Johnny Gargano was back as 'Johnny Wrestling' this weekend, and "celebrated" his return with a match (and loss) against WWE Intercontinental Champion Gunther.
Gargano was drafted to Monday Night Raw in WWE's most recent roster split, but hasn't wrestled on the show yet due to recovering from a nagging shoulder injury that he'd first suffered at a December house show. The former NXT Champion worked a handful of television and live event dates between the Royal Rumble and a Stand & Deliver victory over Grayson Waller over WrestleMania weekend, but the latter was his most recent in-ring appearance until the weekend's loss to Gunther. The Imperium leader and current Intercontinental Champion also moved from SmackDown to Raw in the latest shake-up, which could forecast an upcoming programme for the pair.
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Expect Gargano's in-ring return to extend to television in the near future, with him toasting the reunion of former NXT stable The Way on last week's episode. Real life wife Candice LeRae as well as on-screen friends Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis all came together on the red brand on the May 8th episode.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he 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 on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
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 music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
