Re-Booking Johnny Gargano’s Main Roster Run [Part 4]

RAW: November 7th, 2022

Bobby Lashley vs. Dexter Lumis

Winner: Bobby Lashley

Dexter Lumis tries to pick Bobby Lashley up for a vertical suplex, but Lashley puts all of his weight onto the ring’s mat. Lumis tries wear him down with a few punches to Lashley’s back, but Lashley gets out of the way. Lashley hits a huge headbutt onto Lumis, which brings him down. Quickly, Lashley picks Lumis up on his shoulder, as Lumis faces skywards. To get the WWE Universe, Lashley would taunt to get crowd for a few moments, until Lashley would drop Lumis down to the mat. Face-first onto the canvas, in the middle of the ring for ‘The Dominator.’

Instead of going for the pin, Lashley automatically lifts Lumis’ body one more time. Just to lock him up for the ‘Hurt Lock.’ The referee immediately calls for the bell, since Lumis is already unconscious. However, Lashley doesn’t seem like the victory satisfied him, because he’s still holding on to his grasp on Lumis. The referee pleads for him to let go of Lumis, and Lashley ends up doing so. The only noise filling the arena, is the boo’s directed to Lashley, who stands all mighty.

Although Lashley doesn’t see him, Gargano shows up to kneel right next to Lumis. Who’s getting medical treatment, after the heinous assault from Lashley during their match. Gargano’s expression changes from worry, to pure enragement.

RAW: November 14th, 2022

Promo; Bobby Lashley

Along with MVP, Lashley finds himself in the middle of the ring. With microphone in hand, and a smirk across his face. Firstly, he addresses his victory over Lumis from last week. He promised MVP that he would avenge that handicap loss, by beating the man that screwed them over. Fortunately enough, he did do just that. CLEAN. Now though, Lumis was just a side-quest. A quest that leads him right up to evening the odds, against Johnny Gargano. After a triumphant win over him, at Crown Jewel, Lashley is looking to continue his dominance over Gargano. Despite Gargano having the fan’s , he STILL lost. Which truly justifies that the WWE Universe doesn’t mean shit, in this business. Come to think of it, Gargano hasn’t showed up since Crown Jewel. Lashley decides to call out for Gargano to come to the ring, and face him like a proper man.

Of course, Gargano grants Lashley what he wanted! The crowd roars in cheers for Gargano, as he approaches the ring and is given a mic. Gargano steps up to the All Mighty, tensions definitely rising. Bringing the mic up to his mouth, Gargano states that what more does Lashley want? He already ruined his opportunity to gain back the U.S. championship from Austin Theory. He already hurt one closest to him. He’s already proven that he could beat him, by cheating. Gargano has nothing much, but drive. Drive to come out on top. To get back on track, towards bigger and better opportunities.

If Lashley really wants to bury the hatchet between both of them, why not end it all at Survivor Series? Soon enough, Lashley speaks up again to declare that he was just about to get to that point. Gargano needs to realize that all of this is about getting payback, because Gargano also took things from him. Lashley just wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine. He’ll truly get the job done, if he beats Gargano one more time at Survivor Series. Not in a regular match though. There’s a catch to that. Adam Pearce has set up a 6-man tag team match for next week, the RAW episode before Survivor Series. It’ll be Team Lashley versus Team Gargano. Whicever team wins, the leader gets to choose the stipulation for the match at Survivor Series.

Gargano looks confused, because he wasn’t aware of this creative decision. However, he doesn’t have much time to process the information, because from behind comes The Miz to blindside him! The Miz, Lashley, and MVP beatdown Gargano to a pulp with some stomps to his body. This is outrageous-

Dexter Lumis! An all banged up Lumis comes to the rescue, to try and even out the odds. He launches himself towards MVP, taking him down with a ‘Lou Thesz press’ and landing multiple punches to the head. Lashley takes notice, and he orders Miz to go help MVP out. Gargano still doesn’t have enough backup-

Holy shit! Matt Riddle is here! Now, Lashley pays attention. He stops beating up Gargano, to focus his attention on Riddle. As Riddle comes inside the ring, Lashley tries to take him out with a ‘spear.’ Nonetheless, Riddle jumps over him, and quickly lands a running high knee strike to Lashley. Which sends Lashley to the outside of the ring. Miz tries to get the upper hand on Riddle, but Riddle goes for an ‘RKO!’ The crowd goes nuts, as Miz rolls out of the ring.

Riddle helps Gargano up, while Lumis continues to lay waste on MVP. Lumis feels the presence of both Gargano and Riddle, so he holds MVP in a kneeling position. Gargano looks to Riddle, who only nods, as if giving Gargano approval. We see the reason behind that, when he lands a standing side kick to MVP’s head. Sending MVP knocked out to the mat. The crowd cheers all three men standing in the ring. There’s definitely an aura of hope, and closure. Maybe, this is almost the end for this feud.

RAW: November 21st, 2022

MVP/Bobby Lashley/The Miz vs. Matt Riddle/Johnny Gargano/Dexter Lumis {6-Man Tag Match}

Winner: MVP/Bobby Lashley/The Miz

MVP capitalizes off of a distraction from Miz towards Lumis, to set Lumis up and hit the ‘Playmaker’ on him. MVP goes for the cover, and the referee begins the count.

1…

2…

A last second save from Gargano, keeps things alive! MVP gets up, irritated, and makes his way towards Gargano. However, he ends up receiving a ‘Enziguiri’ from him, whick knocks MVP down and out. Out of nowhere, Lashley comes inside the ring and hits a massive ‘spear’ onto Gargano! This sends Gargano rolling out of the ring. As Lashley taunts, he doesn’t see Riddle coming from behind. Riddle turns Lashley around, for an ‘RKO!’ Consequently, Riddle pushes Lashley’s body to the outside. The crowd cheers on, but their happiness is short-lived as Miz blindsides Riddle from behind with a punch to the back of his head.

Miz brings Riddle back up to his feet, and grabs his arms to set up a successful ‘Skull Crushing Finale.’ The crowd boo’s even louder, as Miz tries to get rid of Riddle from inside the ring. Once he does so, he makes sure to grab a merely conscious MVP for the cover on Lumis once again.

1…

What?! Only a count of one! Miz walks towards Lumis, who’s already seated and looking up at him. This startles Miz quite a bit, even more so as Lumis starts to get back up. Miz tries to strike him with his elbow, but Lumis blocks it and starts striking at Miz with numerous punches. As both men get near the ropes, Lumis separates himself from Miz for a brief moment. Until, Lumis decides to run at Miz and ‘clotheslines’ him to the outside. While that occurred, a hurting Riddle steps onto the apron, near the turnbuckles. Begging for the tag.

Lumis takes notice, and he gives the tag to Riddle! As MVP gets up, he instantly eats a high running knee strike from Riddle, that doesn’t quite bring him down. Nonetheless, it did enough damage so that Riddle could pull off another ‘RKO!’

1…

2…

Lashley pulls the referee to ringside, at the last second! Both the referee and Lashley argue, as the WWE Universe fills the arena with their boo’s. In enragement, Lumis steps down from where he is and goes toe-to-toe with Lashley. Both men stare each other down, with fire in their eyes. Lumis tries to get a hit on Lashley, but Lashley just scoops him up on his shoulders so that his body is facing skywards. Lashley then drops him down, face-first to the floor, for ‘The Dominator.’ In the meantime, Riddle yells at the referee to come back inside. What Riddle doesn’t catch on is how sneaky MVP was to get him rolled-up for the pin.

Gargano has now finally regained some energy, and tries to get back inside to stop the count. Nevertheless, Miz is there to prevent him from doing so.

1…

2…

3!

Team Lashley gets the victory. Before Riddle can attack MVP, Lashley is there to grant him a ‘Spear.’ Now that both Riddle and Lumis are out of the equation, Miz brings Gargano back in the ring. Gargano directs himself to Lashley, but Lashley is prepared to give him a low-blow. As the fans start to cause havoc with their chants, Lashley picks Gargano up on his shoulders, and brings him back down for ‘The Dominator.’ MVP hands Lashley a microphone that he snatched from one of the ring officials. Lashley brings the microphone to his mouth, and declared that at Survivor Series.. It’ll be him versus Gargano, in a submission match!

Lashley throws the microphone to Gargano’s body, while both Miz and MVP raise both of Lashley’s arms in victory.

Survivor Series |War Games|: November 26th, 2022

Bobby Lashley vs. Johnny Gargano {Submission Match}

Winner: Johnny Gargano

Lashley irish whips Gargano towards the ropes, thinking of knocking Gargano down with a signature ‘Spear.’ This time around Gargano is able to dodge Lashley’s attack, by being able to jump over him. Confused yet frustrated, Lashley goes to attack Gargano once again. Nonetheless, Gargano is quick to land a ‘spinning kick’ right to Lashley’s gut. Though it doesn’t bring him down, it is enough damage to buy Gargano some time to position himself onto the apron. Gargano waits for the right moment to dive over the middle rope, to hit the ‘One Final Beat!’

This should be it. Lashley lay on the mat, face down and unconscious. In perfect position for Gargano to get a hold of Lashley into the ‘Gargano Escape.’ Before he can do that, the referee gets pulled out of the ring by MVP! The crowd boo’s while both MVP and the referee argue. The referee warns MVP that he may be ejected due to interference. Whilst this occurs, the WWE Universe begins to fill the arena with cheers, as they see a figure moving towards ringside. Who’s this individual- Wait, is that Lumis?! Lumis gets close enough to MVP, even when MVP doesn’t realize. However, he starts to feel some sort of presence behind him.

MVP stops arguing, and stays silent for a moment. Then, he turns around and finds himself face-to-face with Lumis. Before MVP can react, Lumis uppercuts him. MVP stumbles a few steps back from Lumis’ attack, which gives Gargano some leeway to perform a ‘Suicide Dive’ onto him. Gargano is on fire! The referee gets back inside the ring, and Gargano soon follows. Though he walks into a trap, because Lashley brings him down with a ‘Spear’ from out of nowhere! Quickly, Lashley lifts Gargano up by his arms, which he uses to lock Gargano up in the ‘Hurt Lock.’

Despite the hit he just took, Gargano refuses to out. He struggles to fight to get out of the submission hold, while Lumis is outside encouraging the fans to cheer on Gargano. Lashley tightens his grip on Gargano, and it looks like he’a about to tap out. Out of nowhere, Gargano gets a surge of adrenaline. As much as he could, he grabbed Lashley’s head with his arms for a ‘standing neckbreaker.’ This allowed for Lashley to break the hold on Gargano. As Lashley stumbled back, Gargano was able to be up on his feet. As Lashley recovered, Gargano ran towards him and landed a ‘drop-kick’ to Lashley’s legs, which brought Lashley down. Now that Lashley’s down on the mat, Gargano wastes no time in locking Lashley up for the ‘Gargano Escape!’

Lashley is desperate, looking for a way out. Gargano continues to apply pressure onto Lashley, as the referee communicates with Lashley. After a good 3 minutes of resisting, Lashley has no choice but to tap out! Finally, Gargano can move on to bigger things as we approach nearer to the Royal Rumble season.