I'll preface this by saying that this is not an attack on either wrestler. I think Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano are two of the best in the world and have very bright futures ahead of them. In their recent trilogy of NXT Heavweight Title matches, I was oftentimes amazed by the creativity of their spots and athleticism. I enjoyed all of those matches, but I had one major issue that began in their second match and really bothered me with their blow-off at NXT Takeover. My issue may sound strange, but I'll explain. Their final match was completely unrealistic.
Look, we all know that professional wrestling is a work. The concept of kayfabe is like Santa Claus at this point. Every wrestling fan knows that the guys or girls in the ring don't hate each other (usually) and are working together to put on an athletic performance. I already loved wrestling when I decided to get into the business, but when I started to understand wrestling psychology and how to put together a match, I fell in love with it even harder.
Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano told some excellent stories, especially their first match for the vacant NXT title. I remember watching that match while on the treadmill at the gym and wound up running a lot longer than I intended because I was so engrossed in what they were doing and the kind of story they were telling. I could sit down and watch it again right now and it would be just as thrilling. If I had to rank them, that's probably my match of the year in 2019.
Their second match was also very good, though by the end I found myself ready for it to be over. The third match, however, while still showing off how innovative they are as performers, lost me at around the 40-minute mark when the third and final fall began.
While reading the Bleacher Report recap of the event this morning, their writer gave the match an A+ rating and stated that Dave Meltzer would do right by breaking his five-star ranking system and giving this match a six-star rating. I couldn't help but disagree.
The reason these two excellent performers lost me is simple. There were way too many false finishes. Gargano and Cole kicked out of so many moves that normally would have won matches that it took away every bit of drama that they were building and reminded me that wrestling is a work.
I understand that the landscape of wrestling has changed, and in the time that I stepped away from the business, a new type of wrestling emerged. The "indie" style became the new norm. I'm not saying that that's a good thing or a bad thing, but what is popular now has certainly changed from the days of Stone Cold Steve Austin versus The Rock and Bret Hart versus Shawn Michaels.
Long gone are the days of the bodybuilder being a top guy simply because he looks like a million bucks. I support that. Gargano and Cole are both under six feet tall, and after watching them, one can't deny their talent. They deserve to be top guys wherever they are.
Back to my issue, though. When the trilogy came to an end, it did so with the two men taking a bump off the top of a cage through a table in the middle of the ring. Ten times out of ten, that's your finish, and this was no exception. The problem I faced is that after every finisher that was kicked out of up to that point, I completely expected Johnny Gargano to kick out. I did. I was actually surprised when Gargano didn't kick out of that.
I've often referred to WrestleMania as "the kick out pay-per-view" in years past. It's the biggest wrestling show of the year, and it makes sense that this would be where wrestlers dig deep to find that every bit of adrenaline to kick out of a huge move. Cole and Gargano were on a huge stage at Takeover Toronto, but it was just too much.
Many speculate that Johnny Gargano will now be heading to WWE's main roster. And good for him. He deserves it. But the problem I face now is how am I supposed to believe it when he doesn't kick out of an RKO or any other wrestler's finisher? He can kick out of two Canadian Destroyers in a row and the seventeen other finishers he kicked out of, but I'm supposed to believe that a Styles Clash was too much for him to handle?
This is not me being a jealous indie wrestler. Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano are ten times the wrestlers I'll ever be and do things that I'll never be able to do. Again, I'll reiterate, I loved their matches together. But even though I've been involved in wrestling since 2004, I'm still a fan, and the finale of their trilogy completely destroyed my suspension of disbelief. At a certain point, the drama disappeared because I knew that something as insignificant as a Canadian Destroyer (which was the most devastating finishing move wrestling had ever seen a decade ago) was going to be enough to win the match.
This was the glaring issue of these instant classics. After a certain point, I was no longer involved in the drama and storytelling of the feud, and remembered that I was simply watching two guys have a wrestling match.
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