10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE NXT TakeOver

3. But The Fall Is Even Worse...

Sami Zayn
WWE.com

In February 2020, less than a year after an injury to Tommaso Ciampa put an enforced but welcome end to the #DIY feud, Johnny Gargano turned heel to reboot hostilities between them. They were to fight at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver over WrestleMania 36 weekend, in a retooling that drew quiet resentment from NXT lifers pining for something new.

Truthfully, their genuinely remarkable TakeOver: New Orleans war in the Spring of 2018 war had already felt further in the rearview mirror by the time they were fighting and reuniting later that year. Ciampa becoming NXT Champion thanks to accidental interference from Gargano was a great subversion of everybody's expectations, and it was sort of impossible to criticise the technical brilliance work, but almost every other match they had after the original was a little on the indulgent and overly-theatrical side.

It would be good when they were finally allowed to part ways, said nobody internally.

The aforementioned Gargano swerve turn brought about a rancid "One Final Beat" during the second week of 2020's TakeOver: Stand & Deliver payoff that came with a baked-in promise that they'd never wrestle again. They were back at it in the summer. Both encounters took place in empty buildings, and the actTING and am-dram facial expressions generated memes rather than Moments (TM).

Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa were too great individually and together to have their rivalry and its staples become such a tired collection of clichés. But the (black-and-)golden boys suddenly felt anything but valuable to the brand, and unfortunately they weren't the only ones...

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett