WWE NXT: Examining How Johnny Gargano Slowly Found The Darkness

Credit: WWE.com

Johnny Failure 

Prior to Gargano’s second TakeOver loss to Ciampa, a mystery unfolded. The Last Man Standing Match was originally a triple threat with Aleister Black in the mix, until an unknown assailant attacked him in the parking lot. We now know that attacker to be Johnny Gargano, but before we get into the semantics of the whole foray, now is a good time to talk about Gargano’s relationship with the NXT crowd.

The same crowd who goaded him into calling out Tommaso Ciampa. The same crowd who made Johnny Gargano into Johnny Wrestling. That same crowd had turned their backs on him when he failed to win Ciampa’s NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV. At one time, Gargano was NXT’s most beloved babyface. Days after his Brooklyn lost, they were calling him Johnny Failure.

Clearly, something was wrong. In the coming weeks, once his true colors were revealed as Black’s attacker, Gargano maintained his love for the fans. In the weeks and months since, he would ignore whatever boos were spewed in his direction and continued to play for the crowd – particularly high fiving children – as if the NXT Universe were not calling him a failure months prior.

The thing about that “Johnny Failure” chant is that it didn’t sour Gargano’s opinion of NXT or the brand’s fans. It didn’t turn him into this devious, jaded villain. He was disappointed and dejected from it all enough to long to be a hero. “I’m the hero,” he exclaimed to Aleister Black during their TakeOver match. He loved the NXT Universe and would do anything to have them back on his side. Anything.

It was at this point that Johnny Gargano was desperate the win the fans back on his side. In his desperation, he realize he couldn’t play by the same rules that he would play as Johnny Wrestling. Nice guys finish last and he had to play the game like a regular bad guy. More specifically, he had to play like NXT’s resident bad guy.