Johnny Gargano

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 Debut

**John Anthony Nicholas Gargano** (born August 14, 1987) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler best known under the ring name **Johnny Gargano.** He is currently signed to UNW, where he spent the vast majority of his career wrestling for the NXT brand. He is widely regarded as the greatest NXT wrestler of all time.

## Early Life

Johnny Gargano was born and raised in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, Ohio to Adrianne (née Klasinski) and Francis Gargano. His mother is of Polish descent and his father, a restaurateur is of Italian descent. He entered a professional wrestling ring for the first time at age eight, when Cleveland All–Pro Wrestling (CAPW) owner J.T. Lightning, who ran shows behind Gargano's father's catering business, allowed him to roll around in the ring. While studying in St. Edward High School, Gargano decided to enter CAPW's professional wrestling school in order to become a professional wrestler. At age 16, Gargano began training at the Cleveland All Pro Training Center under J.T. Lightning and Josh Prohibition.

## Professional wrestling career

### Early career and tryouts

Gargano made his professional wrestling debut for CAPW in 2005. In his first match, he competed in the AIW Gauntlet For The Gold Battle Royal on December 11, 2005, which was won by Michael Hutter. Gargano calls his wrestling style "Lucharesu", a mix of British chain wrestling, lucha libre and puroresu and described his character at the time as "someone lacking self awareness and living in his own deluded little world". On October 8, 2006, Gargano defeated Josh Prohibition, M-Dogg 20, and Zach Gowen in a four-way match to win his first Championship, the CAPW Junior Heavyweight Championship. He would continue to make appearances for the company until August 5, 2007, teaming up with Prohibition in his CAPW farewell match, where they defeated Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin.

On June 24, 2009, Gargano wrestled in a dark match at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's *Impact!* television tapings, losing to Jay Lethal. The following day he wrestled in another dark match, this time losing to Eric Young. Gargano has also wrestled in a dark match for Ring of Honor, defeating Sami Callihan on August 15, 2008. After his ROH tryout it was discovered that Gargano had a hairline fracture in his back, caused by his left leg being shorter than his right leg, which led to his doctor advising him to rethink his career choice. Gargano, however, returned to the ring six months later.

### Absolute Intense Wrestling (2006–2016)

Gargano made his debut for Cleveland–based Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) on February 26, 2006, losing to Kano. He would pick up his first victory in the promotion two months later on April 30, defeating Tyrone Evans. On February 24, 2008, Gargano defeated his trainer Josh Prohibition to become the number one contender to the AIW Intense Division Championship. After Gargano's first shot at the title, held by Tyler Black, went to a fifteen-minute time limit draw on March 21, the two were booked in a 30-minute Iron Man match on May 25, where Gargano defeated Black to win the Intense Division Championship for the first time. Gargano held the title for 187 days before he was stripped of it due to an injury on November 28, 2008. On February 28, 2009, Gargano defeated Jimmy DeMarco, who had won the vacant Intense Division Championship in a tournament, to regain the title. He would go on to lose the title to Josh Prohibition on May 15, 2009.

On April 9, 2010, Gargano teamed up with Aeroform (Flip Kendrick and Louis Lyndon) to form Team Oreo for the Jack of All Trios tournament, a tournament held for sixteen teams of three. After defeating Psycho Sexual Panic (Corvis Fear, Michael Facade and Shiima Xion) on night one of the tournament, Gargano and Aeroform advanced to night two, where they defeated Team Beyond Wrestling (Chase Burnett, Davey Vega and Zane Silver), Da Soul Touchaz (Acid Jaz, Marshe Rockett and Willie Richardson) and finally the Young Studs (Bobby Beverly, Eric Ryan and T.J. Dynamite) to win the tournament. As a result of winning the tournament, Gargano and Aeroform earned the right to represent AIW in Chikara's 2010 King of Trios tournament. On June 27, Gargano defeated Facade, Sterling James Keenan and Tommy Mercer in a four-way match to win AIW's top singles title, the vacant AIW Absolute Championship, for the first time. Later that same night, Gargano retained his brand new title by wrestling Bryan Danielson to a 30-minute time limit draw. He would go on to lose the title to Shiima Xion on June 26, 2011. On March 3, 2012, Gargano won a 30-man Gauntlet for the Gold, last eliminating Tim Donst, to earn a shot at Xion and the AIW Absolute Championship.

### Pro Wrestling Ohio/Prime Wrestling (2007–2013)

Gargano appeared on the very first episode of Pro Wrestling Ohio on Sports Time Ohio on November 20, 2007. He would lose his debut, in what many called an upset, to Gregory Iron, a wrestler with a disability known as cerebral palsy. Iron issued several challenges to Gargano, claiming he could beat him in another match. Meanwhile, Gargano remained in denial of the original defeat from Iron, and continued to mock Iron's disability, his history of concussions, and rough upbringing. At the February 2008 PWO TV tapings, Gargano brutally attacked Iron, busting him open, assaulting him with a chair, and bashing his head into the ringside barricades. On August 1, 2008, Gargano defeated Iron in a Last Man Standing match in front of over 1,000 fans in Cleveland, Ohio to end their feud.

Gargano suffered a hairline fracture in his vertebrae during the Last Man Standing match and did not return to active competition until March 2009, when he faced off against Mike Tolar and Jason Bane in a three-way match to become number one contender for the PWO Heavyweight Championship, in which he was victorious. Gargano went on to unsuccessfully challenge Matt Cross for the PWO Heavyweight Championship on April 18, 2009. After Gargano's loss, Josh Prohibition capitalized on a worn down Cross, and defeated him for the PWO Championship. On August 9, 2009, at *Wrestlelution 2: A Coming of Age* Gargano defeated Prohibition in his final match, for the PWO Championship. On August 1, 2010, at *Wrestlelution 3: A Defining Moment*, Gargano defeated Cross to retain the PWO Heavyweight Championship. On March 20, 2011, Gargano lost the PWO Heavyweight Championship to Marion Fontaine in a three-way match, which also included Jason Bane, after getting hit with a nightstick. After Pro Wrestling Ohio was renamed Prime Wrestling in early 2012, Gargano regained the PWO Heavyweight Championship, now known as the Prime Heavyweight Championship, by defeating Jimmy Jacobs on August 19, 2012. He lost the title to Krimson on February 16, 2013. Gargano regained the title from Krimson on October 20 at Wrestlelution 6.

### Chikara (2008, 2010–2013, 2016)

While wrestling for Chicago-based All American Wrestling (AAW), Gargano ran into Colt Cabana, who suggested he get in touch with former Ring of Honor booker Gabe Sapolsky, who was looking for talents for Dragon Gate USA and Evolve Wrestling, and tell him that Cabana sent him. Gargano received a tryout match for Dragon Gate on July 25, 2009, at the tapings of the Enter the Dragon pay-per-view, wrestling in an eight-way elimination dark match won by Lince Dorado. On November 28 at Freedom Fight, Gargano made his pay-per-view debut by entering the tournament to crown the first Open the Freedom Gate Champion, but was eliminated in the first round. In May, Gargano signed a contract with Dragon Gate USA. On July 24 at Enter the Dragon, Gargano lost to Cima. On September 26, Gargano offered himself to Cima's Warriors International stable. On October 29 at Dragon Gate USA's first live pay-per-view, Bushido: Code of the Warrior, Gargano wrestled in a four-way match won by Chuck Taylor. After Taylor turned down an offer from Cima to join his Warriors International stable, Gargano offered himself to Cima but was turned down. Gargano confronted Cima again, offering himself to Warriors International, before attacking him and Ricochet, along with Chuck Taylor and Rich Swann, forming the stable Ronin.

On January 29, 2011, Gargano and Taylor entered a three-day-long tournament to determine the first ever Open the United Gate Champions. Gargano and Taylor defeated Naruki Doi and Ricochet and followed it up by defeating Cima and Dragon Kid, before losing in the finals to Masato Yoshino and PAC. On April 1 at *Open the Southern Gate*, Gargano lost to Cima, with Ronin now working as a babyface group against Cima's Blood Warriors. The following day at Mercury Rising, Ronin lost a six-man tag team match to Cima, Doi and Ricochet. On April 3 at Open the Ultimate Gate, Austin Aries, who lost a match with his Dragon Gate USA career on the line, feigned passing the torch to his former Ronin rivals, but turned on them and joined Blood Warriors. Gargano defeated Jon Davis on April 19 at Evolve's first live internet pay-per-view. Later that same night, he defeated Chuck Taylor in a tiebreaker match to become Evolve's new wins leader with a record of 6–2. On June 3 at Fearless, Gargano lost to Aries, but came back two days later at Enter The Dragon to force Cima and Aries to submit in a six-man elimination tag team match, where he teamed with Rich Swann and Masato Yoshino with Brodie Lee being the third member of Blood Warriors.

On November 13 at Freedom Fight, Gargano defeated Yamato to win the Open the Freedom Gate Championship. On January 14, 2012, Gargano retained the title against Ricochet in the final professional wrestling match in the Asylum Arena. Following the match, Gargano was helped backstage and rushed to a hospital with a back injury, but was released the following day. On March 30, Gargano returned to Dragon Gate USA, where he and Chuck Taylor unsuccessfully fought Masato Yoshino and Ricochet for the vacant Open the United Gate Championship; Taylor then turned on Gargano and broke away from Ronin. Following the merger of Dragon Gate USA and Evolve, Gargano successfully defended the Open the Freedom Gate Championship against Taylor on June 29 at Evolve 15. On July 28 at Untouchable, Gargano retained the title against Akira Tozawa. Prior to the event it had been reported that Gargano had been offered a developmental contract with WWE, however, following his win, Gargano revealed that he had signed a two-year contract extension with Dragon Gate USA/Evolve. The following day at Enter the Dragon, Gargano defeated Chuck Taylor in a non-title "I Quit" match, ending their rivalry. Gargano made another successful defense of the Open the Freedom Gate Championship on September 8, defeating Jon Davis at Evolve 17. On November 4 at Freedom Fight, despite a pre-match assault by Jon Davis, Gargano defeated Tozawa, A. R. Fox and Ricochet in a four-way elimination match to retain the Open the Freedom Gate Championship and, as a result, made it to a full year as the champion. On December 8 at Evolve 18, Gargano retained the title against Sami Callihan.

On April 6, 2013, Gargano retained the Open the Freedom Gate Championship against Shingo after hitting him with a low blow and a chain, turning villainous in the process. Gargano's streak of successful title defenses continued against the likes of Samuray del Sol, Akira Tozawa, and Rich Swann. Having now held the Open the Freedom Gate Championship for two years, Gargano retained the title on November 17 against Chris Hero. Gargano's successful title defenses continued in early 2014, when he defeated Uhaa Nation, Trent Baretta, and Roderick Strong. On March 27, it was reported that Gargano had signed a contract extension with Dragon Gate USA. On April 4, Gargano lost the Open the Freedom Gate Championship to Ricochet in a match one year in the making, ending his two and a half year reign. The rivalry between Gargano and Rich Swann culminated in an "Evolution's End" match on August 10, where Swann was victorious. Post-match, Gargano saved Swann from an attack by the Premier Athlete Brand of Anthony Nese, Caleb Konley and Su Yung.

On November 16, 2014, during Dragon Gate USA's parent company WWNLive's tour of China, Gargano defeated Ricochet to regain the Open the Freedom Gate Championship, becoming the first two-time holder of the title. On March 26, 2015, Gargano retained the Open the Freedom Gate Championship against A. R. Fox to set up a double title match with Evolve World Champion Drew Galloway two days later, where Galloway defeated Gargano to retain the Evolve World Championship and win the Open the Freedom Gate Championship. Following the match, Ethan Page turned on Gargano, starting a feud between the two with the storyline being that Gargano got Page his job in Evolve, but he was now trying to make himself a name at Gargano's expense. On April 18, Gargano and Swann defeated Anthony Nese and Caleb Konley to win the Open the United Gate Championship. On May 30, Ronin successfully defended the title against Drew Gulak and Tracy Williams. After the match, Gargano retired the Open the United Gate Championship since Dragon Gate was the past and demanded the creation of the Evolve Tag Team Championship. Gargano's partnership with Swann ended on August 15, when Swann turned on Gargano and joined forces with Ethan Page. The feud between Gargano and Page culminated on October 17 at Evolve 49, where Gargano defeated Page in an "I Quit" match, where his Evolve career was on the line. On January 24, 2016, at Evolve 55, Gargano and Drew Galloway defeated Chris Hero and Tommy End in the finals of a tournament to become the inaugural Evolve Tag Team Champions. They lost the title to Drew Gulak and Tracy Williams on April 2. After the match, Galloway turned on Gargano. The feud between Gargano and Galloway concluded on July 17 at Evolve 65, where Gargano lost to Galloway.

On July 21, Evolve revealed Gargano's impending departure from the promotion with his final match taking place on September 11. On September 10 at Evolve 68, Gargano was defeated by Zack Sabre Jr. in his final singles match in Evolve. The following day at Evolve 69, Gargano and Cody Rhodes defeated Chris Hero and Drew Galloway in Gargano's Evolve farewell match.

### Dragon Gate (2011, 2012)

On March 1, 2011, Gargano made his Japanese debut, when his Dragon Gate USA stable Ronin started their first three-week-long tour of Dragon Gate. In their first match of the tour, Gargano, Chuck Taylor and Rich Swann defeated Blood Warriors representatives Cima, Naruki Doi and Naoki Tanisaki in a six-man tag team match.

Gargano returned to Dragon Gate in October 2012, now aligned with the World-1 International stable. In his first match of the tour on October 6, Gargano teamed with Masato Yoshino and Naruki Doi to defeat Kaettekita Veteran-gun representatives Don Fujii, Gamma and Masaaki Mochizuki in a six-man tag team main event. The following day, Gargano defeated Ryo "Jimmy" Saito to retain the Open the Freedom Gate Championship.

### Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (2013–2015)

On March 22, 2013, Gargano made his debut for Southern California-based Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) during the promotion's All Star Weekend 9, teaming with Chuck Taylor in a non-title tag team match, where they were defeated by the reigning PWG World Tag Team Champions, The Young Bucks. Gargano returned to PWG on June 15, when he and Taylor lost to the Dojo Bros. (Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong). On August 30, Gargano entered the 2013 Battle of Los Angeles, defeating Willie Mack in the first round. The following day, Gargano defeated Kevin Steen in the second round, before being eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by Michael Elgin. On October 20, Gargano defeated Roderick Strong and, at the end of the event, challenged Adam Cole to a future match for the PWG World Championship. Gargano received his title shot during the second day of *All Star Weekend X* on December 21, but was defeated by Cole. Gargano failed to earn another title shot on January 31, 2014, when he was defeated by Drake Younger in a four-way number one contender's match, which also included Chris Hero and Kyle O'Reilly. In August, Gargano made it to the finals of the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles, before losing to Ricochet in a three-way match, also involving Roderick Strong. On December 11, 2015, Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks for the PWG World Tag Team Championship.

### Unlimited Nonstop Wrestling (2020-present)

#### Debut & First Championship Reigns (2020-

On August 18th, 2020, it was announced that Gargano had signed with UNW, competing under their NXT developmental brand. He made his debut on the following August 26th episode, defeating 'Hangman' Adam Page. September 1st it would be announced via Twitter that Gargano would team with Robert Roode and Chad Gable, who were the current NXT Tag Team Champions at the time, and be credited as a title holder alongside them as per the Freebird Rule. On September 2nd, he would have his second match in the company and subsequent Pay-Per-View debut, facing Chris Bey at NXT Takeover: The End, which he would lose in. Gargano would not revel in the loss though, following it by being announced for the WrestleMania 6 card in the Ultimate X match alongside EC3, Wade Barrett, Chris Bey, Matt Morgan, and Josh Omega. Taking place on the September 12th Night One show, Gargano would put on an astounding performance, exceeding expectations and ultimately winning the match and capturing his second title in the company. Gargano credits the performance as "career-defining" and says that without that opportunity, "there wouldn't be a Johnny Wrestling in UNW."