WWE NXT: Johnny Gargano is down, but not out

Johnny Gargano suffered a major defeat at the hands of Adam Cole last Saturday at NXT TakeOver XXV, but rest assured that this is not the end of Johnny Wrestling.

For a lot of fans, watching Johnny Gargano win the vacant NXT Championship at TakeOver: New York was one of the most satisfying, feel good moments to ever take place on a WWE stage. For some, the moment was the culmination of nearly four years worth of in-ring ups and down for the Ohio native; perhaps longer for those who’ve followed him on the indies. The moment seemed to solidify that Gargano was going to move on to bigger and better things as the face of NXT.

And then he lost the NXT Championship last Saturday.

At TakeOver XXV, in a rematch from the previous TakeOver, the leader of the Undisputed Era defeated Johnny TakeOver to become the sweet 16th man to hold the NXT Championship. Gargano, meanwhile, suffered another big time loss on a big time stage. After the match, he made his way through the backstage area looking completely dejected and deflated.

It would be easy to worry or even assume that another big loss means that Gargano has lost all of his credibility as a competitor; credibility to believably get the job done in big match situations. I understand that worry, but I honestly believe that we have nothing to worry about at all. Mostly because Gargano has been much worse off – booking wise – in the past and was able to recover under worse conditions.

Last August at NXT TakeOver Brooklyn IV, during his match against Tommaso Ciampa in a Last Man Standing match, that was the first time I started to see a shift in critical responses for Johnny Wrestling. There was a point where this man seemed as though he could do no wrong as a babyface and was universally loved. The finish of this match made Gargano look bad enough that fans started to sour on him. Hell, I started to sour on him. Gargano came out of this match looking like a geek.

It got bad enough to the point that Gargano not only started receiving “Johnny Failure” chants immediately at the next NXT TV tapings, but the beloved babyface was forced to turn heel in order to revitalize his character.

This heel turn, however, gave Gargano the opportunity to revitalize that tarnished perception of his character. Not because it showed us a new layer to his character, but it gave Gargano more of an opportunity to show his worth in the ring. With a new character to play around with, he was able to adapt his in-ring style just a bit and craft more unique matches. Matches which left an impression every time he had a major TakeOver bout.

In short, Gargano got back over with the crowd by having great matches. On the NXT brand where wrestling comes first over everything, perfecting one’s in-ring acumen is vital and during this late 2018 period, Gargano proved to be one of the best wrestlers on any WWE brand. His wrestling was great enough that he was able to win back a crowd that had quickly soured on him. That should be enough to help Johnny TakeOver recover whatever sort of momentum he’s lost in losing the title.

There’s speculation that Gargano’s abrupt title loss after winning it so soon could be a sign that he’s going to the main roster, or preparing to round out a trilogy against Cole at the next TakeOver show. Whatever happens, as long as he keeps having great matches, he’ll still be incredibly over with the crowd.

Johnny Gargano may be down, but he’s not out; not by a longshot. He’ll be just fine.