6 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE NXT (11 Sept)
3. What's NXT For Johnny Wrestling?
WWE.com Johnny Gargano milked the sh*t out of an extended "Johnny Wrestling" chant before getting to the fairly punctuated point of his promo, and whilst it wasn't remotely funny, the rhythm had something of a Stewart Lee routine about it - at the point it appeared to conclude, it ramped back up, then fell, then rose, then fell.
Seconds can last lifetimes in pro wrestling, and the 125 or so between Gargano grabbing the microphone to talk and him actually saying the world gave his spiel the sort of gravitas his TakeOver: Toronto match failed to deliver.
Smartly alluding to his career in the past tense to play on the anxiety of his adoring audience, Gargano teed up something "official" before Shane Thorne interrupted to expedite what he assumed was an NXT departure.
The sheer audacity of it got over, as did Gargano's fake-out exit before chlipping him with a superkick. "I'm not going anywhere" got the pop it deserved - this brand is exactly where he needs to be and where he's needed.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 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. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, 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
