Top 10 WWE heel turns of all time
3. Tomasso Ciampa
Tomasso Ciampa attacks Johnny Gargano at the end of TakeOver
Is the implosion of DIY the best-told story in NXT? I believe it most definitely is.
It’s also no coincidence that this feud represents the very peak of NXT as a show. Johnny Gargano vs. Tomasso Ciampa was the main event of what most fans consider to be the greatest TakeOver of all time and what some might even say is the best wrestling PPV of all time, TakeOver New Orleans. The only reason why this isn’t higher on the list or maybe even in the top spot is because we didn’t get the final Ciampa vs. Gargano battle properly. There’s still time though, so let’s wait and watch.
With all that said, let’s talk about the implosion of DIY.
First, there’s the buildup. Gargano and Ciampa were two wrestlers in WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic. They were never meant to be signed, they were just supposed to have an outing in the CWC. Then, they had an incredible match in which Gargano beat Ciampa with a roll-up. Ciampa seemed like he’d attack Gargano, but instead, they sat beside each other and made up. The story of these unwanted boys who weren’t supposed to shine is what led them to a tag title feud against the Revival. They lost the first match when Gargano tapped out but won the belts in a 2-out-of-3 falls classic which was also NXT’s 2016 Match of the Year.
DIY is hands down the best babyface tag team NXT has ever seen, which made it all the more devastating when they lost the belts to the Authors of Pain. They had more classic tag matches with the AoP and the Revival and their legacy as a team culminated in an excellent Ladder Match against AoP in the main event of TakeOver Chicago, which they lost.
At the end of the match, Gargano and Ciampa stood at the end of the ramp, soaking in applause from the fans in what seemed like an emotional end to TakeOver. They linked heads, Ciampa said, “This is my moment” and attacked Gargano, kneeing him in the face and delivering an Air Raid Crash through the announce desk, and everyone went home unhappy.
The feud properly started when Ciampa returned from a knee injury and attacked Gargano at the end of TakeOver Philadelphia, right after Gargano’s 5-star NXT title loss to Andrade “Cien” Almas.
The Gargano-Ciampa rivalry never seemed to miss. They had 3 violent TakeOver encounters, each of them layered and complex and littered with intricate bits of storytelling. Like when they sat side by side as a throwback to their CWC match in New Orleans, or when Ciampa spat on Gargano’s wedding ring in Chicago, or when Gargano replicated Ciampa’s attack move for move in their Last Man Standing match in Brooklyn. Both of them fueled each other’s matches, Gargano constantly used Ciampa’s moves in his matches to show fans how much this feud affected him. Whenever you saw either of them, the other guy was always in the back of your mind, they were connected and meant to do this forever.
Ciampa became the NXT champion because of Gargano and became the best heel in the business. Johnny meanwhile went on a downward spiral because try as he might, he couldn’t overcome Ciampa’s evil without becoming evil himself. This was more apparent at TakeOver WarGames 2018, where Gargano lost to Aleister Black and Ciampa beat Velveteen Dream to retain his title. There was a brief DIY reunion and Gargano’s redemption arc as he finally outsmarted Ciampa in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and it would’ve been perfect had Ciampa not suffered a neck injury right before their feud was supposed to culminate at TakeOver New York.
Now, the roles have been reversed. Gargano is a heel and Ciampa is a babyface. Their “One Final Beat” match in an empty arena wasn’t nearly as satisfying as the culmination of their feud should’ve been. Also, considering the awards these two swept for the year 2018, WWE would be stupid not to revisit this feud sometime in the future. Let’s hope Gargano and Ciampa get to go at it one more time on the biggest stage possible so we as fans can get that closure.