True Identity of Aleister Black’s Attacker Revealed

Shortly before NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, Aleister Black suffered a legitimate groin injury that forced him out of the NXT Championship match. The injury canceled a major Triple Threat Match between Black, Tommaso Ciampa, and Johnny Gargano. To write off Black from the situation, NXT officials ran a “mystery attacker” in the parking lot angle again.

The angle has been used to write NXT Superstars off programming before, but this is the first time that the angle has been resolved. For the past few weeks, Nikki Cross has been running around Full Sail University teasing that she knows Aleister’s attacker. After this week’s episode, Cross whispered the identity to Black and the fans were left wondering.

Related: Aleister Black Out Of Takeover: Brooklyn, Replacement Match Announced

According to a report from RingSideNews, the plan is to reveal Johnny Gargano has the man who attacked Aleister Black. NXT officials have been teasing a heel run for him for quite some time. The reveal should be a definitive heel turn for Gargano because it’s so against his normal character. However, the logic behind his attack should be obvious.

After Ciampa won the NXT Title, Gargano wanted to settle the score with him without Black in the picture. If Johnny takes out Aleister, then he gets Ciampa and the NXT Title all to himself. That’s an effective explanation for the behavior, but the real logic behind the heel turn will be the fact that Gargano still failed to capture the title in Brooklyn.

Inside Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa's deeply personal war: WWE NXT, April 4, 2018

It’s going to be interesting to see how NXT handles a Johnny Gargano heel turn since he was such a strong babyface. However, the payoff would have been him winning the title from Ciampa or moving to the main roster. The only way to keep Johnny Wrestling at the top of the card without leaving NXT is a heel turn.

Do you think Johnny Gargano can pull off a heel turn?