7 Amazing Wrestlers WWE Had No Plan For

6. #DIY

Tommaso Ciampa Johnny Gargano
WWE.com

Time's not been the kindest to the 2018 payoff matches between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.

Back then, the pair seemed easily on course to redefine what it meant to have a classic in WWE, but it was revealing how quickly some of those seemingly iconic clashes became clichéd self-parodies. The melodrama and cinematic flourishes worked to incredible effect once or twice, but the slow, deliberate facials that replaced rage during the heat of the battles rapidly felt faker than originally intended, The rap on NXT in general was always that the wrestlers were basically trained to find the hard camera rather than wrestle. In the case of two indie darlings Gargano and Ciampa, it was as if one skill risked replacing the other.

Not that they had to worry about that upon an out-of-nowhere main roster call-up in 2019. Brought to the main roster during WrestleMania season (as if to highlight how far gone the creative process really was by then), Vince McMahon stuck them both against The Revival on Raw, then The Bar on SmackDown then sent them back where they came from having expedited the 'Pyscho Killer's lingering neck problems before he could put Gargano over in the latest culmination of their rivalry. It killed the heat between the two as well as the planned main event of the upcoming TakeOver: New York, and - recent surprise 2026 rebirth for Gargano notwithstanding - neither ever realised anything close to their potential on the main roster again. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but 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 in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 70,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and 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. 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.