Ranking the NXT TakeOver: WarGames Card

2. Aleister Black vs Johnny Gargano

Why, Johnny, why?

Gargano’s transition from the most beloved babyface in NXT history (except, perhaps, for Sami Zayn) to a corrupted shadow of his former self was fully realised when he attacked Aleister Black in the Full Sail car park (or did he?)

Ciampa’s mind games have borne fruit, and Gargano has gone from a man who will doggedly pursue the ‘right’ path at his own expense to a man so singularly focused on destroying Tommaso Ciampa that ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ have ceased to matter – though he claims otherwise.

Aleister Black, Gargano says, is ‘collateral damage’: he came between Gargano and his mission, and he paid the price for it. At the time, Black’s real-life injury seemed to have robbed us of a potentially thrilling three-way, but in hindsight it feels weirdly serendipitous.

The Gargano/Ciampa feud, compelling as it was, was beginning to run the risk of stagnation, and the spontaneity of the ‘whodunnit’ storyline allows for both Ciampa and Gargano to broaden their horizons whilst remaining resolutely in one another’s orbit.

Meanwhile, Black’s injury and the storyline it inspired has elevated him from a moving part in the wider Gargano/Ciampa narrative to the central figure of his own story.

The side-effect has been to restore Black’s mystique in full; that shadowy aura cultivated in his early days on the roster, which was ill-advisedly sacrificed during his title reign, is back with a vengeance, and enhanced by a ruthless, aggressive streak. Black is not your standard good-guy babyface, and it’s so much the better for it.

With both men out to prove something vital, and neither afraid to do what it takes to win, this is going to be tense, violent and potentially explosive stuff.

Expect a physically and emotionally gruelling encounter as we witness Gargano’s full transition to the Dark Side – and you can bet that Black won’t let him go gently into that metaphorical good night.