Gargano first appeared on WWE programming as part of the awesome Cruiser Weight Classic tournament. The tournament was a showcase for a lot of former indy darlings to show their stuff to a wider audience. Gargano failed to win the tournament but he formed a tag team with Tommaso Ciampa called DIY. He quickly established himself as the ultimate underdog. He also earned the nickname that crowds still chant at him: Johnny Wrestling. He embodies pro-wrestling, a scrappy fighter who could never quit because it is just not who he is. When he and Tommaso had their falling out, it turned into a bloody war that took both performers to another level. Gargano eventually took on a dark streak, a quirk in his personality which allowed the character to become more versatile. “Never say die” was merged with “Win at all cost” and Johnny Wrestling finally became Johnny Champion. He is one of the most well-rounded wrestlers on the roster. He can counter just about any move, he can fly high, he can twist his opponents into pretzels, he strikes like a man possessed, and he is incredibly charismatic. He is currently on the verge of possibly being brought up to the main roster but I hope he stays down in NXT. His feud with Ciampa was put on hold for at least a year due to Ciampa’s neck injury and I am excited to see where they go next. Also, I want to see what he gets up to next. Coming up, he is going to have a hell of a match with Adam Cole during Wrestlemania weekend and then the sky is the limit.
Velveteen Dream
The man who would become Velveteen Dream started his career in Maryland Championship Wrestling (local to me) and showed a lot of talent and promise. When he was first introduced to the WWE Universe, he went by his given name of Patrick Clark. He disappeared for a while and then reappeared on NXT television as the Velveteen Dream. I was immediately skeptical. He has a strange gimmick that was hard to grab onto immediately. At first, I thought it was just a Prince ripoff (one of his signature moves is called “The Purple Rainmaker”) but it is so much more than that. He uses the eccentricity of Prince as a jumping off point and then he adds in elements of Deion Sanders, The Rock, Ric Flair, and his own brand of meta-storytelling that blends into an interesting and entertaining character. He continues to captivate me and he just seems to get better and better as his career continues. The more outlandish Dream gets, the more entertaining he gets. I cannot wait to see what he does next because he will make sure that nobody ever forgets him.
21 – Favorite Current NXT Female Wrestler
Bianca Belair
I was skeptical of Bianca at first, thinking she was just loud and her personality was a little grating at first. However, she really grew on me. I first spotted her in the first Mae Young Classic tournament. She was brash and I thought there was not much more to her than the gimmick of using her ponytail to whip opponents. The first thing I noticed once she actually started appearing on NXT television was that she was immensely strong for somebody who was not very tall. When she turned babyface, her brashness was not as annoying but it was endearing. It was kind of like The Rock’s first heel turn. All it took was a change of alignment and the proper opponents for me to start to get into her. She is a homegrown talent for WWE and they obviously see a lot in her as they keep pushing her to the forefront. She labeled herself “The EST of NXT” (meaning that she is the fastEST, strongEST, and greatEST). For a long time she was undefeated but thankfully, they ended that streak because those streaks just get boring after a while. Now that it is only her mindset that is “Un-De-Fea-Ted” she has become a much more interesting character. Her recent turn to the dark side, stemming from frustration and ambition, has been interesting to watch and I cannot wait until she gets to beat the holy hell out of somebody again.
Kairi Sane
Kairi was the winner of the first Mae Young Classic, beating out actual MMA fighter and friend of Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler. She was trained in Japan as part of a company that specialized in joshi puroresu style which landed her in a dominant trio where she learned her current style. What drew me to Kairi at first was her enthusiasm for pro-wrestling and her character. She came on the scene with a pirate gimmick which she leaned into so hard that it was impossible for me not to get into it. To this day she continues to bring a ship’s wheel or a spyglass to the ring. It just looks like she is having fun playing pirate and that fun is contagious. However, when the bell rings, playtime is over and she is just as hard-hitting as any other performer. As a high-flyer, it feels like she has a higher vertical leap than most. She puts everything into every movement and every mannerism. Now she has been joined by her old teammate Io Shirai and the two have formed the Sky Pirates, a new version of their old team. She and Io are just so cute and I get a lot of joy out of watching cute people kicking the crap out of their opponents.
23 – Favorite Current NXT Tag Team
Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan
Oney Lorcan was one of those guys who looked fairly nondescript and he did not seem to have a lot of personality. Over time, he was used as a guy who had a reputation of being super tough and they often put him against somebody debuting to showcase the newcomer’s toughness. It felt like Oney was never going to go beyond a cult following, slowly building that reputation as a hard worker and a tough guy. However, he then got into a feud with British wrestler Danny Burch. Danny Burch was like the English equivalent of Oney, two tough guys straight out of a Guy Ritchie movie. After fighting, the two seemed to form a genuine appreciation of each other and then a real friendship. Playing off Oney’s name, they started saluting the crowd as number one and number two. They also started to dress like they were palette swaps in a video game with one wearing red trunks and the other wearing blue trunks. For two guys primarily known as being tough, they can really move and are able to accomplish some great technical feats as well. They are able to get the crowd fired up without getting much time on the microphone which is a heck of a feat in today’s WWE.
Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate and Trent Seven)
Back in the day, Trent Seven actually trained Tyler Bate during a pro-wrestling resurgence in England. Bate and Seven joined up with Pete Dunne to form a stable known as British Strong Style. The trio created a hybrid style between Japanese Strong Style and traditional British wrestling. While Dunne is a more vicious wrestler, Seven and Bate have been able to create their own separate but similar style. I really like a good tag team that can kick butt but also entertains at the same time. Bate especially excels at physical comedy but both of them are always ready to crack a joke either on the microphone or by playing pranks in the ring. They are called Moustache Mountain because both of them sport curled English mustaches. However, their other nickname is “Big Strong Boys” which is what crowds like to chant. Both names go with their playfulness and willingness to play to the crowd. The two of them are currently competing in both NXT and NXT UK as they have great crossover appeal.
Wolf of Words 