Johnny Gargano Explains Why He Decided to Leave WWE
Johnny Gargano gave his first interview since his WWE contract expired this week with Gregory Iron on the Iron-On Wrestling Podcast, opening up about his decision to depart from the WWE earlier this month. First debuting in WWE in 2015 and receiving a full-time contract a year later, Gargano became one of the most decorated stars in NXT history as the first NXT Triple Crown Champion, the only man to hold the NXT North American Championship three times, a nine-time NXT TakeOver main eventer (10 if you count the 2021 WarGames event) and a five-time NXT Year-End Awards winner. "Johnny Wrestling" explained the decision to step away was a long time coming.
"I definitely felt very complete. I felt complete for the past year," Gargano said (h/t Fightful). "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," he added. "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."
As for what's next in his wrestling career, the 34-year-old didn't give anything away beyond the fact that fans shouldn't expect him back in a ring in the very 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," Gargano said. "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."