Johnny Gargano has revealed that there were once plans for him to appear at WrestleMania, although they quickly fell through.
On February 18th 2019 episode of Monday Night Raw, Johnny Gargano arrived on the main roster alongside Tommaso Ciampa, Aleister Black and Ricochet.
On the show, Gargano teamed with Ciampa to defeat The Revival, before also besting The Bar on SmackDown on their debut on the blue brand. However, Gargano quickly returned to NXT after it was confirmed that NXT Champion Ciampa needed to undergo neck surgery.
Instead of Gargano and Ciampa going to war one last time at NXT TakeOver: New York, the NXT Title was declared vacant and Adam Cole won his way into a match against Johnny Wrestling.
Speaking during an appearance at Starrcast V on a special panel with Inside The Ropes’ very own Kenny McIntosh, Gargano revealed that he almost appeared at WrestleMania 35. The former NXT star explained that tentative early plans would have seen him wrestle at WrestleMania, but the injury to Ciampa changed everything.
“We found out about that Raw appearance maybe two days before it. I got a phone call saying ‘you’re gonna be on Monday Night Raw on Monday, you’re called up.’ And I’m like ‘What? We’re in the middle of this story, what is happening?’
It was all completely last minute, I don’t know if there was really any plan. I think the ultimate end game was gonna be us teaming at WrestleMania, I think. But they were also saying that ‘We’re gonna let you finish your story with Tommaso’ and things like that. So I don’t know how that was going to play out again, that’s above my head. I just do what I’m told, in certain areas.
But we’re on Raw and SmackDown, we find out about Tommaso’s neck surgery that he needs. So Tommaso is going to go away and get neck surgery.
I say, ‘Hey, look, there’s obviously not like a plan here. If the plan was for me and Tommaso to be together as a team, in my head there’s still another TakeOver coming up. The Johnny Gargano story, he never won the big one. And he was going to wrestle Tommaso at this thing, and obviously he can’t now. There’s still a main event to be had on this show, this huge show this weekend. Let me go back to NXT and let me finish what I started.’
Like I said If that doesn’t happen, me and Adam Cole doesn’t happen.”
During the conversation that featured surprise appearances from Candice LeRae and Dexter Lumis, Gargano also addressed his wrestling future.
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