Still not exactly sure where it started, but over the weekend, up-and-coming NXT Superstar No Way Jose took over wrestling Twitter. While touring the Pacific Northwest, several of his roster-mates changed their avatars to this picture of the breakout babyface and began using the hashtag #NoWayDay (strangely enough, this is from where the epic Finn Bálor/Bray Wyatt convo sprung on Saturday).
The dancing Dominican has been a major hit on live shows, and in his handful of appearances on the WWE Network's weekly NXT show. In Cageside's recaps, I was on the fence about the gimmick - largely because of the goofy name and what I feared was another "characteristics instead of a character" presentation, especially for a Latin American performer.
Jose started to build on his act in his second performance, where he showed some cracks in his fun-loving persona. And a feature interview on WWE.com, the release of which may have been what kicked off #NoWayDay, shows there's even some depth to the silly handle:
If I wanted to be brief, you can say No Way Jose is a one-man fiesta! But since we have time, let's dive into this a bit. The name itself is a nickname that stuck, because back in the day, my Latin temper was a bit more volatile. Would anyone want to mess with Jose back then? No way!
But with time, I grew up and tamed the fire once I started opening my eyes to the rhythm of life. There are so many people everywhere, all doing their own thing, but when they come to a show they want to smile. People want to have a great time. The way I see it, there ain't no way you're wiping this smile off of my face. That's what I'm all about now: a nickname to remind me of where I came from, along with a smile and carefree attitude to show where we can end up.
I'm still not sold, and have the usual concerns that a layered gimmick like this won't get time on the main roster - which could relegate him to Brodus Clay/Fandango flash-in-the-pan status - but Jose's commitment deserves time to see how he and NXT's new writers integrate his personality into wrestling stories.
But he's off to a great start. It doesn't hurt that, in one of those strange coincidences of pop culture in the age of social media, another Dominican guy named Jose was also trending this weekend... giving us this mash-up of his infectious theme and the punch heard round the baseball world:
How did you celebrate #NoWayDay this weekend? And will you keep celebrating it for as long as No Way Jose is on your screens?