Pro-wrestling superstar and former triple-crown NXT champion Johnny Gargano recently appeared on Insight With Chris Van Vilet to discuss his departure from the company, and how he felt very content with the farewell he got to have with fans. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
Says he feels content on his NXT goodbye:
“I feel very content. It was just a time period in my life where that chapter was closed as well as I could close it and end the story the right way and to get to thank people. I thanked people that don’t even work for the company anymore. I had no restraints. I just went out here and spoke from the heart. It was not scripted. To be able to do that showed an incredible amount of trust. That shows the relationship that I had and continue to have with the people in NXT where they trusted me to go out on live television with a live microphone. I could have said, ‘I’m signing with this place’, and slammed down the microphone. I could have literally done anything. But I have way too much respect for everyone in that building and for that company.”
Says he wants to go do his own thing and see what’s out there:
“But now, I just want to go and do my own thing, make my own choices, and see what’s out there. You get a rare time to let your deal run out. A lot of people don’t get that opportunity. They are signed for years and years. I knew my deal was coming up and I just wanted to have this time to reassess things.”
Says he knew his time in NXT was coming to an end:
‘I think the last year I kind of knew that. I had accomplished everything that I had wanted to in NXT. That’s not to say I couldn’t have gone to RAW or SmackDown and done other things. I just knew that I didn’t want to re-sign, but there was always that option of maybe I do want to re-sign. I had made my mind up, but there was always that 1% chance that I could, so there was a 99% chance that I wouldn’t re-sign. But I feel like when Candice got pregnant, that was when that 1% went away. I don’t want anyone to be in charge of my time during the time period where I am with Quill. I don’t want to be sitting at home and have a Connecticut number call me and say, ‘You need to be at this show’, or ‘’You need to make this appearance.’ I just wanted to have a clean slate, leave, and either come back in the future, or go elsewhere.”
(H/T and transcribed by WrestlingNews.Co)