{"id":55115,"date":"2018-02-07T15:58:06","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T21:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=55115"},"modified":"2018-02-07T15:58:06","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T21:58:06","slug":"nxt-tracker-johnny-gargano-assessing-predicting-prospects-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/02\/07\/nxt-tracker-johnny-gargano-assessing-predicting-prospects-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future\/","title":{"rendered":"NXT TRACKER &#8211; JOHNNY GARGANO: Assessing and predicting the prospects of an NXT wrestler\u2019s main roster future"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-4069774853\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Welcome once again to the NXT TRACKER, where I pick an NXT talent, assess their progression to this point and make bold, sure-to-look-hilarious-in-retrospect predictions about their future prospects. Surprisingly enough, I have never covered Johnny Gargano, so here we are. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Talent<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Johnny was an indy darling long before his time in NXT. My own familiarity from him stems from the time he spent with Chikara in Philadelphia, though he also worked for Dragon Gate, Ring of Honor, TNA, Evolve and PWG before finally signing with WWE in 2016. He did have a \u201cWait, that was him?\u201d moment in NXT, just like his old partner Tomasso Ciampa; he wrestled as \u201cChampion of Liechtenstein, Cedrick von Haussen\u201d against a heel MVP, who claimed he had scoured the globe looking for competition. It\u2019s definitely worth revisiting to see how Gargano is presented. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Signature Wins in NXT<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gargano and his future partner Ciampa floundered in NXT as singles for the most part until they were thrown together in a team that I feared would also be used as enhancement. Of course, this turned out not to be the case, as both members found success &#8211; and perhaps more importantly, the personas that would serve them for the future &#8211; in #DIY. We got a taste of their impending feud in the fantastic final first round match of the Cruiserweight Classic, a brutal match where Gargano eked out a win over Ciampa in the end after being pummeled for almost the full duration. As a team, #DIY had a great feud with The Revival that culminated in the former winning the NXT tag titles at TakeOver: Toronto in November 2016, though their reign was a short one as The Authors of Pain took the titles in January. In May 2017, Ciampa turned on Gargano to break up the team before taking significant time off for injury, leading to Gargano\u2019s somewhat surprising main event push and subsequent thriller with Andrade Almas at TakeOver: Philadelphia. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Live Reactions<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gargano seems to be hitting the same notes as Sami Zayn in NXT. He\u2019s almost universally cheered, and more than anything, he succeeds as a result of his believable underdog status. Gargano still isn\u2019t a special talent on the mic, but he was given a lot of opportunity to sell his match with Almas and I felt he did fairly well, primarily playing opposite Almas\u2019s manager Zelina Vega. Ciampa\u2019s return and brutal attack on Gargano after his hard-fought loss should guarantee this dynamic with the fans will continue. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Booking<\/b><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1628553968\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just as with many other NXT talents, it seems that the bookers have worked wonders with Gargano\u2019s skill set. He\u2019s being properly cast and put in a place to succeed against giants and strong heels, and the audience eats up his act. It\u2019s going to be very interesting to see how NXT follows up on Gargano\u2019s wife, Candice LeRae, coming to his aid during the Almas match; I don\u2019t mind real-life couples being acknowledged sometimes, but hopefully this connection won\u2019t overshadow what both wrestlers are able to bring to the table in their respective divisions. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Future and Predictions<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not long ago, I felt resigned to Gargano fulfilling a lower-card role or a spot in 205 Live, but given the reactions he\u2019s been able to get &#8211; particularly of late &#8211; I have to think the company will make a proper go of Gargano on the main roster and see if his underdog act translates there. We\u2019ve seen with acts like Zayn that it\u2019s very hard to carry over that underdog credibility because it almost requires a retelling of the same story now on a larger stage, but I think Gargano can be successful on the main roster to some degree. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to be a main event talent there, but I think he can be at a level like Kofi Kingston before New Day or higher, and as we\u2019ve seen, in the absence of the intended main eventer via injury, Gargano can bring it at the highest level when it counts. Like most everyone else, I\u2019ll be cheering him on.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT OUR FREE WEEKLY &#8220;PWT TALKS NXT&#8221; ROUNDTABLE STYLE PODCAST:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pwtorchlivecast.com\/category\/latestepisodes\/pwt-talks-nxt\/\">CLICK HERE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/pwtorchlivecast.com\/category\/latestepisodes\/pwt-talks-nxt\/<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT THIS PREVIOUS COLUMN:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/12\/10\/nxt-tracker-velveteen-dream-assessing-predicting-prospects-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future\/\">NXT TRACKER \u2013 VELVETEEN DREAM: Assessing and predicting the prospects of an NXT wrestler\u2019s main roster future<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1746729434\"><div id=\"pwtor-4090248996\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Welcome once again to the NXT TRACKER, where I pick an NXT talent, assess their progression to this point and make bold, sure-to-look-hilarious-in-retrospect predictions about their future prospects. Surprisingly enough, I have never covered Johnny <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/02\/07\/nxt-tracker-johnny-gargano-assessing-predicting-prospects-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future\/\" title=\"NXT TRACKER &#8211; JOHNNY GARGANO: Assessing and predicting the prospects of an NXT wrestler\u2019s main roster future\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,4381,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-nxt-tracker","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Gargano_Charlton3x2.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55117,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55115\/revisions\/55117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}