Johnny Gargano was as soon as within the dialog of being in and among the many greatest in-ring staff in all the skilled wrestling world. In case you began watching WWE in 2026, you’d be forgiven if you happen to didn’t even know who Johnny Gargano was. Regardless of being on the Friday Night time SmackDown model, and even making an look on-screen most weeks, Gargano has change into probably the most ineffectual and pointless wrestler on all the WWE roster. By way of no fault of his personal, he’s being utterly ruined by WWE, and his present trajectory is exhibiting zero indicators of change, which is a large disgrace for such a expertise.
Johnny Gargano Was The Face Of NXT
- Gargano went from an unsigned cameo to the largest title in NXT historical past.
- Gargano was the final word underdog babyface on WWE’s developmental model.
- He had a few of WWE’s most memorable matches of the 2010s.
Johnny Gargano first wrestled in NXT in 2015, catching the attention of followers and administration alike in his tag workforce with Tommaso Ciampa. They ultimately earned contracts and helped to hold the tag workforce division, having basic matches with The Revival for the NXT Tag Crew Championships. From there, the duo fractured into two singles stars, each of whom rose the ranks within the promotion to change into the primary heel and primary babyface alike. Gargano was supremely over with followers because of his infectious underdog power and his spree of show-stealing matches towards the likes of Adam Cole, Tommaso Ciampa, Andrade, Ricochet, Aleister Black, and extra!
Gargano went on to win the NXT Championship, North American Title, and the NXT Tag Crew belts, headlining a number of reveals and doing nice work as each a babyface and heel, displaying quite a lot of depth to his character work within the course of. Sadly, this didn’t translate on the principle roster.
Johnny Gargano’s Essential Roster Profession Has Been Up And Down
- Followers have been initially behind Johnny Gargano on the principle roster.
- Triple H booked Gargano horribly as a singles competitor.
- Gargano & Ciampa reunited to type DIY.
In 2022 after a hiatus, Johnny Gargano shocked followers by exhibiting up on Monday Night time RAW… and followers have been supportive. Nevertheless, WWE handed Gargano no character depth, little promo time, and pointless matches every week which left him with none kind of storyline for followers to get invested in. In actual fact, it took over a 12 months for something substantial to happen for Gargano, with him lastly reuniting with Tommaso Ciampa.
The DIY pairing went on to be one the highlights of the tag workforce division over the subsequent couple of years, bringing about quite a lot of pleasure on Friday Night time SmackDown specifically with some memorable matches (corresponding to a wild TLC showcase at SummerSlam), just for WWE to repeatedly halt their momentum and cease the tag workforce division from gaining an excessive amount of steam… for some motive. At the very least within the tag workforce division Gargano was getting in-ring time – the identical can’t be stated for Gargano’s actually disastrous run in 2026.
Triple H & WWE Have Ruined Johnny Gargano
- Gargano feuded with Axiom in 2026.
- Gargano’s loss led to a depressive state.
- For seven months, Gargano has been a joke.
After stealing Axiom’s masks and in the end shedding it again to him on SmackDown, Johnny Gargano obtained depressed and started mendacity motionless on a crate backstage. This was defined away as being as a result of masks that means a lot to Gargano that it left him heartbroken (the masks he had for a pair weeks, thoughts you). From there, Gargano has been mendacity immobile on most episodes of SmackDown, getting used as a instrument for different wrestlers to chop promos or inform tales, all of the whereas failing to generate any curiosity in any way… which is of no shock provided that he’s doing actually nothing.
Gargano’s uncommon in-ring performances noticed him dumped unceremoniously out of the Andre The Big Memorial Battle Royal and squashed in a minute by Oba Femi, furthering the descent of this as soon as nice in-ring expertise. Gargano has not competed in a match for 4 months, which is a gross misuse of somebody who does his greatest work between the ropes. WWE is ruining Gargano by the weak, lessening his inventory and making him an afterthought. There is no such thing as a actual clarification for why WWE is doing this with Gargano, until in fact he’s set to hitch his former companion Ciampa in shifting away from the promotion upon the top of his deal. Maybe sooner or later we are going to see the return of “Johnny Wrestling”, however it definitely received’t be in WWE.
