When WWE decided to put the SmackDown Tag Team Titles on the #DIY duo of Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, it felt like serendipity for the Cleveland grappler and his bearded “Blackheart” brother.
After establishing themselves as a team of note in NXT, winning the belts during the heyday of the promotion, and feuding with some of the best units Paul “Triple H” Levesque has ever produced, the group finally reunited after separate but similarly meh angles with The Miz on the main roster, leading to a program with A-Town Down Under centered around Johnny Wrestling's relationship with former The Way member Austin Theory. While it took some time to get back on top, and more than a few false starts along the way, in the end, #DIY got their big moment just before Money in the Bank in Toronto and would presumably get to have their coronation in Cleveland at SummerSlam, wrestling some team in their first major title defense.
And yet, despite having landed a premier opponent for SummerSlam weekend, with The Bloodline winning a gauntlet match to secure top contenders status, their match will be taking place on the SmackDown before the biggest show of the summer, despite having Cleveland's favorite son, Gargano, in the match.
What gives? Sure, there are already seven matches booked for the show, with every main roster singles belt up for grabs – save the WWE Speed Championship – plus the grudge match between Drew McIntyre and CM Punk on the books, but if a Cleveland-native can't defend his World Tag Team Championship at his hometown show when he seemingly secured the strap for the occasion why did WWE split up the tag team titles at all?
Discussing the prospects of wrestling at SummerSlam in an interview with Cageside Seats before Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga won their big match, Gargano detailed just how much it would mean for him to wrestle in Cleveland Browns Stadium, noting that he could “die happy” if he appeared on the show.
“It's one of those things where, look, I'm just happy doing anything. I would do anything in that stadium. I don't care what it is. I just wanna do something in that stadium. It's a lifelong dream of mine. Whether it's defending the tag team titles or just popping out and waving to the crowd, I don't care. I wanna do something wrestling-related in that stadium. I will die happy,” Johnny Gargano told Cageside Seats.
“It's so freaking cool. The thing I'm most looking forward to is all these people, coming from all over the world to Cleveland, Ohio. People that are like, ‘Why are we going to Cleveland?' Then they come to Cleveland, and they realize it's a beautiful city. Filled with beautiful people and amazing things to do.”
Alright, so what gives? Did Triple H and company simply not realize that performing at Cleveland Browns Arena would mean a lot to Gargano? Or did he instead believe that having #DIY defend their titles on the SmackDown before SummerSlam would help to sell more tickets for the show, with the booking decision coming down to nothing more than a logistics play? Either way, it can't feel great for Gargano to be so close to achieving his dream only to have to watch the show from the stands – or the locker room – like a fan instead of working the show like WWE's other champions.
Vic Joesph wants to see Johnny Gargano achieve his dream too
While Johnny Gargano clearly would love to wrestle in front of his hometown crowd at the second-largest show of the WWE calendar year, he isn't the only one who feels that way, as Vic Joseph, another Clevelander who called plenty of his matches in NXT, would like nothing more than to call a Johnny Wrestling match in his hometown, as it would be a full-circle moment for both men.
“I have thought about it. I'd love to be part of it in some way shape or form. I think in my dream scenario, I'd be calling a match with Johnny Gargano, which seems to be the theme of all my media here today. But, man, it's so cool for the city, too, to have an event like that. I think, even if it's in Cincinnati. Whatever city. Philadelphia right now, man. Everybody, you look around, and it's wrestling, and it's so cool, and it's so fun,” Vic Joesph told Fightful. “So to come back to Cleveland, my hometown, Miz, Gargano, the list goes on of Clevelanders. It's so cool to me to be thinking, ‘Man, the stadium that I used to work at and the stadium that I take my son to watch football, Johnny and I have been. We're now going to have a show? Oh, dude. That's awesome.'”
A true blue Cleveland fan who attends Browns games, has smashed their ceremonial guitar, and even had both his prom and his birthday party at the stadium, it's clear Gargano isn't some fairweather Clevelander who still claims the city despite now living in Florida. If WWE doesn't give him a big moment in the Forest City, it's hard to imagine fans won't look back at that as a major mistake in the future.
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