Daniel Bryan, Johnny Gargano, and Doing What Has To Be Done

Score one for the good guys! 😁 pic.twitter.com/4wbQU44ltd

— Johnny Gargano (@JohnnyGargano) November 14, 2018

Last night, shortly after Daniel Bryan’s “heel turn” that led him to capture the WWE championship on SD Live, Johnny Gargano posted that picture on his twitter account. It’s from their indie days where they have also had a match or two against each other. Gargano’s NXT run as the ever-conquering, underdog baby face was often compared to Daniel Bryan’s main roster run before his first retirement.

While both men were on similar paths then as it seemed; it’s more so the same now.

“How could you turn Daniel Bryan into a bad guy? How are we going to do the “yes” chant now?”

“How could you turn Johnny Gargano into a darker character in NXT? Is he still the Rebel Heart?” You ever hear of the old saying, nice guys finish last? Well, sometimes you have to become what you hate to gain everything you want. Especially, in the wrestling world.

Remember this promo from The Miz? He’s basically calling out Daniel Bryan for not doing what needs to be done to get back his dream of being a champion again. Bryan racked up a lot of wins on Smackdown, but he didn’t win the big matches. Ranging from the Greatest Battle Royal, his Summerslam match with Miz, and his first title challenge to AJ Styles. He was holding on to that “good guy” mentality and it never let him go that extra step.

Fast forward to last night’s Smackdown Live. He does what Miz said that he wouldn’t do and straight up punches AJ Styles. During the championship match, Bryan low blows AJ before the running knee and the pin. It took him giving in to parlaying in underhanded tactics to finally get the big prize. Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be the person to always look to the greater good. This is why the heel turn was so natural, contrary to a consensus. Smackdown Live is thin on the heel side and it gives Daniel Bryan more opportunities from a match perspective.

Let’s take a look at Johnny Gargano’s 2018. He lost to Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas twice. He’s lost to his hated rival and ex-tag team partner, Tomasso Ciampa twice. His miscalculation gave his rival the NXT championship. A long chain of things that led fans to call him “Johnny Failure.”

When he dabbled in the darkness that was teased in the vicious side within the series with Ciampa, it cost him. There was always that one moment where he took the eye of the ball and Ciampa capitalized. Attacking Aleister Black is just the same Johnny that has to fight “a little dirty” from his own words.

While Ciampa is showing admiration for Gargano’s new found “edge,” their rivalry is not over. If Gargano looks to challenge Ciampa one more time and finally win that NXT title, he can’t be Ciampa a little bit. He can’t dabble. Gargano has to go down that rabbit hole and fight fire with fire.

When fans see Daniel Bryan, they mostly envisioned him rejoicing in a huge “yes” chant at Wrestlemania upon his return. I know I did. Especially when he made the speech that he was coming back to being an active wrestler again. I had thought that he would eventually overcome The Miz to get to that pinnacle as a face. Now, American Dragon is back with the hint of his Ring of Honor championship days.

With wrestling booking, we often get caught up in what we envision the character to be other than letting things play out. A little variety never hurt anyone. Surprises keeps things fresh. Daniel Bryan and Johnny Gargano are going through similar metamorphosis in order to get the job done in their respective brands. Let’s see where this goes.