"No part of me wanted to even come back" - Top WWE star had no plans in returning until Triple H took over
WWE RAW Superstar Johnny Gargano shared that he had no immediate plans to return until Triple H took over.
Despite finding success in his run on NXT, Johnny Gargano decided not to renew his contract. In a December 2021 episode of the developmental brand, he bid goodbye to the fans so he could prepare for his firstborn son, Quill.
In an episode of Out of Character, Gargano admitted that he planned to be out for a year. Still, he was open to coming back early if he found something interesting.
"I was getting my dad bod on. No part of me wanted to even come back. And when I left in December, I had a year in my mind. I was like, 'I am okay being gone for a year, December to December, I was totally fine stepping away.' If some opportunity arose in between all that, if something that piqued my interest that made me go 'Hmm, that could be pretty cool' popped in my head, I'll think about it." [6:28-7:00]
However, he expressed that when management changed and Triple H was put in charge, the communication between them started to increase.
"As soon as the change happened, as soon as everything went the way it did, communication definitely increased in abundance." [7:20-7:28]
A look back at the achievements of @JohnnyGargano throughout his storied tenure on #WWENXT. https://t.co/aqmwQKcQ4O
Johnny returned to the company during the August 22 episode of RAW. He is currently involved in a storyline with Mr. Money in the Bank, Austin Theory.
Johnny Gargano shares WWE respected his time away
The former NXT Champion spent a lot of time in the developmental brand. He signed with them in 2016 and before his exit in 2021, became the first ever NXT Triple Crown winner.
On the same podcast, Gargano was asked if he was one of the first people contacted when Triple H took over. He said that WWE reached out quickly but noted that they were respectful during his downtime.
"It was pretty quick. I'm trying to think of the exact timeline of it because it went by pretty fast. The one thing I will say is, in my downtime, everyone was extremely respectful of my time away. They understood that I wanted to focus on the dad thing for a while." (5:57-6:15)
.@JohnnyGargano and @WWEGable are taking each other to the limit on #WWERaw! https://t.co/GsjYANw4oI
Gargano recently stated why he didn't return to WWE in his hometown of Cleveland. His comments are available here.
If any quotes were used from this article, credit Out of Character by Ryan Satin and give H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcriptions.