Every WWE Wrestler Triple H Has Re-Signed - Ranked From Worst To Best

9. Johnny Gargano

Triple H Chelsea Green Bray Wyatt
WWE.com

Make no mistake about this placement: Johnny Gargano’s return to WWE has been anything but a success when you consider his talent.

Horribly misused, booked like a geek, jobbed out to Omos, Miz, and Dominik Mysterio, and forced to do bad “comedy” in the Miz/Dexter Lumis feud, there aren’t many good things to say about the guy previously known as the Heart and Soul of NXT.

Johnny Wrestling should have been a can’t-miss babyface returning to WWE in August 2022, eight months after letting his NXT contract expire. A simple video package about his accomplishments and a few dazzling victories would have done the trick, perhaps even elevating him to a United States Championship match against former protégé Austin Theory.

And despite a few wins his first month back, Gargano then racked off four losses the next two months, disappeared from the ring for two months, and then embarrassingly came out to silence at the Royal Rumble. It seemed like he was getting back on track to start 2023, but Johnny was sidelined again and has been off TV for the past couple of months, leaving his stock in question.

Like others, Gargano could right the ship with some solid booking – he’s clearly talented – but if one of Triple H’s favorites couldn’t succeed when Hunter had full control, does anyone want to bet the farm on Johnny Wrestling with Vince back in the fold?

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.