1987-08-14 · Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. · Male
John Anthony Nicholas Gargano (born August 14, 1987) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. He is best known for his tenure in NXT, where he became the first-ever NXT Triple Crown winner by winning the NXT Championship once, the NXT North American Championship a record three times, and the NXT Tag Team Championship once as a part of #DIY with Tommaso Ciampa. His popularity and success in NXT led him to be given the moniker "The Heart and Soul of NXT".
Gargano started his professional wrestling career in 2005, working for the Cleveland All–Pro Wrestling (CAPW) promotion. Over the following years, Gargano worked for some of the top promotions on the American independent circuit, including Chikara, Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA), Evolve and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). Titles 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. During his independent days, Gargano also made appearances for national promotions Ring of Honor (ROH) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
After making sporadic appearances for WWE early in his career, Gargano took part in the company's tryout camp in June 2015. Afterwards, he began appearing regularly for NXT, eventually signing a contract in April 2016. He formed a tag team, #DIY, with Tommaso Ciampa, and held the NXT Tag Team Championship once. Following their split up and heated rivalry, Gargano captured the NXT North American Championship in January 2019 and won the NXT Championship in April the same year. With the win, Gargano became the first ever NXT Triple Crown Champion. In 2020, Gargano won the NXT North American Championship for a second, and later, a third time, becoming the first competitor to do so each time.
He departed WWE after his contract expired in December 2021, but returned in August 2022 as a permanent member of the main roster. He would then reunite with Tommaso Ciampa as #DIY the following year with the pair going on to win the WWE Tag Team Championship in July and December 2024 until Ciampa's departure from WWE in January 2026.
Early life
John Anthony Nicholas "Johnny" Gargano was born and raised in the Cleveland, Ohio suburb of Lakewood, to Adrienne (née Klasinski) and restaurateur Francis Gargano. He is of Polish descent through his mother and Italian descent through his father. Gargano entered a professional wrestling ring for the first time at age eight, when Cleveland All–Pro Wrestling (CAPW) owner J.T. Lightning, who ran shows behind Gargano's father's catering business, allowed him to roll around in the ring. While still a student at St. Edward High School, he decided to enter CAPW's professional wrestling school in order to become a professional wrestler. At age 16, Gargano began training at the Cleveland All Pro Training Center under J.T. Lightning and Josh Prohibition.
Early career and tryouts
Gargano made his professional wrestling debut for CAPW in 2005. In his first match, he competed in the AIW Gauntlet For The Gold Battle Royal on December 11, 2005, which was won by Michael Hutter. 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". On October 8, 2006, 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. He 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.
On June 24, 2009, Gargano wrestled in a dark match at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Impact! television tapings, losing to Jay Lethal. The following day he wrestled in another dark match, this time losing to Eric Young. Gargano has also wrestled in a dark match for Ring of Honor, defeating Sami Callihan on August 15, 2008. After his ROH tryout it was discovered that Gargano had a hairline fracture in his back, caused by his left leg being shorter than his right leg, which led to his doctor advising him to rethink his career choice. Gargano, however, returned to the ring six months later.
Absolute Intense Wrestling (2006–2016)
Gargano made his debut for Cleveland–based Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) on February 26, 2006, losing to Kano. He would pick up his first victory in the promotion two months later on April 30, defeating Tyrone Evans. On February 24, 2008, Gargano defeated his trainer Josh Prohibition to become the number one contender to the AIW Intense Division Championship. After Gargano's first shot at the title, held by Tyler Black, went to a fifteen-minute time limit draw on March 21, the two were booked in a 30-minute Iron Man match on May 25, where Gargano defeated Black to win the Intense Division Championship for the first time. Gargano held the title for 187 days before he was stripped of it due to an injury on November 28, 2008. On February 28, 2009, Gargano defeated Jimmy DeMarco, who had won the vacant Intense Division Championship in a tournament, to regain the title. He would go on to lose the title to Josh Prohibition on May 15, 2009.
On April 9, 2010, Gargano teamed up with Aeroform (Flip Kendrick and Louis Lyndon) to form Team Oreo for the Jack of All Trios tournament, a tournament held for sixteen teams of three. After defeating Psycho Sexual Panic (Corvis Fear, Michael Facade and Shiima Xion) on night one of the tournament, Gargano and Aeroform advanced to night two, where they defeated Team Beyond Wrestling (Chase Burnett, Davey Vega and Zane Silver), Da Soul Touchaz (Acid Jaz, Marshe Rockett and Willie Richardson) and finally the Young Studs (Bobby Beverly, Eric Ryan and T.J. Dynamite) to win the tournament. As a result of winning the tournament, Gargano and Aeroform earned the right to represent AIW in Chikara's 2010 King of Trios tournament. On June 27, Gargano defeated Facade, Sterling James Keenan and Tommy Mercer in a four-way match to win AIW's top singles title, the vacant AIW Absolute Championship, for the first time. Later that same night, Gargano retained his brand new title by wrestling Bryan Danielson to a 30-minute time limit draw. He would go on to lose the title to Shiima Xion on June 26, 2011. On March 3, 2012, Gargano won a 30-man Gauntlet for the Gold, last eliminating Tim Donst, to earn a shot at Xion and the AIW Absolute Championship.
Chikara (2008, 2010–2013, 2016)
Gargano made his debut for Philadelphia–based Chikara on June 14, 2008, taking part in the sixth Young Lions Cup tournament, but was eliminated in the first round against Marshe Rockett. 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 (Fire Ant, Green Ant and Soldier Ant). On the second night of the tournament, Gargano came out during a quarter-final match between F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Gran Akuma and Chuck Taylor) and Team Osaka Pro (Atsushi Kotoge, Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke), wearing a F.I.S.T. shirt and witnessed how Icarus, Akuma and Taylor were eliminated from the tournament. Gargano wrote on his Facebook page that he liked F.I.S.T., but thought that the team might have a weak link, which led to the stable's members pointing fingers at each other. On June 27 at Faded Scars and Lines, Gargano defeated Player Uno to earn a spot in the eighth Young Lions Cup tournament. On July 26 at Chikarasaurus Rex: King of Show, F.I.S.T. lost a six-man tag team match to Cima, Masaaki Mochizuki and Super Shenglong. After the match, Icarus and Taylor turned on Akuma, kicked him out of both F.I.S.T. and Chikara and gave his spot to Gargano. On August 27, Gargano entered his second Young…