Johnny Gargano says he was worried no one would remember him when he returned to WWE, but he’s glad they did, and now he has unfinished business to tend to.
As noted, this week’s RAW from Toronto, Ontario, Canada saw Gargano make his surprise return to WWE. This was his first major wrestling appearance since he became a free agent after his WWE NXT contract ended in December. Gargano hit the ring to a huge reaction from the crowd, then ended up taking out his former tag team partner, Theory. As seen in the post-RAW video below, Sarah Schreiber interviewed Gargano right after he made his return in front of the sold out crowd at the Scotiabank Arena.
“I’m still at a loss for words,” Gargano said. “Uh, I don’t know… when you’re away for so long, I was away for nine months, as I said, and I was kind of just changing diapers, and watching ‘Bluey’, and doing the dad thing for a long time, and it was just one of those things where you don’t know if people are gonna remember who you are, and yeah, I was here for a long time, and in NXT, and I did a lot 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… hopefully at least one person remembers who I am!'”
He continued, “And then 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, though. I feel like a huge weight is lifted off my shoulders now because people remembered who I am, and now it’s time to get to work.”
Schreiber then asked about what the future holds for Johnny Wrestling, mentioning how he talked about various accolade and accomplishments during his RAW promo, including how he’s always wanted to win the WWE Title, win the WWE Intercontinental Title and the WWE United States Title, and perform at WrestleMania.
“Well, I said that I came back for a lot of different reasons,” Gargano said. “But first of all I wanted to be Intercontinental Champion, United States Champion, WWE Champion. I want to 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, and just… I am such a ball of energy right now because I just went out there for the first time… literally I’ve been sitting at home doing nothing for nine months… just diapers and diapers, and you know diapers, there’s no good diapers, I promise. But yeah, I am so over the moon, I’m so excited. And I’m really excited, honestly, now to go back home and see my baby, I think he was watching, he might be sleeping, but he got a chant tonight – there was a ‘Baby Wrestling!’ chant in a WWE ring, yeah. Score one for him, he’s going to appreciate it when he gets older. I’m gonna be like, ‘Watch this tape, watch this VHS!'”
An excited Gargano then wrapped up his promo and added, “Let’s go, let’s go!”
On a related note, you can add WWE Hall of Famer & Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels to the list of top stars who took to Twitter after RAW with a reaction to Gargano’s big return to the company.
“Well, would you look at that! Congrats @JohnnyGargano!,” Michaels wrote after the show.
For those who missed it, you can click here for backstage news & notes from Gargano’s return at RAW, along with footage. You can click here for our original report with full details on his segment with Theory, also with videos. You can also click here for post-return reactions from WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations & Head of Creative Triple H, Gargano, and his family at home – Candice LeRae and Quill.
WWE still has not added Gargano to the RAW roster as of this writing, or announced when he will make his in-ring return, but we will keep you updated.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more on Gargano. Below are the aforementioned posts, along with video and another tweet where WWE welcomed Gargano back:
Well, would you look at that! Congrats @JohnnyGargano! https://t.co/7vzqBNd5jp
— Shawn Michaels (@ShawnMichaels) August 23, 2022
"And I know change is scary, but sometimes it needs to happen. If there's one message I wanna leave for you guys … you will never fail if you bet on yourself." – @JohnnyGargano, #WWENXT 12/7/21
Welcome b̶a̶c̶k̶ … home, #JohnnyWrestling. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/zV52PwKrxY
— WWE (@WWE) August 23, 2022
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