Kayfabe! – Gabe Sapolsky’s Next Evolution with Johnny Gargano

This is somewhat of a topical release by KC, what with Gargano as part of the WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic, and Gargano and Ciampa seemingly being positioned as the next challengers to The Revival. The concept itself is a cross between a typical shoot interview, and, KC’s old “Ringside” series, with the subject watching some of their famous matches and discussing them. This obviously works better than Ringside for the simple fact that KC and WWN are on friendly terms, so it’s possible for the viewer to see the same action that Johnny and Gabe are watching, thus, when Johnny makes a comment along the lines of “That’s the first time I ever did that move!” the viewer knows what he’s talking about.

The actual interview comes off very well. Johnny and Gabe have known each other for years, so there’s a level of comfort between them, and they’re not shy about joking around with each other. The interview starts with how they first met, and Johnny tells the story of working an ROH dark match in 2008, and how he knows that Gabe won’t remember it, because he doubts that Gabe even watched the match. Johnny also shows screen shots (just to Gabe) of their first email exchange when Johnny wanted to get booked in DGUSA, with Johnny trying to be very professional, and, Gabe’s reply having the word “anything” misspelled. There’s another funny exchange when Gabe mentions the physical Open the Freedom Gate title belt, and wondering what to do with it after it was retired. Sal (Hamaoui) told him to just give it to Gargano, since he’d done so much for the company, and Gabe decided to keep it for himself. But, they do agree that if anything happens to Gabe, then Johnny gets the belt. The other really funny exchange is when they’re watching an EVOLVE match that took place in an alley, and during a crowd brawl, they notice one fan who isn’t getting out of the way, and then realize it’s because she’s in a wheelchair.

Gabe and Johnny’s interview isn’t just about Johnny and his career and matches by any means. They talk about the other people in the matches, and where their careers went. Gabe talks about dealing with various venues and some of the restrictions they had to deal with, as well as dealing with the Dragon Gate promotion in Japan. They talk a little bit about back story leading to the matches. The discussion about the final match, Gargano vs. Ricochet in Beijing is very interesting, because they weren’t able to do any fan interaction. And, the fans in China were used to a very different style of wrestling, so it was a delicate balance to put on a match that the 10,000 fans in the stadium would enjoy, while also putting on a match that the WWN fans watching online would also enjoy. Gabe shows to be a good interviewer too, whenever they finish a subject, he’s always got a good question ready so that they aren’t just sitting in silence.

I’m not exactly the most well-versed consumer of Gargano’s work, but the match selection seems solid. His DGUSA debut, which was a pre-show “Frey” match, which is basically a six-manelimination style match. Next is a match with CIMA from DGUSA, followed by winning the Open the Freedom Gate title from YAMATO. They switch gears and show the aforementioned EVOLVE match from the back alley, which is a crazy brawl against Rich Swann, and then finish with the Ricochet match from China.

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

A good start to, what can be, a very interesting series! Sapolsky and Gargano have good chemistry, and it shows in how well the interview actually comes off. The matches themselves aren't always my cup of tea, but you watch this series for the interview, not the actual wrestling.