It was a smart booking decision by Triple H and Shawn Michaels in NXT to turn Johnny Wrestling heel, and to do it gradually rather than abruptly, for two primary reasons:
- It gave fans time to acclimate so that Johnny could make it a rather seamless character transition, and;
- It serves to provide a new wrinkle to the seemingly never-ending rivalry between Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.
Gargano was a massive babyface for such an extended amount of time that Triple H and Shawn Michaels had essentially no choice but to make this transition gradual. No one would view it as being plausible if it happened on a dime. He developed edge to his character and incorporated the wearable aspect over a period of a few months, and it worked very well. The NXT universe was willing to accept Gargano’s term and found it to be very believable.
Tommaso Ciampa has also essentially turned face for the first time since his DIY days as a tag team champion with Gargano. This is very possible given the timing of a reunion of their team at Worlds Collide. This switch in roles for the two men will give fans a reason to remain invested in their story as I can’t even count at this point how many matches they’ve had over the last three years. Gargano and Ciampa can finally meet at WrestleMania weekend like they were scheduled to do last year but couldn’t due to the unfortunate timing of Ciampa’s neck injury.