Every WWE Five Star Match Ranked From Worst To Best
2. Tommaso Ciampa Vs. Johnny Gargano - TakeOver: New Orleans
Arguably the greatest WWE yarn spun since the halcyon days of the Mega Powers, the literality of #DIY manifested as a stirring tale of redemption for Johnny Gargano.
A symbiotic relationship destroyed by a jealous psychopath unable even to forgive his friend's bravery; months and months of vile attacks fostering a crisis of confidence and a subsequent losing streak; the resultant massive wave of fan support towards Gargano only serving to make the monster within Tommaso Ciampa grow hungrier and hungrier; the loss of everything, NXT Title opportunity and Gargano's very living: all of this converged to explode in NOLA in a match that mapped beautifully the wider storyline without once feeling contrived, with the possible exception of the Gargano fan plant in crutches. Still, that scene in what amounted to a cinematic masterpiece at least drove the incredible final act, a flawless and emotional fusion of state-of-the-art counter-crammed wrestling and pure, visual poetry. Gargano and Ciampa went all in on the deeply personal premise with the crucial groundwork, with Ciampa's early blows to Gargano's back somehow contriving not to bruise it.
Expectations were impossibly high. In a sense, they were met the second Ciampa emerged for his entrance. To complete silence soon filled with deafening jeers, Ciampa restored the great lost art of the despicable, old school wrestling heel.
Those fans respected an incredible achievement lost to time, more than they genuinely loathed the Psycho Killer - but garnering a reaction like that, with no contrary voices whatsoever, is the new high watermark of a pro wrestling industry that, main roster WWE excepted, is reaching hitherto unseen levels of artistic brilliance.