The One Faction WWE Need To Push In 2019
Little followed Johnny Gargano vs .Adam Cole from any of the wrestling shows in the New York/New Jersey area on the biggest wrestling weekend of the year - little stood a chance. The match had been bolstered by a blow-away undercard, but was thus required to try and top everything that had come before it. WWE specifically structure main cards to avoid this exact issue, yet braved it here out of a trust for the talent involved.
The freshness of the pairing contributed to the fairytale at play. Gargano still had a war to win, but for the first time in his entire TakeOver career, it was less about his friend-turned-enemy looming in the shadows of his psyche. Tommaso Ciampa bought a house in his head in 2017, but temporarily moved out when real life moved him out of the way. 'Johnny Wrestling's new battle was with an opponent that had travelled many similar roads but was, too, on a complex road to wrestling superstardom.
His cathartic and emotional victory paved his path for the near future at least. 'Johnny TakeOver' is now 'Johnny Champion' - his future is temporarily in his own hands. Cole's high profile failure in fact masqueraded as his greatest in-ring success, but his journey has to be a different one. The biggest boy-popper on the developmental brand must disappear from view in NXT, 'lest the coolest guy in the room inadvertently becomes the brand's most prominent choke artist.
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