Johnny Gargano
Johnny Gargano wrapped up with WWE on December 7th as his contract expired on December 10th. While WWE expects him to return in the near future, he is a free agent.
Appearing on Iron-On Wrestling with Gregory Iron, Gargano revealed he had been planning to take time off for over a year.
“I definitely felt very complete. I felt complete for the past year. This wasn’t a decision that came out of nowhere. This was a decision I decided a year ago. Luckily, it worked out to where me and Candice are having a baby. The baby really finalized my decision on what I wanted to do and how I wanted to take this time. I’m very much a guy where I could have stayed comfortable for a very long time and I love NXT, the door is open, I can go back whenever I want. WWE in general, I can go back whenever I want. I really appreciate that because I’m so grateful that the company I dreamed of working for my entire life still wants me for a very long time, which is really cool. It’s one of those things where I am a competitive person and I feel like I’ve climbed that mountain. There are other mountains I want to climb and other things I want to try and do, not just in wrestling, but life in general. Other avenues I want to try. I’ve always been enamored with creating content and things like that. Now I have free time to try to do that. I’m very lucky to have a loyal fanbase that has followed me and continues to follow me even though I’m not in NXT and am doing my own thing now.”
The former WWE NXT champion also talked about wrestling in the near future:
“I’m always a ‘never say never guy’ because you never know, but I don’t plan on it. I planned on having this break and then I planned on having time with the baby. On the other side of that, I’m 34 years old and still in my prime. I’m hoping that this break give me more clarity on things, but I just want time away. I’ve been doing this for 16 years and I’ve never really been out of the bubble. When you’re in the bubble, you’re in it and going and you don’t think twice about it. Only until you’re out are you able to decompress and you think, ‘Wow, maybe this is what I want.’ I’m hoping I have an epiphany like that. Different people are contacting me all the time. You never know which opportunity is going to be the right one.”
H/T to Fightful for the transcript