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WWE: 2019’s top 5 wrestlers of the year in NXT

By Joe Anthony Myrick

Tommaso Ciampa returns to NXT and confronts Adam Cole on the October 2, 2019 edition of WWE NXT. Photo: WWE.com
Tommaso Ciampa returns to NXT and confronts Adam Cole on the October 2, 2019 edition of WWE NXT. Photo: WWE.com /
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3. Johnny Gargano

This NXT list would just not be complete without Mr. NXT himself. For years now, Johnny Gargano has led NXT as the brand’s top babyface and franchise player, but has done so as an uncrowned leader. He won the NXT Tag Team Championship and at the top of 2019 (during a brief heel run) won the NXT North American Title, but never the brand’s top belt: the NXT Championship.

2019 was finally his year to do just that. Even after his tremendous feud with Tommaso Ciampa ended in impromptu fashion before it could finally culminate at TakeOver: New York, Gargano managed to snag the vacant title in a critically acclaimed match vs. Adam Cole before having a much talked about TakeOver trilogy with the man.

What makes Gargano’s NXT Championship win and year so special (other than how it rounds out his Triple Crown as NXT’s first ever Triple Crown Champion) isn’t just the win itself, but how after some questionable booking the year prior that had people chanting “Johnny Failure” at him and basically forced a heel turn to reboot his character, Gargano was able to turn the fans back around in 2019 and win them back to regain his status as (arguably) WWE’s most pure, loved babyface.

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