Johnny Gargano Talks Exploring His Options After Leaving WWE, His Hopes for Doctor Strange 2

By Connor Casey

Johnny Gargano sat down with ComicBook during WrestleMania 38 weekend earlier this month while attending WrestleCon 2022, his first public appearance since his departure from WWE in December. "Johnny Wrestling" has remained quiet about what his next move in the wrestling world will be — he chose to step away in order to be with his wife, Candice LeRae, as they welcomed their son, Quill, back in February. After a full day of autograph signing and meet & greets, Gargano talked about his strategy when it came to fans asking about where he'll go next.

"So I made it a point to ask people, 'Where would you like?' They would say, 'We can't wait to see you in the ring again.' And I always went, 'I'm curious, where would you like to see me go next?' And obviously, AEW was a big topic of conversation from everybody, but there were some people that actually said, 'I want to see you go to Raw. I want to see you go to SmackDown. Don't go to AEW, don't go back to [WWE].' It's varied all across the board, but I think you see me. And a lot of my friends work for a certain company right now. So I guess it's very easy to make that comparison," Gargano said. 

The last time AEW was in Cleveland, Gargano's hometown, was back in February for the Beach Break event, where the chants of "Johnny Wrestling" could loudly be heard during the main event. Gargano talked about his reaction to watching that at home.

"When you step out of the spotlight, I think this is a normal thing for any performer, when you step out, you question if people are going to remember you, if people are even going to care," Gragano said. "Coming here to Wrestle Con this weekend, I was like, 'Are people going to want to meet me?' I don't know. I'm out of the limelight. I'm hanging out with a baby all day. I don't know how I'm viewed anymore."

Check out highlights from the interview with Gargano below!

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(Photo: WWE)

As somebody who has been a part of WrestleMania weekends before from the WWE side, what's it like being back on the other side? 

The last time I did a WrestleMania weekend where I did indie appearances was in 2016 in Dallas, Texas. And it's crazy how it works out, to where now my first indie appearance is back on WrestleMania weekend in Dallas, Texas. So I've been always a part of WrestleMania weekends, especially when you look at it from the indie side. It's still one of the most popular weekends of the year. People come from all over the world to the certain state or city, and they just want to see great wrestling. And it's the busiest time of year. So to go from the indie days to NXT stuff, or [WrestleMania] Axxess stuff, and Axxess for me was always one of my favorite things I did. I would always ask to do extra appearances because I just generally love interacting, and hearing people's stories and talking to them.

But working under the WWE banner, you're with a security guard, and they're rushing you through. And you don't get much time with the person as you want. Here at WrestleCon, coming back, I'm really making it a point to be able to just stand there and talk with someone for as long as they feel they need to talk. I want to give every person a moment with me that they deserve. They waited in line. They deserve at least my full attention. So sometimes I feel more tired doing these kinds of appearance than I do having a 30-minute TakeOver match.

Is this your first weekend out of the house since you guys had Quill?

Yeah, first time. First flight since December. I totally forgot how to pack. I forgot how to travel. I forgot about everything. So it's good to dip my foot in a little bit. And I'm only gone for a day. So that's about the maximum time I'm okay being away at this point.

How has fatherhood been so far?

You can probably hear it in my voice. I'm very tired. It is a 24/7 job. And I tell Candice this all the time, I have no idea of how single parents, or people have to work normal nine to five jobs, do it. We're incredibly lucky. We don't have to do anything during the day. We hang out with the kid all day. We stay up all night with the baby. Because that's what you do. I couldn't imagine staying up all night and then having to go work a nine to five job. It's insane to me because anymore, like a normal baby, I guess, sleeps less than two hours. Wants to eat constantly. Those are just one of those things where you're on 24/7.

Lets talk about the fun stuff. Moon Knight is out right now — do you think that character will stay by himself or do you want him to join the rest of The Avengers at some point?

I hope [he doesn't stay separated]. I think that's the coolest thing about the MCU, is when you get to finally interact the characters. That's what Endgame and Infinity War was all about. That's what made those movies what they were. And I always say I bet it was super fun as a writer to be like, "I'm going to take this character. And how are they going to interact with this character?" That's the fun part of what you do. In anything, you look at that, you look at wrestling, that's based on what we do. Characters interacting with each other.

Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness is up next and it seems like anything is on the table. What are your expectations for the movie?

Man, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much. Obviously, I'm on the Internet. So I see some of the leaks and some of the things that people are talking about. Obviously, the rumors of Tom Cruise, and rumors of some things that are out there. I just think the broad spectrum of what can potentially happen with this movie is crazy. I think people are going to get their hopes up too much to where they're freaking every Marvel character that was in any movie from 2000 is going to be showing up. ...Ben Affleck Daredevil might be showing up. I'd be down for it.

That'd be insane!

I would love that. I'm just saying. Some people don't like Ben Affleck as Daredevil. For me, that was the first one of the, during that time period, Marvel movies weren't really a common thing. So Daredevil was Ben Affleck. That scene of him working out to have an Evanescence, Bring Me to Life, loved it. Loved it.

You can't hear the song without thinking about the movie.

Exactly. Those are the two songs. The Evanescence, Bring Me to Life is Daredevil, and Hero by Chad Kroger is the other. That's my go-to Marvel movie music.

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