Johnny Gargano Considered Signing For Another Company

Johnny Gargano has admitted that leaving WWE behind crossed his mind while he was a free agent, but says he has a lot still to achieve in the company.

Back in December 2021, Johnny Gargano decided against re-signing with WWE once his contract expired and bid farewell to NXT, which had been his wrestling home for six years.

The star later revealed that he had planned his departure months in advance, opting to take time away to spend with his family and be present for the birth of his first child.

Once his son arrived, speculation soon began on when Gargano would return to pro wrestling and where he would go. Johnny Wrestling had already done it all during his time in NXT so naturally, people wondered if he would join other alumni of the black and gold era and opportunity to head to AEW.

However, all of the rumours and speculation ended when Johnny Gargano made his surprise return to WWE on the August 22nd edition of Raw.

Speaking to Corey Graves on WWE After The Bell, Gargano discussed his comeback and revealed that he had considered going elsewhere during his time away from the company.

“Obviously, it crossed my mind, but I was at the point to where I wasn’t ready to come back yet. I was enjoying myself. I have people that work around me that go out and talk to other places, and I have a great team around me that have those discussions so I don’t have to. That was a big thing too while I was gone. I was very focused on being a dad and letting the business stuff be handled by other people.

It was cool that promotions respected that and said, ‘Okay, we’re going to leave Johnny alone, but we’ll talk to his people about what could potentially happen.’ I’m lucky to be in that spot. It’s weird to say something like that given I’m from the Indies and I do everything myself,”

Johnny Gargano went on to make his intentions clear that he wants to reach the top of WWE and achieve everything he dreamt of as a kid.

Obviously, it crossed my mind, I watch everything. I’m a wrestling fan. We’ll all wrestling nerds at the end of the day. I’m a wrestling fan. It always just came back down to, and I said this in my return promo, when I was a kid, I dreamed of being Intercontinental Champion. I dreamed of being WWE Champion and wrestling at WrestleMania. Those things hold so much weight to me.

I don’t know if 20-30 years down the line, if I could forgive myself for not trying. I never really tried. I did everything in NXT and was fulfilled in NXT and proud of it, but I didn’t try on that scale yet. I haven’t done it and I wanted to do it.”

Gargano will wrestle his first match since his return on the next episode of Raw on September 12th.

H/T to Fightful for the above transcription.