Johnny Gargano Shows Marvel Love With Iron Man Costume At NXT TakeOver: New York
First Venom now Tony Stark...
There's been a long history of WWE stars turning to comic books for inspiration in their gimmicks and NXT's Johnny Gargano, whose match with Adam Cole crowned an excellent TakeOver event in New York has previous already. Last year he dialled into the success of Venom's solo movie by wearing ring-gear inspired by the symbiote and in New York he turned to Marvel once more for inspiration.
Ahead of his NXT championship title match with Cole, which was incredibly hot with the crowd and told the story of a wrestler fighting for their destiny after years of near-misses, Gargano walked out in an armoured, sleeveless outfit designed in honour of Iron Man.
The costume included a lit-up element in tribute to Tony Stark's arc reactor in his chest, but also set out like Gargano's "winking" emoji logo. And Iron Man take on that emblem also appeared on one of his knees.
It's a fitting link, when you think about Gargano's story as a whole. Just like Tony Stark, he's haunted by past failures and singularly determined to prove himself worthy of his assumed destiny. Luckily for him, though, he's unlikely to see his arc ending with him or his friends dead at the hands of a giant purple alien.
Though, with some of WWE's past bookings, you probably shouldn't put it past them to try that on the main roster for him eventually...
What did you think of NXT TakeOver: New York and Gargano's outfit?