Johnny Gargano knows how to play the game, and hopes that wrestling fans can remain patient as he finds his footing on the main roster.
The former triple-crown NXT Champion spoke on this topic during a recent interview on Busted Open Radio, where he explains why he doesn’t do the 30-Minute Takeover matches all the time, a performance style that hardcore fans of Gargano had become accustomed to. He says that he still has those types of performances in him but just needs to wait for the right time to showcase that level of action. Highlights from the interview are below.
How it is important to make the most out of your time in WWE:
You know how things go, man. You make the most out of the time you’re given, you make the most out of your opportunities. I feel like I had a huge opportunity in the Elimination Chamber match, and I feel like I showed out in that one. I feel like I was able to get in there with a guy that I feel is probably the standard-bearer on our industry right now, Seth Rollins. I think he’s the tippy-top of the mountain, he’s where I want to be, and I hung toe to toe with him, and I showed the world that I can hang with him. So it’s one of those things where it’s all about time, it’s all about patience.
On fans wanting him to give NXT Takeover level performances all the time:
I know a lot of people don’t want to be patient, they want it now. They want me to go out there and have 30-minute matches, 25-minute matches, do my TakeOver thing. It takes time, it takes equity. It takes getting this other audience that maybe doesn’t know about me, the casual fans we talk about all the time, in these buildings that, quite frankly, I haven’t been in before. A lot of these markets, I’ve never wrestled in, and they’re seeing me for the very first time. This whole past six months, I’ve wrestled in so many markets I’ve never been in before because… [in] NXT, they did the main markets, they did the hardcore wrestling towns. I do feel like it’s just time, it’s equity. As you know, it’s putting your time in, making the most out of the time you’re given, and that’s all you can do.
Gargano was one of the six-men who competed for Austin Theory’s United States Championship back at Elimination Chamber.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)