I'm no authority on the matter and probably a mid-average player at best, but I don't think the top 3 buzz surrounding cage is real, just trend.
In general I don't buy into these tier lists. There can be many of them that will be correct depending on the value that was in the mind of the author that divided them in the first place.
I think Johnny's outtake is good against certain mus that show stopper/shock jock wasn't, which make Johnny as a WHOLE a better character. Outtake zoning abilities made Johnny's mu against skarlet, cetrion, kabal, digital soldier's Cassie, and some more a VIABLE mu when before it was a really bad one.
So in general he improved from one viable variation into having 2 that compliment each other.
In that sense, you could still pick 'better' than him character for each variation's mu. So is show stopper / outtake top 3? Meh. But as a character he can DEAL with most of the cast using both. Which is great for a 'loyalist' (aka lazy to learn new characters).
Another issue is regarding online and the usual opponents gameplay that you actually meet.
Johnny's general gameplay is very reliant on reads, footsies and respect of the plus frames. In addition he's dependent on strict timing (d4 into f344) and respect/fear in order to jail into his highs (s1/s2 and follow up strings) and generally slowish strings (getting d2ed after an opponent's negative & punishable string can lead to major nerves breakdown).
In online surroundings you suffer from lags that hurt your core gameplay to jail (getting d2 after d4, poked after nut punch restand, 12 stagger) and use of plus frames.
What's even more important is that most players are random and/or mashy and/or not adapting so you can't really condition them/force your gameplay. I believe Johnny is inherently weak in that situations (hmm yolo d2 hmm) and that in turn can limit your gameplay into mainly punishes and use of f4/d1/d4 strings.
Pros, offline and high level competition is a different beast - the more patient, slow paced, non yolo, offline input settings makes him shine better. Spice it with a little of the sonic said factor and hell break loose.
Few notes on popular whiffing and 'fake' plus frames.
Whiffing issues in both hitbox/hurtbox is an issue for all. The whiffing of the projectiles on 'female' hitbox is plain stupid from a design standpoint. If in principle highs hit crouch blocked opponents then any deviation from that is a hole in the game's logic. You have to play around what works in the lab/actual fight and not how the game lays out his mechanics. It's a case of 'don't hate the player hate the game'. A lot of chars have whiffing issues but Johnny is one of them that is hurt on one of his key tools. And I usually play outtake exactly in that situations where show stopper whiffs so I could make use of his other tools (BTW I think that beside zoning wars show stopper is better than outtake if he didn't have this whiffing issues)
Regarding plus frames, I believe they're solid. He has so many plus strings that if a follow up was guaranteed you could jail the whole match. But on each of his plus frames he still have a great option select and conditioning. If opponent is not respecting and pokes, you can poke/safe jump/whiff punish. If he's reverse special attacking you can expect and block and usually punish the string, most are negative. If he's jumping you could aa or just f3 stagger. If he's walking back you can jump or use kick special. Then when the opponent respects and block you can start throw and force your game.
Regarding krushing blows, well... It blows. What's good for him is that he have an above average damage but hard to open opponents and weak throw game. I think he needs a throw krushing blow and nut punch krushing blow that is worth using (higher damage or doesn't need to be amplified).
That is all.
