Johnny Gargano
Aside from Ciampa, Johnny Gargano was the wrestler who was most impacted by Ciampa’s injury. After all, the man had recently turned the tables on Ciampa after the NXT Champion tried to recreate his infamous attack on his #DIY partner from NXT TakeOver: Chicago on the March 13 episode of NXT.
After returning the favor from that fateful night, Gargano followed up with basement superkick and declared that “Johnny Wrestling is back” as he stood over his jaw-jacked nemesis. That great angle appeared to set up what everyone figured was coming: Gargano getting another shot at Ciampa’s NXT Championship at TakeOver: New York.
Then Ciampa got hurt, which once again leaves one of the longest-running storylines in the developmental brand’s young history in limbo.
Given the trajectory of the storyline, it’s reasonable to expect Gargano to be in the NXT Title match at the Barclays Center, but with his archrival once again on the mend, his chances of winning the belt on that show decreased significantly. It simply wouldn’t feel the same if Gargano won the title from anyone else.
However, the creative team could use that match — assuming Gargano is in it — to kick start yet another title chase story for the former North American Champion. Now that Gargano resides on the babyface side of the fence again, he could spend the next few months pursuing whoever the champion becomes — preferably Adam Cole in this situation — and once Gargano wins the title, he can resume his feud with Ciampa once Ciampa returns from his neck injury.
Gargano’s time may be coming, but it will probably happen a little later than most people would expect.