Johnny Gargano has been one of the top names in independent wrestling for years, and in 2015, WWE finally took notice of him - he and Tommaso Ciampa were invited to participate in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, beating Bull Dempsey and Tyler Breeze in the first round. Since then, Gargano has continued to compete sporadically for the brand, most recently losing a match to Samoa Joe. Fans of NXT can tell that Gargano is talented, but they've only seen the tip of the iceberg. As a member of EVOLVE's roster since the very first show, "Johnny Wrestling" has been a fixture of the promotion for its entire history. He's a former EVOLVE Champion, and while his reign ended in 2015 and he became embroiled in a career-threatening feud with Ethan Page, Gargano emerged the victor. He's since become one-half of EVOLVE's inaugural Tag Team Champions, along with Drew Galloway. Gargano is a world-class competitor who would fit in as an NXT regular perfectly. It can't be long before WWE realizes that they need him as part of the full-time roster.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
