Johnny Gargano Comments on His Return to WWE
Monday’s WWE RAW show in Toronto, Canada featured the surprise return of Johnny Gargano.
Following the show, WWE held a backstage interview with Gargano. One of the topics discussed included Gargano’s thoughts on his recent return to the company.
“I’m still at a loss for words. I don’t know. When you’re away for so long, I was away for nine months, like I said, and I was just kinda changing diapers and watching Bluey and doing the dad thing for a long time. It’s just one of those things where you just don’t know if people are gonna remember who you are. Yeah, I was here for a long time in NXT, and I did of cool things. But there’s still that big part of me who was just a nervous wreck all day because I was like hopefully at least one person remembers who I am. To stand there and watch my name come up on the tron and see people go nuts, I’m like man, it’s really a relief. I feel like a huge weight is lifted off my shoulders now because people remember who I am, and now it’s time to get to work.”
Gargano also gave his thoughts on his current career goals in WWE.
“Well, I said that I came back for a lot of different reasons, but first of all, I wanted to be intercontinental champion, United States champion, WWE Champion. I wanna wrestle at WrestleMania, and there’s only one place you can do that, and that’s here in WWE. That’s why I came back, that’s why I am beyond proud to be here. I’m just a ball of energy because I just went out there for the first one. Literally I’ve been sitting at home doing nothing for nine months. Just diapers, and you know diapers, there’s no good diapers, I promise. But yeah, I’m so over the moon, I’m so excited. I’m really excited honestly now to go back home and see my baby. I think he was watching. He might be sleeping. He got a chant tonight. There was a ‘Baby Wrestling’ chant in a WWE ring. Yeah, score one for him. He’s gonna appreciate it when he gets older. I’m gonna be like, ‘Hey, watch this tape. Watch this VHS.’ Let’s go. Let’s go.”
Transcript h/t: Fightful.com
More on Johnny Gargano’s Return to WWE & Interest from AEW and Impact Wrestling
Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that WWE officials had kept their plans for Gargano’s return a big secret going as far to not have his name appear on any of the script rundowns ahead of the show to prevent leaks.
RAW’s locker room and WWE’s production staff reportedly were mostly unaware of the plans for Gargano’s return and only found out when Gargano appeared backstage a few minutes before his segment on the show.
It was also reported that WWE officials had maintained interest in re-signing Gargano throughout his free agency period. WWE officials reportedly were patient and respected Gargano’s wishes to be away from wrestling while he helped take care of his newborn son. It was also reported that Gargano was another notable name talent that those within the company believed they had a significant higher chance of re-signing after Paul “Triple H” Levesque gained power in the company.
In regards to AEW, it was reported that their sources stated that it is not known if AEW held any advanced negotiations with Gargano. Those spoken to within AEW stated that they did not believe he would have ended up in the company throughout this year despite having several people push for his signing.
In regards to Impact Wrestling, it was reported that their sources stated that Impact was never seen as a serious consideration by Gargano.