Johnny Gargano has officially hit one of the strangest milestones in recent WWE history. The former NXT Champion has now spent a full six months doing his “planking” bit on company television.
On the August 7 edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Gargano once again showed up lying face down backstage, this time during a segment featuring Candice LeRae, Sami Zayn, and CM Punk. The appearance came almost exactly six months after the gimmick debuted on the February 6 show.
The whole thing traces back to Gargano’s loss to Axiom on the January 30 SmackDown, where Axiom won back the mask Gargano had stolen from him. One week later, LeRae discovered her husband completely motionless, lying face down on an equipment case backstage.
From there, WWE leaned into it as a running gag. Gargano kept popping up in the prone position in various spots around the arena and was even wheeled around while planking during the February 27 SmackDown.
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9:15 PM · Aug 8, 2026The bit survived SummerSlam weekend as well. In Minneapolis, WWE officially advertised the Gargano and LeRae fan photo op with the note that Johnny would be planking for pictures.
Last Friday, CM Punk jumped in on the joke. During his confrontation with Sami Zayn, the Undisputed WWE Champion told Zayn he’d give a title opportunity to Gargano and LeRae before he’d give one to Zayn. Gargano, naturally, stayed face down through virtually the entire segment.
What began as the fallout from a loss to Axiom has now stretched across half of 2026 and shows no signs of leaving WWE programming.