Feud With Imperium, Survivor Series
After Imperium’s vicious attack on Johnny Gargano backstage last week, Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci were delighted with themselves during a backstage interview with Jackie Redmond before Tommaso Ciampa arrived and started a fight with Kaiser and Vinci. This didn’t work out too well for Ciampa, but a match was made between him and Giovanni Vinci for next week’s show. That match happened on the 23rd of October edition of Monday Night Raw and it ended with a Ciampa victory before we saw Gunther furious in the back. Later in the show, Gunther berated Giovanni Vinci before he told Ludwig Kaiser to deal with Ciampa next week. That match then took place and Kaiser didn’t do what Gunther asked as Ciampa picked up another victory before Gunther arrived and started to beat down his rival. However, Johnny Gargano then made his return from injury to take out The Ring General to leave DIY standing tall in the middle of the ring. Later on in the show, Adam Pearce made it official that DIY and Imperium would settle the score in a Tag Team match on the Raw after Crown Jewel (6th November).
Gunther didn’t join Imperium at ringside for their big match with DIY, but he did run down late on to try and help his buddies pick up the W. However, this backfired for him as he was met with a Superkick by Johnny Gargano before Ciampa and Gargano delivered Meeting in the Middle to Giovanni Vinci to pick up the victory. After the match, Gargano got on the microphone and said “All that’s left to do now is to take your Intercontinental Championship!” It was then confirmed that Gunther-Gargano would take place for the IC Title on November 25th at Survivor Series before we got a digital exclusive which saw Tommaso Ciampa agree that his DIY partner gets the next shot at Gunther as he already failed about a month ago. The following week saw a Contract Signing between Gunther and Gargano which ended with Imperium forcing Johnny to watch as Gunther dismantled Tommaso. It was then confirmed later in the night that Tommaso Ciampa had sustained some injuries and would be out for an indefinite amount of time. The go-home edition of Monday Night Raw before Survivor Series saw an awesome video for Gunther and Gargano before Johnny Gargano said whilst speaking to Byron Saxton that “Gunther’s going to regret waking up The Rebel Heart”. Gunther also told Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci backstage that he doesn’t need them to come out with him for his match at Survivor Series as his match with Gargano is “going to be a breeze”. It was then time for Survivor Series as Gunther put his Intercontinental Championship on the line against Johnny Gargano in a hell of a match. Whilst The Ring General dominated for the most part, The Rebel Heart was able to keep fighting and he nearly got the victory with the One Final Beat. However, Ludwig Kaiser arrived and pulled Gargano out of the ring at the last second before Giovanni Vinci distracted the referee enough which allowed Kaiser to deliver a cheap shot. He then through Gargano into the ring and Gunther delivered the Powerbomb... for a 2 count as Johnny Wrestling somehow managed to kick out. An Ambulance noise then started to play as Tommaso Ciampa’s music hit and The Blackheart took out the rest of Imperium before he ate a massive boot from Gunther. However, as the Intercontinental Champion turned around, he got nailed with a slingshot-Spear before Gargano delivered a Superkick and locked in the Gargano Escape as the crowd went mad. Unfortunately for Johnny, Gunther was just too powerful as he escaped and after a wicked lariat, The Ring General delivered not 1, but 2 Powerbombs to finally put Gargano down for the 3 count.
Feud with The Street Profits, DI-WAY
On the December 4th edition of Monday Night Raw, Cody Rhodes and “Main Event” Jey Uso put their Undisputed Tag Team Championships on the line against The Street Profits in a match that saw The Tag Team Champions retain their gold. In a backstage interview later in the show, Bobby Lashley demanded that Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins make things up to him before The Profits spotted DIY and beat them up for a bit before officials were forced to break things up. The following week’s Raw saw Montez Ford defeat Johnny Gargano in a good match thanks to interference from Bobby Lashley and it was then confirmed for next week that Tommaso Ciampa would take on Angelo Dawkins. In that match, Lashley once again tried to interfere before Gargano attempted to stop him. The problem for Johnny Wrestling was the fact that Ford was also at ringside so he started to get beat up. However, the lights then went out and when they came back on, Dexter Lumis was standing behind Montez Ford and he left him laying with a right hand. Lashley then received a Superkick courtesy of Gargano whilst back in the ring, Ciampa nailed Dawkins with the Fairytale Ending to pick up the victory. Backstage (later on in the night), Bobby Lashley demanded that Adam Pearce gives him and The Street Profits a match with DIY and Dexter Lumis and Pearce was happy to accept this. However, Pearce then upped the stakes and made it a “Miracle on 34th Street Fight” for a very special Christmas Day edition of Monday Night Raw.
On Christmas Day, the Main Event of Monday Night Raw saw DI-WAY take on “The Suit Profits” in a bonkers “Miracle on 34th Street Fight”. All sorts of wacky, Christmas-themed weapons were used in this contest, and after Johnny Gargano whipped out Bobby Lashley with a dive and Tommaso Ciampa nailed Angelo Dawkins with a Willow’s Bell, Dexter Lumis made Montez Ford pass out to pick up the big victory before they hurled a bunch of presents and merchandise into the crowd because they are Babyfaces. However, their New Year’s celebrations weren’t as pleasant as after Dexter Lumis left Gargano, Ciampa, and Candice LeRae to look for Indi Hartwell, Lumis got attacked by Bobby Lashley and The All Mighty absolutely destroyed him. When DIY found Lumis, Lashley was already gone and it was later revealed in the show that Dexter had suffered major spinal injuries and would be out for the foreseeable future. Gargano then looked down the camera and challenged Lashley to a Falls Count Anywhere match for next week’s show. We then got that Falls Count Anywhere match on the 8th of January and it resulted in The All Mighty spearing The Rebel Heart through the barricade which was enough for him to pick up the victory. Later in the show, Bobby Lashley told The Street Profits that “whilst I’ve proven that I can handle those clowns, you two haven’t” and that’s why The Street Profits went to Adam Pearce to sort out a Tag Team match for next week. However, it’s worth mentioning that due to all the carnage that’s ensued over the past month, Pearce made it clear that next week’s match would be the last match between The Street Profits and DIY unless it suits WWE Management. Also, Pearce said that any unauthorised contact between the two teams would result in an indefinite suspension! On the 15th of January edition of Monday Night Raw, DIY battled The Street Profits in what ended up being a losing effort as Ford and Dawkins delivered their Tag Team finisher onto Gargano to get the victory and ultimately put an end to this feud (for now anyway).
Chasing Tag Team Gold
After losing against The Street Profits, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa both appeared in the Men’s Royal Rumble to a small amount of success (even though neither guy came close to winning), but the more notable thing that happened at the Royal Rumble is thanks to The Bloodline, Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso lost their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships to none other than A-Town Down Under (oh yes)! On the Raw after the Rumble, Adam Pearce announced that there would be a Fatal 4-Way Tag Team match and the winner of that match would go on to face A-Town Down Under in Australia at the Elimination Chamber Premium Live Event. Those four teams (in no particular order) were The Judgment Day (Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh), Alpha Academy, The Street Profits, and DIY. When Bobby Lashley later questioned Pearce over the fact that Ford and Dawkins aren’t meant to be facing Ciampa and Gargano, The WWE official responded by telling Lashley that this was in the best interest of WWE Management as it was agreed that they wanted the four best Tag Teams in this match. On the 5th of February edition of Monday Night Raw, we got the Number 1 Contender’s Fatal 4-Way match and after Montez Ford nailed JD McDonagh with a Frog Splash, Tommaso Ciampa kneed Ford out of the ring before he pinned JD to earn DIY a shot at the Gold. After the match, Montez Ford was so angry that he lost that he started to beat up Ciampa whilst Dawkins took care of Gargano. However, this was a bad move as Adam Pearce came out and reminded The Profits that because the match was over, it was no longer authorised for them to lay their hands on their rivals which is why Pearce had no other choice but to suspend them. Now that was sorted, Ciampa and Gargano could focus on two guys they have plenty of history with in the form of Austin Theory and Grayson Waller. After we got multiple singles matches on the run-up to Elimination Chamber (in which both sides had their equal share of success), it was finally time for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships to be on the line in front of an energetic Perth crowd. Before the match started, Grayson Waller talked about how much nicer of a place Sydney is than Perth (to make sure that people knew that they were the ones to boo) before we got the match which was a lot of fun. It really could’ve gone either and both teams came close to winning, but in the end, Waller whipped out Ciampa at ringside and whilst this distracted the referee, Theory racked the eyes of Gargano before the Champs delivered their A-Town Down/Rolling Stunner combo to retain their Tag Team Titles.
Fighting their Way onto WrestleMania 40
With less than six weeks to go until WrestleMania 40, Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis agreed to book a Tag Team Tournament where 1 Team from both Raw and SmackDown would face each other on the 15th of March episode of Friday Night SmackDown and the winner of that match would go on to face A-Town Down Under for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania 40. This presented a big opportunity to all 8 teams involved, but especially DIY after coming so close to capturing the Gold in Perth. Their First Round match saw them take on The Judgment Day’s Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh and despite some attempted interference by Rhea Ripley, Ciampa was able to nail McDonagh with the Fairytale Ending to pick up the W. They then found out later in the night that they would be taking on Alpha Academy in the Semi-Finals after Chad Gable and Otis defeated Imperium in their First-Round match. The following week’s Raw saw the Semi-Final match between the two popular teams, and thanks to interference from Gunther, DIY were able to pick up the victory as Ciampa won with Project Ciampa. Later in the show, DIY found Alpha Academy and told them that they didn’t want to win like that and that when they win the Tag Team Championships in Philadelphia, Chad Gable and Otis will get the first shot. Otis thanked Johnny and Tommaso before Master Gable said he had plans to enter their match as a Champion too. After wins against The Brawling Brutes and The O.C. (respectively) Pretty Deadly and The LWO (Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde) battled on SmackDown in the other Semi-Final and it ended with Elton Prince and Kit Wilson nailing Joaquin Wilde with Spilt Milk to get the victory. After a video package hyping up the two teams on the 11th of March episode of Monday Night Raw, Friday Night SmackDown on the same week saw DIY and Pretty Deadly clash with the winning team getting the opportunity to face A-Town Down Under for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships. This was a match that either side could’ve easily gotten the win, but it was DIY who were about to pick up the victory before Grayson Waller arrived to distract the referee whilst Austin Theory nailed Johnny Gargano with his Tag Team Title as Kit Wilson crawled into the cover to pick up the victory.
On the next Monday Night Raw, Adam Pearce called Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa into his office to tell them that him and Nick Aldis had agreed that after last week’s antics plus what went down at the Elimination Chamber (Premium Live Event), DIY deserved another shot at Tag Team Gold which is why they’re being inserted into the A-Town Down Under-Pretty Deadly WrestleMania match. Whilst Ciampa and Gargano were slightly excited, they’ve also grown up having to fight for everything which is why they rejected Pearce’s offer and asked to be given an opportunity to earn their way into the match instead. When Pearce asked them what they wanted, DIY said a match with Theory and Waller on this week’s SmackDown. After Nick Aldis made it official, we got the high-stakes Tag Team match on Friday Night SmackDown which saw Pretty Deadly interfere. However, their interference went wrong as Elton Prince accidentally hit Austin Theory before Ciampa whipped both Wilson and Prince out before Gargano nailed Theory with the One Final Beat (whilst Waller was down on the outside) to score a victory. The final two weeks of television before WrestleMania 40 saw a number of singles matches take place and most notably, Johnny Gargano won his Triple Threat match with Grayson Waller and Elton Prince whilst Kit Wilson won his Triple Threat match against Tommaso Ciampa and Austin Theory. It was then finally time for WrestleMania 40 as Night 2 saw A-Town Down Under put their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships on the line against Pretty Deadly and DIY. This was a hell of a Tag Team match filled with twists and turns, and in the end, Johnny Gargano nailed Grayson Waller with the One Final Beat before Gargano and Ciampa nailed Austin Theory with Meet in the Middle which was enough to get the victory... if Kit Wilson hadn’t had ran in and thrown Ciampa into the ring post before Wilson and Prince hit Spilt Milk on Johnny Wrestling to pick up the victory meaning Pretty Deadly left WrestleMania 40 as the brand-new Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions as DIY were forced to realise that they’d once again just missed out on their dreams.
Lost in the Shuffle, Money in the Bank
After a tough loss at WrestleMania, DIY struggled to stay in Championship contention and they only had a limited amount of matches on WWE Television (which were mostly singles matches). They also completely missed BackLash and Night of Champions which resulted in Ciampa and Gargano questioning whether their story had gone as far as it could. However, I’ll get back to that in a minute as I have to go back to Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia to tell you that Pretty Deadly lost their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships to none other than a returning Street Profits (this was all organised by Bobby Lashley). This wasn’t the only thing that happened that night as Bianca Belair turned Heel and aligned herself with “The Suit Profits” after playing a small part in the finish (Belair also lost in her Women’s World Championship match with Rhea Ripley earlier in the show). On the following episode of Monday Night Raw, Bianca Belair fully asserted herself as a Heel by attacking and destroying Candice LeRae in a backstage beatdown. This of course angered Johnny Gargano massively, but Indi Hartwell told him that she’d take care of it so he doesn’t get into any kind of trouble (I.e. suspended). On the June 3rd episode of Monday Night Raw, Bianca dominated Indi in a comfortable victory before Belair put Hartwell through the announce table after the match. We then saw Johnny Gargano storm into Adam Pearce’s office later in the show demanding that he’s allowed to put his hands on Montez Ford and the rest of “The Suit Profits”. Whilst Pearce didn’t allow that, he did say that he’d give Johnny a match with Montez Ford on next week’s show and it wouldn’t just be any old match as it would be a Money in the Bank Qualifier! We then got the match between Gargano and Ford on the 10th of June, and in the end, it was Montez who got the victory after Gargano got distracted by Angelo Dawkins. Later in the show, Angelo Dawkins asked Adam Pearce if he could also be in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match which Pearce responded by saying “I will give you the opportunity to earn your way in by defeating a man that wants to get his hands on you very much.” When Dawkins asked who that man was, Tommaso Ciampa walked into the room.
On the following week’s Monday Night Raw, Ciampa and Dawkins fought over a spot in the MITB Ladder Match, and in the end, it was Ciampa who ended up victorious after nailing Dawkins with Willow’s Bell whilst Montez Ford was caught up backstage with Bianca Belair who was in a brawl with Tegan Nox. After Adam Pearce reminded Bobby Lashley, Angelo Dawkins, and Johnny Gargano on the go-home show of what the consequence would be if any of them were to get involved in the Men’s Money in the Bank Match, it was time to head to Toronto for Money in the Bank! Earlier in the show, Bianca Belair captured the Women’s Money in the Bank Briefcase before it was time for the Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match as Drew McIntyre, Bronson Reed, Carmelo Hayes, Grayson Waller, JD McDonagh, Kofi Kingston, Montez Ford, and Tommaso Ciampa all went to war for the opportunity of a lifetime. Towards the end of the match, it looked certain that Ciampa was going to win the Contract and he would’ve had it not been for Bianca Belair who ran up the other side of the ladder and pushed him off meaning Ciampa went crashing neck first through another ladder in a horrific spot. Bianca Belair then smiled as Montez Ford climbed up the ladder, but he too wasn’t the man to unhook the briefcase as Indi Harwell pushed them both off the ladder and onto the outside. For anyone who was wondering who actually went on to win this match, it was Drew McIntyre.
One Final Beat
On the Monday Night Raw after Money in the Bank, The Street Profits said it was time for them to focus on defending their Tag Team Championships before they were interrupted by DIY. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa made it clear that this feud can only end one way and that’s at Summerslam with the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships on the line. Bobby Lashley immediately shut this down and dared Ciampa and Gargano to start a brawl “so we never need to see you two ever again”. As Lashley said this, Triple H’s music hit and Hunter marched down to the ring. Triple H said that “whilst carnage has ensued in the past between you lot, a Street Profits-DIY Tag Team Title match is definitely best for WWE Management.” However, Triple H also knows that Ciampa and Gargano want to earn their opportunities which is why they will only get their match at Summerslam if one of them beats Bobby Lashley in a No Disqualification match next week. Elsewhere on the show, Bianca Belair beat Indi Hartwell in a singles match and after the match, Candice LeRae returned to stop Bianca from attacking Indi Wrestling. Also, after much debate, DIY agreed that Johnny Gargano would be the man to face Bobby Lashley on the 8th of July edition of Monday Night Raw as Gargano was looking to right a wrong from 6 months ago. The Lashley-Gargano No Disqualification Match was absolutely bonkers with plenty of interference, but in the end, Montez Ford accidentally Superkicked The All Mighty in the face before he got met with a Superkick of his own courtesy of The Rebel Heart who then nailed Lashley with the One Final Beat to pick up the massive victory. On the 15th of June episode of Raw, we got a six-person Tag Team match of DIY and Candice LeRae taking on The Street Profits and Bianca Belair which Tommaso Ciampa won (by pinning Montez Ford) before the go-home edition of Monday Night Raw before Summerslam saw Montez Ford, Angelo Dawkins, Bobby Lashley, and Bianca Belair leave DI-WAY laying in the middle of the ring.
On Saturday, July 27th, Summerslam took place at Wembley Stadium in London, England and one of the marquee matches saw The Street Profits put their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships on the line against DIY. This was a tension-filled, dramatic contest that saw both teams kick out of their opponents' Tag Team finisher. Whilst that was all great, the final few minutes of the match are the most important as Bianca Belair started to brawl with Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell around ringside and this allowed Bobby Lashley to slide Brass Knuckles to Montez Ford who nailed Johnny Gargano with the loaded fist... only for Gargano to kick out at the final tenth. As Bianca picked up Candice, Indi Wrestling smashed Belair in the back with her own Money in the Bank Briefcase before The WAY sent Belair crashing through the announce table. Bobby Lashley then jumped onto the ring apron before the lights went out, and when they returned, so did Dexter Lumis as he pulled Lashley down the ramp whilst doing a thumbs-up. This distracted Angelo Dawkins who got dropped with a Willow’s Bell from Tommaso Ciampa before Johnny Wrestling planted Montez Ford with the One Final Beat, and in the end, a Meet in the Middle to Ford was enough for DIY to finally capture Tag Team Gold on the main roster! As Candice LeRae, Indi Hartwell, and Dexter Lumis all hugged in the middle of the rings as fireworks/pyro went off, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa lifted up their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships and realised that sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes, you don’t have to “Do It Yourself!”
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