Johnny Gargano Opens up about NXT Championship Win

Johnny Gargano recently spoke to Chris Van Vliet all about his NXT Championship victory at this past Friday’s NXT TakeOver: New York

Chris sent the following transcribed highlights from the episode to eWrestlingNews. You can hear the full episode on YouTube or via the links at the bottom of this post:

Johnny Gargano says “NXT is the main roster”:

“I get the question a lot of when are you going to the main roster and I absolutely hate that question. I hate it so much. I get tweeted that a lot and people say ‘I can’t wait to see you on the main roster’ and I tell them you are seeing me on the main roster. NXT is the main roster. I do believe that Raw, Smackdown and NXT are the three brands and I think that people can come from Raw or Smackdown to NXT and I think that people from NXT can go to Raw or Smackdown. It’s very interchangeable. Obviously, there are different worlds there in people’s minds but for me, this is my main roster title. This is my main roster moment. NXT to me is the hottest thing going not just in WWE but all across professional wrestling. I think NXT is the hottest brand in sports entertainment and I’m not just saying that because I am biased, I’m not just saying that because I’m me, I’m saying that because I was at TakeOver. I watched the show. I’d put TakeOvers up against anything in the world.”

Johnny says Shawn Michaels inspired his celebration:

“Honestly, when I got down, it was very Shawn Michaels like, and that was the defining moment of my childhood, the boyhood dream and I think it’s the defining moment of a lot of people’s childhoods. A lot of people are saying this to me and it doesn’t seem real, they say remember when you watched Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 12, the boyhood dream, you always remember that moment, there are going to be kids that my win will be their Shawn Michaels moment. And that is mind-blowing to me, that’s bonkers to me that that’s possible.”

Johnny Gargano on Candice hitting the ring to celebrate with him:

“I was on my knees and I grabbed the belt and I felt someone tackle me and I was like ‘what is happening right now?’ and I had no idea who it was. I didn’t know if a fan got in the ring, I didn’t know if one of the members of Undisputed Era jumped me afterward, I didn’t know if anything had changed, I didn’t know what was going on and then I was like ‘Oh, it’s Candice’. She hit me hard, I was like ‘Oh my God!’.”