What Is Going On With Johnny Gargano?

Now I’ve talked a lot about the Ciampa-Gargano story. I’ve called it the best story in wrestling today and I stand by that.

However often people come out of being in a great story and begin to lose their momentum because the company have nothing for them coming out of it. It happened to Ziggler very quickly after his terrific feud with the Miz back in 2016.

Ciampa as expected coming out of this is going into a program with Black for the NXT championship but what’s going on with Johnny Gargano?

It doesn’t look like they’re going to do the rubber match just yet which I think is smart. They should build anticipation for that blow off match. For now, though judging by this past weeks NXT I’m not sure where Gargano is going.

It looks like they’re telling the story that Gargano can’t move on from Ciampa. The events of Chicago have just fueled him even more to get his hands on him, but Regal won’t allow him to. Now this could be good as a similar story was told when Ciampa was injured. Gargano was trying to move on but couldn’t get Ciampa out of his mind which caused him to lose a lot.

It’s too early to tell where it’s going but I hope it doesn’t end with him turning heel because that would be a big mistake. He’s the most naturally loved babyface WWE’s had in a long time second only to Daniel Bryan.

They implied on this weeks NXT that Gargano was becoming what he hates. They don’t have a lot of babyfaces in NXT especially not ones as loved as Gargano. There are people who get cheered but a lot of them are meant to be heels i.e. Undisputed Era, Velveteen Dream.

What I’m hoping for is that Gargano realises the error of his ways before he goes to far over the line. He’s one of the few wrestlers where the immediate answer is just turn him heel.

If they have nothing for Gargano, then why not move him up to the main roster? They could have either had him lose in New Orleans to give Ciampa nuclear heat or leave after Chicago because he can’t be in NXT without being reminded of Ciampa.

Having said that I think the main roster is struggling with the call ups they got at the moment. If Gargano goes up now he runs the risk of be kept off TV for weeks like Almas or AOP. On the other hand, he could go to SmackDown and continue his feud with Almas.

Even though he won in Chicago I find it hard to believe that Ciampa would be happy be on the same show on Gargano. He went from trying to end his NXT career to. They tied so you’d think he’d want to beat him one more time to definitively prove that he’s better than Gargano. Instead it’s like he’s just forgot about him. Realistically they have to see each other at the Performance Centre.

It’s a similar issue Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn had after 2016 feud. They had this perfect conclusion then they just co existed on the same brand. It kind of takes away from the story.