Johnny Gargano is genuinely one of my favourite talents in the world, purely because of his run in NXT. The DIY/Revival story kept me interested in wrestling for a while, whilst the main roster was as bad as it was. Then the split and feud between DIY really took over
I was really happy with Gargano getting that spotlight tonight, and it shows that Triple H still sees them as something special. I’m hoping that within the next two years, we see that rivalry reignited on the main roster, and we can develop Gargano as the companies big underdog babyface, similar to a Rey Mysterio or Bryan Danielson. Whilst Ciampa goes into be that menace heel who always takes things too far, like an ‘09 Orton. Even if it just cooks on the undercard, it’s something that SmackDown could really benefit from, especially if it’s for the US Title
That being said, a lot of credit needs to go to Ilja Dragunov. He’s an absolute demon, and his open challenge is one of the best things in WWE right now. He has what a lot of wrestlers of this generation is mission, intensity. That aspect alone reminds me of Kurt Angle. He makes everything feel so or die, everything is important, and it really makes you care about a throwaway match. He’s believable, and that’s a trait that is difficult to learn. What an athlete too, by the way
SmackDown gets a lot of flack, and rightfully so in certain areas. Ive don’t think it’s a bad show, we’ve seen bad wrestling before. SmackDown, and even the WWE product itself, it’s still good. But one of my big critiques is how repetitive a lot of the weekly shows have been. We need these mini feuds and undercard guys to have better fleshed out feuds, instead of putting all the pressure on Priest/Black and Cody/Drew. Having them as the main focus naturally draws certain people away. A little spice in the undercard could definitely benefit, and the likes of Gargano, Ciampa, and Ilja could be the guys that elevate the show a lot more again
Sorry for the long reply, I have a very bad habit of over typing lmaooo
