54 Facts About Johnny Gargano

1.

Johnny Gargano is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand.

2.

Johnny Gargano is best known for is time in NXT, where he became the first-ever NXT Triple Crown winner by winning the NXT Championship once, the NXT North American Championship for a record three times, and the NXT Tag Team Championship once.

3.

Titles Johnny Gargano held include the Chikara Campeonatos de Parejas, the Evolve Tag Team Championship and DGUSA's Open the Freedom Gate Championship, which he held twice with his first reign lasting a record 873 days.

4.

In 2020, Johnny Gargano won the NXT North American Championship for a second, and later, a third time, becoming the first competitor to do so each time.

5.

Johnny Gargano departed WWE after his contract expired in December 2021, but returned in August 2022.

6.

Johnny Gargano was born and raised in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, Ohio to Adrianne and Francis Gargano.

7.

Johnny Gargano's mother is of Polish descent and his father, a restaurateur is of Italian descent.

8.

Lightning, who ran shows behind Johnny Gargano's father's catering business, allowed him to roll around in the ring.

9.

Johnny Gargano made his professional wrestling debut for CAPW in 2005.

10.

Johnny Gargano calls his wrestling style "Lucharesu", a mix of British chain wrestling, lucha libre and puroresu and described his character at the time as "someone lacking self awareness and living in his own deluded little world".

11.

On October 8,2006, Johnny Gargano defeated Josh Prohibition, M-Dogg 20, and Zach Gowen in a four-way match to win his first Championship, the CAPW Junior Heavyweight Championship.

12.

Johnny Gargano would continue to make appearances for the company until August 5,2007, teaming up with Prohibition in his CAPW farewell match, where they defeated Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin.

13.

Johnny Gargano has wrestled in a dark match for Ring of Honor, defeating Sami Callihan on August 15,2008.

14.

On February 24,2008, Johnny Gargano defeated his trainer Josh Prohibition to become the number one contender to the AIW Intense Division Championship.

15.

Johnny Gargano held the title for 187 days before he was stripped of it due to an injury on November 28,2008.

16.

On February 28,2009, Johnny Gargano defeated Jimmy DeMarco, who had won the vacant Intense Division Championship in a tournament, to regain the title.

17.

Johnny Gargano would go on to lose the title to Josh Prohibition on May 15,2009.

18.

Later that same night, Johnny Gargano retained his brand new title by wrestling Bryan Danielson to a 30-minute time limit draw.

19.

Johnny Gargano would go on to lose the title to Shiima Xion on June 26,2011.

20.

On March 3,2012, Johnny Gargano won a 30-man Gauntlet for the Gold, last eliminating Tim Donst, to earn a shot at Xion and the AIW Absolute Championship.

21.

Johnny Gargano appeared on the very first episode of Pro Wrestling Ohio on Sports Time Ohio on November 20,2007.

22.

Iron issued several challenges to Johnny Gargano, claiming he could beat him in another match.

23.

Meanwhile, Johnny Gargano remained in denial of the original defeat from Iron, and continued to mock Iron's disability, his history of concussions, and rough upbringing.

24.

At the February 2008 PWO TV tapings, Johnny Gargano brutally attacked Iron, busting him open, assaulting him with a chair, and bashing his head into the ringside barricades.

25.

Johnny Gargano suffered a hairline fracture in his vertebrae during the Last Man Standing match and did not return to active competition until March 2009, when he faced off against Mike Tolar and Jason Bane in a three-way match to become number one contender for the PWO Heavyweight Championship, in which he was victorious.

26.

Johnny Gargano went on to unsuccessfully challenge Matt Cross for the PWO Heavyweight Championship on April 18,2009.

27.

On March 20,2011, Johnny Gargano lost the PWO Heavyweight Championship to Marion Fontaine in a three-way match, which included Jason Bane, after getting hit with a nightstick.

28.

Johnny Gargano lost the title to Krimson on February 16,2013.

29.

Johnny Gargano returned to the company on April 23,2010, taking part in the 2010 King of Trios tournament with Aeroform and suffering a loss in the opening round against The Colony.

30.

Johnny Gargano was sidelined with a back injury and Icarus replaced him; he and Chuck Taylor retained the Campeonatos de Parejas on February 25,2012, against the Spectral Envoy, before losing the title to 3.0 on March 24.

31.

Johnny Gargano received a tryout match for Dragon Gate on July 25,2009, at the tapings of the Enter the Dragon pay-per-view, wrestling in an eight-way elimination dark match won by Lince Dorado.

32.

Johnny Gargano confronted Cima again, offering himself to Warriors International, before attacking him and Ricochet, along with Chuck Taylor and Rich Swann, forming the stable Ronin.

33.

On January 14,2012, Johnny Gargano retained the title against Ricochet in the final professional wrestling match in the Asylum Arena.

34.

Post-match, Johnny Gargano saved Swann from an attack by the Premier Athlete Brand of Anthony Nese, Caleb Konley and Su Yung.

35.

On November 16,2014, during Dragon Gate USA's parent company WWNLive's tour of China, Johnny Gargano defeated Ricochet to regain the Open the Freedom Gate Championship, becoming the first two-time holder of the title.

36.

Fox to set up a double title match with Evolve World Champion Drew Galloway two days later, where Galloway defeated Johnny Gargano to retain the Evolve World Championship and win the Open the Freedom Gate Championship.

37.

On January 24,2016, at Evolve 55, Johnny Gargano and Drew Galloway defeated Chris Hero and Tommy End in the finals of a tournament to become the inaugural Evolve Tag Team Champions.

38.

On March 1,2011, Johnny Gargano made his Japanese debut, when his Dragon Gate USA stable Ronin started their first three-week-long tour of Dragon Gate.

39.

Johnny Gargano returned to Dragon Gate in October 2012, now aligned with the World-1 International stable.

40.

On March 22,2013, Johnny Gargano made his debut for Southern California-based Pro Wrestling Guerrilla during the promotion's All Star Weekend 9, teaming with Chuck Taylor in a non-title tag team match, where they were defeated by the reigning PWG World Tag Team Champions, The Young Bucks.

41.

Johnny Gargano failed to earn another title shot on January 31,2014, when he was defeated by Drake Younger in a four-way number one contender's match, which included Chris Hero and Kyle O'Reilly.

42.

Johnny Gargano made another appearance for WWE on the May 25,2010, edition of NXT, portraying a security guard.

43.

Johnny Gargano wrestled another tryout for WWE, working under the ring name Joey Gray, at the September 20,2011, tapings of Superstars, losing to Brodus Clay.

44.

In June 2015, Johnny Gargano took part in a WWE tryout camp, and wrestled at the June 18 NXT tapings, losing to Uhaa Nation in a dark match.

45.

Johnny Gargano's NXT contract was a so-called "Tier 2" contract, which allowed him to continue working independent dates alongside his regular NXT bookings.

46.

At NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia on January 27,2018, Johnny Gargano failed to capture the NXT Championship from Andrade "Cien" Almas in a critically acclaimed match.

47.

At NXT TakeOver: Phoenix on January 26,2019, Johnny Gargano defeated Ricochet to capture the NXT North American Championship.

48.

Later in the night, after Ciampa successfully defended his NXT Championship against Black, Johnny Gargano reunited with his former tag-team partner as they raised their belts in unison on stage as the show went off air.

49.

Johnny Gargano made his main roster debut on the February 18,2019 episode of Raw, where he and Ciampa defeated former rivals Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival in a non-title match.

50.

At the event, Johnny Gargano won the second fall, but was ultimately unsuccessful in regaining the title after losing the final fall, which was in a steel cage match, after both men fell from the top of the cage through a table.

51.

Johnny Gargano suffered a legitimate neck injury when Balor performed his signature move 1916 on Gargano on the entrance ramp, sidelining him indefinitely.

52.

Johnny Gargano retaliated by defeating Theory on the following episode of Raw, ending their feud.

53.

Johnny Gargano got engaged to fellow professional wrestler Candice LeRae Dawson in January 2016.

54.

Johnny Gargano is a Marvel Comics and Star Wars fan, as shown in some of his ring gears being inspired by some of his favorite characters.