Johnny Gargano discusses his run on WWE RAW.
After Gargano left NXT in December 2021, he took a few months away from wrestling to focus on his family. The NXT Triple Crown Champion made his surprising return on the August 22 episode of WWE RAW, and he has been a member of the roster ever since.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio, Bully Ray asked Gargano to comment on how he felt his run on WWE RAW was going. Gargano stated that it’s important to be patient, even if some fans want him to have 30-minute matches as he did during his NXT run. He also pointed to his performance in the Elimination Chamber match as a highlight that showed that he could hold his own.
“You know how things go, man,” Gargano said. “You make the most out of the time you’re given, you make the most out of your opportunities. I feel like I had a huge opportunity in the Elimination Chamber match, and I feel like I showed out in that one. I feel like I was able to get in there with a guy that I feel is probably the standard-bearer on our industry right now, Seth Rollins. I think he’s the tippy-top of the mountain, he’s where I want to be, and I hung toe to toe with him, and I showed the world that I can hang with him.
“So it’s one of those things where it’s all about time, it’s all about patience. I know a lot of people don’t want to be patient, they want it now. They want me to go out there and have 30-minute matches, 25-minute matches, do my TakeOver thing. It takes time, it takes equity.”
Gargano continued by making it clear that he is competing in front of casual fans and crowds who aren’t necessarily familiar with him, and it takes time to build equity.
“It takes getting this other audience that maybe doesn’t know about me, the casual fans we talk about all the time, in these buildings that, quite frankly, I haven’t been in before,” he said. “A lot of these markets, I’ve never wrestled in, and they’re seeing me for the very first time. This whole past six months, I’ve wrestled in so many markets I’ve never been in before because… [in] NXT, they did the main markets, they did the hardcore wrestling towns. I do feel like it’s just time, it’s equity. As you know, it’s putting your time in, making the most out of the time you’re given, and that’s all you can do.” (H/t Fightful for the transcription)
In addition to his work on RAW, Gargano returned to NXT on the March 7 episode, where he was revealed as Grayson Waller’s opponent at NXT Stand & Deliver.
Meanwhile, Gargano is set for action on the March 13 episode of WWE RAW; he and Dexter Lumis will take on Dominik Mysterio and Damian Priest of the Judgment Day.
