Johnny Gargano And Why Wins And Losses Matter in WWE

Many who work for WWE, either as a performer or in a behind-the-scenes capacity, have been known to claim in interviews and Q&As that wins and losses don’t matter in sports entertainment. It’s the stories that matter and putting smiles on people’s faces, they argue.

I agree with them. Primarily, I watch WWE programming for the ongoing storylines and to immerse myself in a pseudo-fictional world unlike any other. Yet, the notion that wins and losses don’t mean anything is counter-intuitive to the storytelling they are trying to accomplish. If Wrestler X loses every match, to the point where the crowd doesn’t care, then what’s compelling about the story he or she is telling? It’s why I, like many these days, don’t watch entire episodes of Raw or Smackdown every week. Not only is it a five-hour commitment over two consecutive nights, but there’s little happening on a weekly basis of any lasting consequence. I enjoy the pay-per-views, but miss little in between.

However, NXT is a different kind of machine. Its Takeover specials (pay-per-view equivalents) occur only four or five times a year, while its weekly show on the WWE Network only takes up an hour of your week. What’s more, the storytelling applies more focus on the actual wrestling. Part of this is because Triple H is at the helm instead of Vince McMahon. In part, we assume that Trips has more freedom to put on the show that he wants without restrictions imposed by television networks and sponsors. In addition, due to the filming schedule (typically, a month’s worth of NXT TV is taped in a single night), superstars on the NXT roster don’t appear on the show every week, giving their characters and storylines a chance to breathe. The one-hour duration of each episode leaves the viewer wanting more, and the gap between major events allows feuds to simmer until they boil over. While those feuds are bubbling, the wrestlers involved don’t face each other week after week in different variations (e.g. in tag or multi-person matches) until it becomes stale; instead, newer recruits at the Performance Center not yet ready of NXT TV are used as jobbers to take losses without compromising the integrity of the main characters involved.

And, wins and losses apparently matter on NXT. Case in point: Johnny Gargano.

The man known affectionately as Johnny Wrestling has entered 2018 as the number one contender to the NXT Championship. He won the right to challenge for the brand’s top title on the final episode of 2017 in a stellar fatal-four-way main event against Aleister Black, Killian Dain and Lars Sullivan. As the referee counted to three while Gargano covered Black, the crowd at Full Sail University erupted. Everyone was on their feet and making noise. The broadcast concluded with chants of ‘Johnny Wrestling’. Everyone in attendance was excited and the same could likely be said of many watching on their sofas at home. The audience cares and it’s because Johnny Gargano won a match.

Johnny Wrestling’s current story arc began at Takeover Chicago, back in May 2017. After a losing effort in a three-way tag-team ladder match, Gargano and his tag-partner, Tommaso Ciampa, stood atop the ramp as the crowd showered them in cheers of respect. Ciampa put his arm over Gargano’s shoulder and the copyright information (WWE’s version of an end credit) appeared on the screen. However, the show wasn’t quite over, as Ciampa turned on his tag partner, unleashing one of the more surprising, yet somewhat expected heel-turn attacks in WWE history. The team, known as DIY, was finished.

Ciampa was injured, it was later revealed, and would be out for eight or nine months. Gargano returned to our screens after a few weeks and embarked upon a singles career. He won a few matches against newcomers such as Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss, and was challenged to a match at Takeover Brooklyn III in August by Andrade “Cien” Almas. Gargano looked poised to pick up the win until Almas’s manager, Zelina Vega, threw a DIY t-shirt into the ring, distracting Johnny Wrestling long enough for Andrade to strike and steal the victory. This saw the start of a losing streak for Gargano, as we watched the character begin to doubt to himself as a singles competitor. He lost matches to the likes of UK Champion Pete Dunne, yet crucially, he was never portrayed as a loser. An underdog, yes, but not a loser. This was reinforced in a couple of backstage segments in which NXT general manager William Regal gave pep talks to a defeated Gargano.

Meanwhile, Drew McIntyre received an injury while losing the NXT Championship. As a result, a number one contender was required for the new champion, and a tournament was established. Eight wrestlers were announced for the tournament, who were paired off into four singles matches, the winners of which would be entered into a fatal-four-way match. The winner of that fatal-four-way would become number one contender. The second of the singles matches was to be Kassius Ohno vs Velveteen Dream, however due to injury, Dream was unable to compete and Ohno was to face a mystery replacement. That replacement, chosen by William Regal, was Johnny Gargano. The crowd cheered his entrance; he may have lost a lot recently, but they were still behind him because he’s not a loser. Ohno and Gargano shook hands before putting on one of the best matches of the year. After several near falls, Gargano won via submission and the crowd went wild.

Fast-forward a number of weeks, and the fatal-four-way match featured its share of shenanigans (all of which made sense, by the way), before Gargano, the man who wasn’t even meant to be in the tournament, won the match and the right to challenge for the NXT title at Takeover Philadelphia in January. The man he’ll face? Why it’s Andrade “Cien” Almas, who’ll have Zelina Vega at his side once again. Can Johnny Wrestling redeem the loss that started his downfall back in August while completing his journey back up from the bottom and capturing the championship in the process? I don’t have the definitive answer, but I can’t wait to find out, because I’m invested in whether Johnny can win it, or whether he’ll fall short. I care about whether he wins or loses.