6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (5 June - Review)

2. Too Little, Too Late

Wait, so now, nearly a full year after returning to WWE, the company finally decided to air a video package describing who Johnny Gargano is to the larger audience who doesn’t watch NXT?

They did this after making him the sidekick in Dexter Lumis’ feud with the Miz, after jobbing him out repeatedly, after devaluing him to the point where his appearance in the Royal Rumble this January was met with absolute silence.

NOW they decided to air a video about Gargano. And of course, he’s an undersized underdog who’s always underestimated. That also makes for two videos about former NXT superstars who are underdogs, as the vid for Kayden Carter & Katana Chance used the exact same terminology. That alone warrants a “down,” but the notion that they can just reboot Gargano 10 months after his return to the company like this rings hollow.

The ball’s in WWE’s court to prove this criticism wrong, but let’s not hold our collective breath.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.