7 Times WWE Tried To Unbury Someone (& Failed!)

4. Johnny Gargano

WWE Elimination Chamber 2023 Johnny Gargano
WWE.com

Johnny Gargano found himself as part of a quadri-burial in 2019 when he was dragged kicking and screaming to the main roster away from his beloved NXT alongside Tommaso Ciampa, Ricochet and Aleister Black ahead of both WrestleMania 35 and that April's soon-to-be-seminal TakeOver: New York.

This was as nightmarish for booker Triple H as it was the wrestlers themselves.

The four had little-to-no chance of making a significant dent in the 'Show Of Shows' card, and this put potential blockers on major payoffs at the NXT supercard. They didn't even get storyline introductions beyond a despondent 'Game' being trotted out on to the February 18th to fold their arrivals into an ego-boosting announcement that DX were going into the Hall Of Fame. It went from bad to worse when NXT Champion Ciampa got injured in a tag match on his first Raw, resulting in him having to surrender the belt he was set to defend against his former DIY partner in New York.

Gargano was inadvertently rescued by all this, with Hunter arguing for his NXT return to fill the gap now left by Ciampa, and the eventual contest with Adam Cole was so brilliant that it looked as though he'd survived the misstep unscathed. Alas - he was damaged goods for the main roster crowd. 

An extended stay in what ultimately became the death knell era of the black-and-gold brand garnered mixed results (The Way - good, absolutely everything else - not), and in December 2021, he left the show and the company before even getting a second go of things. That came eight months later when Triple H had assumed control of WWE, but his misplaced insistence on using his old NXT faves and just hoping for the best undermined the supposed magic. 'Johnny Wrestling' got a nice reaction for his unannounced return, but slotted in so quickly as a lower midcarder (with and without DIY partner Ciampa) that most fans seemed to accept that the ceiling wasn't that high to begin with. 

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 well over 65,000,000 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 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 sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.