Simon Gotch

Simon Gotch
Gotch in April 2016
Birth name	John Smith
Born	(1982-10-18) October 18, 1982 (age 34) Hoboken, New Jersey, United States
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Simon Gotch Psycho Seth Ryan Drago Seth Lesser Super Otaku
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Billed weight	220 lb (100 kg)
Billed from	Arkham, Massachusetts
Trained by	Donovan Morgan Michael Modest Ric Thompson Daniel Bryan Harley Race WWE Performance Center
Debut	2002

John Smith (born October 18, 1982) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE on the SmackDown brand, where he performs under the ring name Simon Gotch. Prior to debuting on the main roster, Gotch performed in WWE's developmental branch NXT, where he held the NXT Tag Team Championship, along with Aiden English, who are collectively known as The Vaudevillains.

Smith competed on the independent circuit, appearing for promotions such as All Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Chikara and Full Impact Pro. He most notably competed as Ryan Drago, a character reminiscent of early 20th-century grapplers such as George Hackenschmidt.

In June 2013, Smith signed a developmental contract with WWE and was assigned to their developmental territory WWE NXT, where he adopted the ring name Simon Gotch (a homage to Frank and Karl Gotch). In June 2014, Gotch formed a tag team with Aiden English known as The Vaudevillains, with the gimmick of a pair of old-timey vaudevillians. The Vaudevillains made their in-ring debut as a team on the June 19 episode of NXT, defeating Angelo Dawkins and Travis Tyler. 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 finals. 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. They received their title match at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution against The Lucha Dragons, but were unsuccessful.