WWE: Johnny Gargano and Kassius Ohno’s Battle Takes Home Match of the Week

How Johnny Gargano and Kassius Ohno stole the show and won WWE’s best match of the week.

On May 20th of this year, shortly after Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa’s failed attempt to win back the NXT Tag Team Championship from The Authors of Pain at TakeOver: Chicago, Ciampa turned heel and shockingly attacked his friend and partner. A feud with his now former partner seemed imminent for Gargano, however, Ciampa had injured his left ACL during their war with the champions and would be out for a number of months due to surgery. This left “Johnny Wrestling” on his own to work his way toward the NXT Championship.

And his results so far? Not so great. After a short hiatus from NXT, Gargano returned in July and went on a bit of a losing streak. Since August he’s lost televised matches to Andrade Almas (twice), Fabian Aichner, and Pete Dunne. So his inclusion in the 8-man tournament to determine a new #1 contender for NXT Championship seemed like a bit of a surprise. Any wrestling fan knows Gargano’s abilities inside the ropes. He’s a tremendous competitor and has the spirit of a champion but he’s undersized and been on a losing streak. Not exactly contender material at the present time.

Ohno’s last couple of years with the company have been much different. After originally being signed to the WWE in 2011 and subsequently being released in 2013, the former Chris Hero on the independent circuit found his way back to NXT in January. Ohno’s second time around has been much better than his first and he’s picked up a series of wins over some big names including Elias Samson, Hideo Itami, and Almas. A hiccup against fellow tournament contender Lars Sullivan at TakeOver: WarGames aside, Ohno has been on the cusp of title contention for months.

But no matter where they are in the hunt for NXT glory, one thing is for sure about Ohno and Gargano. They’re both incredible workers and that was on full display Wednesday night as the duo put on a tremendous, albeit somewhat short battle, where the winner would qualify for a #1 contender fatal 4-way match. Now for two guys who were both on the independent scene for well over a decade each, they’d only battled in singles matches against each other twice before. In 2013 they battled over the Open The Freedom Gate title in Dragon Gate USA and in 2015 they fought again at an event for AAW: Wrestling Redefined. Two matches and two wins for “Johnny Wrestling”.

Gargano would make it three in a row Wednesday night, as he fought off a tremendous amount of punishment from Ohno. It was a very typical Gargano like performance as he gave up about six inches and 60 pounds to his opponent. And Ohno was usual brilliant self as well, leaping around the ring the way a guy half his size would. They duo traded heavy strikes and a mix of power and athleticism that never let up over the course of 13 exciting minutes. Gargano’s outside dive into a tornado DDT was the highlight of the night.

And like any NXT match, there was the crowd. The Full Sail University, as usual, were fully invested in both superstars and added another layer of brilliance to this bout. On a night that Killian Dain and Trent Seven, as well as Sonya Deville and Ruby Riott put on tremendous matches as well, Gargano and Ohno stood tall.

Next: WWE's Top 10 Intercontinental Champions of All-Time

In the end it was Gargano getting the victory via submission and moving forward on his quest to NXT gold and for Ohno it looks like it’s back to the drawing board. But if both guys can continue to perform like they did Wednesday night, it would not be the least but surprising to see them do battle again in the future, and possibly for the NXT Championship.