapp, John (January 3, 2014). "WWE.com Editors' Debate: Who's the next WWE NXT breakout star?". WWE. Retrieved January 25, 2014. Take, for example, his signature move, The Director's Cut. English starts out by locking his foe in a hold resembling the Cobra Clutch before leaping high in the air and swinging his victim into a pulverizing side slam.
16. James, Justin (June 20, 2014). "James's WWE NXT Report 6/19". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved June 20, 2014. Rolling senton from Gotch followed by a sweet second rope senton from English put it away.
17. James, Justin (June 26, 2014). "James's WWE NXT Report 6/26". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved June 27, 2014. Rolling Senton from Gotch and a second rope senton from English ("That's a Wrap") end the match.
18. "Aiden English". WWE. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
19. Gotch, Simon (April 2, 2015). "Simon Gotch on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved April 27, 2015. The Gentleman's Clutch, a bridging Cobra clutch facelock suplex.
20. "THE VAUDEVILLAINS HIT THE GENTLEMANS CONGRESS TO WIN". WWE Network. October 23, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
21. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2014". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2014.

External links

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