10 WWE Stars Who Are Horrendously Miscast

7. Johnny Gargano

Matt Riddle
NXT

Is playing:

A heel, and just in case there was any ambiguity over this development, tracing back to that time in 2018 when he was out there on bridges only tentatively enjoying the dark, he loves him some dark now. He is a full-blown heel; he has new music and everything, and to reinforce the message, he cheated during every available opportunity in his recent match with Dominik Dijakovic in a very obvious story very atypical of NXT Producer Shawn Michaels!

Should be playing:

Come back home to the babyface side of that bridge, Jonny, and stop looking at your hands. They'll still be there in the morning. Gargano can play heel...in a pro wrestling company. In the sports entertainment company, he is depended upon to act, and his melodramatic acting is the cause of his fall from grace. Gargano was once the hottest star in all of wrestling. He had fused emotive babyface work with state-of-the-art technicality to become great, and now he's a punchline in certain circles. This is an indictment of NXT's approach. His act used to convince. He was phenomenal as the earnest, explosive 21st century Ricky Steamboat. He needs to mouth "I'm sorry, I love you" in the direction of Shawn Michaels but not, under any circumstances, in the context of a pro wrestling match.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!