Add as a preferred source on Google Johnny Gargano is in one of the strangest stretches of his WWE main roster run. Since February, Gargano has mostly been shown backstage on Friday Night SmackDown with little to no reaction, often lying face-down on production crates, luggage and equipment.
The storyline started to take shape after Tommaso Ciampa’s WWE departure and Gargano’s loss to Axiom on the January 30 episode of SmackDown, when the masked wrestler recovered the item that had previously been stolen from him. At the time, the broadcast itself emphasized that Gargano’s downward spiral was still ongoing.
On the February 6 episode, Candice LeRae tried to ask Fraxiom and the Motor City Machine Guns for help in getting her husband out of that funk.
The situation, however, did not stay limited to backstage segments. On February 27, Gargano walked away in the middle of Candice’s match against Jordynne Grace, costing his wife the victory. One week later, he tried to snap out of it, issued an open challenge, and was quickly destroyed by Oba Femi.
Despite the comedic tone, the story has now been going for more than four months and has become one of SmackDown’s recurring jokes. Gargano briefly showed signs of life in March, but the loss to Femi put him right back into the same beaten-down state.
The curious part is that, outside of that storyline, Gargano recently appeared on WWE LFG as a guest coach, speaking normally with young talent at the Performance Center. He took part in a meeting with Kevin Owens, Booker T and Matt Bloom, and also gave advice to an injured wrestler.
It remains to be seen whether Sami Zayn getting involved will be the route WWE uses to bring Johnny Wrestling back, or whether Gargano will keep lying on crates for a few more weeks.