Johnny Gargano has given his first public comments on his momentous return to WWE on Monday Night Raw.
Johnny Gargano was last seen on WWE programming last December when he cut a heartfelt promo to say goodbye to the NXT audience before being attacked by Grayson Waller. Since then, there’s been plenty of speculation about a potential WWE return, but the crowd in Toronto was certainly surprised when the sounds of Rebel Heart rang throughout the arena on the latest episode of Monday Night Raw.
As he was making his entrance, Gargano leaned down and spoke into the camera, saying “I missed you guys, so much.” He then made his way into the ring and said that it had been nine months, and he hoped people remembered who he was, but he reintroduced himself just in case.
He was soon interrupted by his old partner in The Way, Mr. Money In The Bank, Theory. Theory talked up his own accomplishments while Gargano had been away and was greeted in return with a superkick to the chin.
Speaking in a WWE Digital Exclusive after Raw went off the air, Johnny Gargano shared his thoughts on his return:
“I’m still at a loss for words. I don’t know. When you’re away for so long, I was away for nine months, like I said, and I was just kinda changing diapers and watching Bluey and doing the dad thing for a long time. It’s just one of those things where you just don’t know if people are gonna remember who you are. Yeah, I was here for a long time in NXT, and I did cool things.”
“But there’s still that big part of me who was just a nervous wreck all day because I was like hopefully at least one person remembers who I am. To stand there and watch my name come up on the Tron and see people go nuts, I’m like man, it’s really a relief. I feel like a huge weight is lifted off my shoulders now because people remember who I am, and now it’s time to get to work.”
Gargano was also asked what his ambitions were now that he is back with WWE and also spoke of his excitement at the “Baby Wrestling” chant the fans in Toronto greeted him with in honour of his son:
“Well, I said that I came back for a lot of different reasons, but first of all, I wanted to be Intercontinental Champion, United States Champion, WWE Champion. I wanna wrestle at WrestleMania, and there’s only one place you can do that, and that’s here in WWE. That’s why I came back, that’s why I am beyond proud to be here.”
“I’m just a ball of energy because I just went out there for the first one. Literally, I’ve been sitting at home doing nothing for nine months. Just diapers, and you know diapers, there’s no good diapers, I promise. But yeah, I’m so over the moon, I’m so excited.”
“I’m really excited honestly now to go back home and see my baby. I think he was watching. He might be sleeping. He got a chant tonight. There was a ‘Baby Wrestling’ chant in a WWE ring. Yeah, score one for him. He’s gonna appreciate it when he gets older. I’m gonna be like, ‘Hey, watch this tape. Watch this VHS.’ Let’s go. Let’s go.”