Johnny Gargano on going to the main roster, Tommaso Ciampa feud, Daniel Bryan, Candice LeRae

how are you feeling horrible you like you were like limping up to me yeah yeah I mean I went through a war last night but I mean mentally I feel great physically went through a war so I mean I I'm as sore as I expected to be this morning I knew going in that I was gonna feel like crap the next day and I do feel like crap but uh things turned out for the best and you know I'm here so I got your job back and I did I'm back in NXT and that's a funny thing you know this match was more than about revenge it was about you know getting my life back because I could have went and Russell Donny and DS I could have did things like that but I love NXT I'm very proud of NXT I'm very proud of what I've built in NXT so that's where I want to be and I'm happy to be back how do you get your job back if the match is not actually sanctioned oh that's a very good question yeah luckily the general manager William Regal like put it in the contract he might have a soft spot for me or something like that but luckily it worked out and I won yeah soft spots there's no soft spots when you and Tommaso wrestle do you like you take him aside before the match and go I we kind of knocked it out of the park with the last match what are we gonna do to top at this time no I think it's just I know Tommaso I know him very very well and that's just how he's always been he's always hit extraordinarily hard one of the hardest hitters in professional wrestling bar none so it's almost like for me look I'm gonna I'm gonna take it I'm gonna take it but I can give it back as well and if you look at his face after the match last night I gave it back quite a bit you and Andrade synonymous you worked pretty stiff with each other - is that something you discussed beforehand no I mean it's just it's just how I am it's the current landscape of freshman wrestling I mean that's how I think I've always been it's just a little it's a little bit more amplified when you have four cameras around you I camera here camera there camera there camera there and they're all high-def as opposed to independent wrestling cameras where this basically is one hard can you're you got a plate or maybe a rolling floor cam that might be an iPhone or something like that you know think it a little bit more amplify hey that match that you had well we'll talk about the Tomaso match in a second but this see anonymous match you had so many false finishes in that match do you get to a point where it's like how can we finally end this match oh no I don't know at least like I I'm lucky enough to wear you know the things I've been a part of they've had great stories behind them and at the end of May that's what we do I think a great wrestling match is like watching a movie and it builds to a climax and I think matches happen organically matches happen naturally and if it's forced doesn't feel real and I kind of just try to make things feel as real as possible and that is officially a 5 star match so congratulations that mean to you it's it's it's mind-blowing to me it doesn't none of this seems real that access a couple days ago and it's like to have an access signing and to see my face up there with like Cena and Undertaker and Shawn Michaels and Triple H and guys like that who I idolized growing up none of this seems real and did basically be you know 5 star match and like there's only a select few people in the Navy there's only like few matches in novi history they've actually been rated 5 stars and there hasn't been one since 2011 and for me to have one of them now and 2018 I guess it is now and and I'm actually tomorrow so last night we'll see what that gets but I mean to potentially have two five-star matches in the span of I guess a couple months I mean I mean some people care about that some people don't for me like if you could think it once are magically gets five star match and that's the beauty of a freshman wrestling I think is there something for everybody like some people could hate my match but some people could love my match some people oh good well I mean that's it and that's we don't think about takeovers - you could take over it's like a main event every single match like this show it topped itself every single time if you if you didn't like my match I'm sure you went crazy for the ladder match we didn't like the ladder match I'm sure you love scheana basil never move if you like scheana Baylor's didn't have the mood you like that tag in like that yeah like a driving scene always and I was with like like there's literally something for everyone and I think that's what makes takeover so special a lot of people are talking about your match a lot of people also talking about the ladder match were you backstage looking at it watching it yes I watched the ladder match last night I mean I tried to get my own ahead zone but I wanted to make sure to watch the ladder match because for me like there's a lot of guys in that match and like ricochet who I've known for a very very long time I'm wrestling him I can't even cry wrestle him all over the world there are some in China I wrestled in Japan I wrestled in America I'm like literally everywhere and he's literally a video game character come to life he can do anything in the ring and I knew being in that environment and having a ladder match with ricochet involved it's gonna get crazy cuz you got Adam Cole - a guy I've wrestled all over the world killing and Dane fell 15 dream I can't say enough good things about velvetine dream he is he's in his early 20s and he's a freaking superstar and he's gonna be a millionaire one day I've no doubt in my mind so are you by the way you thank you large solvent as well who is an absolute freak he's a monster like like the talent pool and actually I can go on and on and on about how amazing our locker room is because it's just it is like if you look at our roster up and down like it's untouchable man that's why I want to be there because that's the place to be right now I love it you're putting everyone over I love everybody tell everyone how nice you are but serious like you put everyone over and you're so excited to be part of this this whole thing which I think's amazing the last time I saw you was exactly a year ago it was the Sunday which is whether it is Sunday right before normal anniversary now the Sunday after I take over we do this a lot has changed though since then a lot more beat up there we were at your house last year yeah you're certainly more beat up you're also way more jacked when did this all happen so when I went away for a little bit when the tomaso turned his back on me so I went away for a while and I in my mind I'm always of that mindset of when you go away you got to come back and gotta be better than yourself and that's in my mindset from like watching a guy like Triple H who went away in tour squad and came back with a view those beautiful day videos and like frigging look like a million dollars you can't go away for a long time and come back and look worse that you just can't do that so I'm like I gotta change something and I realize it myself like look like I'm a small guy I'm never gonna be 250 pounds I'm never even gonna be 6 or 5 but I can get as jacked and as lean as fast as possible and luckily enough for some reason I have genetically great abs I don't know where that came from my parents don't have them but yeah so I decide you know what I'm gonna go all in on being lean go all in on just putting my best foot forward and looking the best I can and that's is what you get so that mostly diet right it's a lot of diet but like my dieting isn't like people think I go you go chicken rice I hired a nutritionist which is a big help Austin current on Instagram he's working with a lot of people now in three just because people saw how well it worked for me and people's like oh give me your nutrition info because it works so I work with him and then that along with Sean Hayes of the Performance Center who has absolutely amazing workouts and he's got me where I need to be but for me it is a lot of diet it's a lot of I don't like the you said eat chicken and rice I eat Fruity Pebbles I eat things like that yeah but I just only like 1,800 calories so I don't eat very much but I feel I could fit in whatever I want was age I'm very big on the if it fits your macros dieting okay where I just think I gotta hit certain numbers and things like that I wouldn't be able to because I'm I literally I'm a fat kid trust me like I've been waiting for a week we went and got beignets last night I've been waiting for a while we got some beignets I have doughnuts in my room waiting for Candice when she's done it access so basically what John is saying is if you want abs ain't doughnuts doughnuts that is the secret so if you you are listening you're watching this yeah go to Krispy Kreme right now pick up doughnuts abs probably the next day I think it works very fast it's it's phenomenal I'm someone who I have an abra to every once in a while oh yeah thank you you're a great shape I'm no Johnny Gargano but you know I have an advert to everyone so while sometimes I have a to them but it's the doughnuts but it's all about they say that abs are made the kitchen not the kids yeah if you have a layer of fat or I think everyone has abs right that's how that works yes everyone has the abdominal muscles muscles it just depends on if you will eat more food Kevin Owens has a great program great ABS great core great great course maybe there's a cannonball later the powerbomb that's that this is all it's all a core exercise it's a pop-up powerbomb so yeah I like that your sleeves have disappeared from your shirt yeah this is my ripped you are this is the beignets the sugar from the beignet is making my veins pop right now that's another trick you want to eat a lot of sugar before you wrestle so you vascular I'm giving away all the tips the trade that's a real thing that's a real thing do you and Candice workout together yes so now that Candice is with me like sometimes we can go and work out together Performance Center which is great because you know like their their equipment is top-notch but before that I got me and her work out all the time she absolutely hates me she hates me workout together because I'm a very big like endurance person I'm very big like super sets and things like that that I try because I'm not I'm strong I'm strong for my size I guess but I'm not like throwing out 500 pounds so I need to do a lot of reps to kind of get me going and she just I do a lot of supers a lot of weird stuff that I learned from the PC and like I watched a lot of Instagram videos you say that was such just and look I have Instagram for two reasons I have Instagram to look at food I can't eat on most days and look at cute babies or workout videos that's basically all I have Instagram for so I do a lot of those workouts with her and yeah she just she paid she paid me more I have Instagram just to follow you to be honest I don't know if I'm very good at Instagram I think sometimes no you're very good oh I appreciate that I'm not I'm more in my Twitter game sometimes but you know I work what's good about your Instagram is it's not just professional photos of you in the ring you actually show that you have a real life you show that you you know eat food you show that you're interested in things like collecting action figures and stuff like that and I think that that's what makes you a human being that's the thing do like people are so afraid to be human beings in this day and age especially in wrestling like they think like God you need to be this really tough angry person at all times it's like that's not real like I'm a real dude and I think that's that's that's a big reason why I mean a lot of people say that I'm like the last true baby face in the world that people like these people are so used to like we want to cheer the bad guy and we like shades of grey and we like down gritty guys and you look at me and I'm not dirty and I'm not down and I'm not greedy I got dirty down dirty and gritty last night but not most times I'm not but I think it's just because people can relate to me people can see that I am a real person and I am a real person than just living my dream yeah and then today like I think that that helps them root me on it so like look if this guy can do it I can do it as well and I see myself in him and I think that's my trick that's my secret there really aren't any true heels in the sense of the word like there were in the Attitude Era any more true heels the only true heel idea right now is the muscle champ just saying that because you don't like that that's true that's true that's true I think a lot of people don't like him to be fair yeah I get tagged in a lot of tweets he gets people are not nice because they like you so much that they like me so much then they they they really love DIY they loved the camaraderie of two guys coming together like and it was very organic people saw us grow from two guys who didn't have contracts the NXT Tag Team Champions and that happened mainly because of them the response they gave us and like to have Tomaso basically ripped that away from them take that away from them like I think that that affected a lot of people very very deeply as though you know is your program with Tomaso done now I for me last night I mean the final shot was meeting Candice for me in my mind it's a beautiful ending to that story so I think so I hope so I'm so happy when I see you and Candice in the rain together because I'm like there's so many wrestlers who like rarely see their wives yeah the fact that you actually get to work with your wife's amazing it's amazing how everything's worked out like literally the dream come true to not only be in the position I'm in see it's the main event takeovers but also to have my wife there with me now yeah and like I've said this numerous times but it couldn't be fly it's so true like Candice has worked just as hard as I have if not harder she's especially for like what she did on the Indies she was an absolute trendsetter so me being biased as her husband like I'm pumped to see her Russell so I can let me see her in NXT just so I can be with her but as a pure wrestling fan like I'm so excited for Candice the ready to be an NXT because she's the one of the best wrestlers in the world I love this story of how you guys met because you actually met at a wrestling show for everyone that's not familiar with this can you tell us how it happened so we met at a pwg show in California like we met there a couple times she came backstage and we talked a bit but you were like who's that pretty girl over there yeah I mean I'll come on obviously yes I don't know if it was so much as that and that was the exact verbage I used but something along those lines but the thing is to like it's crazy cause it's like you we watched like Joey Ryan has I heard her tag partner at the time has like a youtube show and you can if you go back and watch like that year of the YouTube show you can kind of see our relationship developing I remember four years ago we were in New Orleans for Wrestlemania and there is a distinct shot where we are on Bourbon Street it's after a show and me and Candace are just like talking to each other and just like she posted it on her Instagram recently like a story where like because she texted me that night and like we met a couple a little bit for that she asked me where I was going and I'm gonna go I think we're all going to Bourbon Street so she went there just to hang out with me and like there's this thing shot on the YouTube show where we're just looking at each other and just talking and like you can see in her eyes that like we genuinely care for one another and that was love or even together I know so if you check out that clip the cane is posted on our Instagram so yeah you can see that yeah what did it will she have a full-time you know role on NXT is that that so we're working towards I mean I hope so I mean like like with anything in the next tee it's all about opportunity it's all about right place right time and like I said there's so much talent and it's so loaded but again for my money Candice aware he's one of the best wrestlers in the world and she's at access right now and I think you're gonna be seeing a lot more of her in the future and it's the best time to be not just in a dependent wrestler not just a wrestler and not just a women's wrestler but just a wrestler in general right now yeah it's a it's amazing oh yeah I keep going back the NXT roster but I'm but like you look at the Indians to like everything is booming everything is bopping everything is going well and we're here at WrestleMania weekend WrestleMania weekend is the biggest wrestling weekend of the year eight he's over 80,000 wrestling fans from around the world or here and it's always crazy when it's in New Orleans because like Bourbon Street in general is like nuts and dirty and crazy I try to I try to not go through that much but it's even crazier when there's 80,000 wrestling fans taking it up and just it's such a cool environment this is one of my favourite weekend's of the year cuz you walk around you see like wrestling shirts everywhere like it's like I went like I went to access a couple days ago and like I had media wrote like 6 a.m. and like that was before the doors are open on access and I got to walk around the superstore and walk around access and access is like the coolest place in the world it's like Disney World for wrestling fans because there's just so much stuff to do and like it's it's amazing like it's wild so if you watched wrestling or if you watch WrestleMania at WrestleMania 30 here in New Orleans as a fan you're watching today as a superstar where do you actually watch so we'll be backstage all of NXT are gonna be backstage watching obviously we're part of the company as much as them and it's it's cool we watched last year we watched up in a booth yeah and it was so cool just to be there live like it's so different I've never been to a Wrestlemania before this I always said I never wanted to like as a fan I wanted to never wanted to go to Russell because I wanted to wait I wanted to wait for at that moment now to be there and to be backstage and just to feel the energy and just look around I got so many videos on my phone from last year this is when the Hardy Boys returned like the atmosphere in the building was just so nuts I really drives you as a performer just to be like I can't wait for one day when I get that opportunity to be there so yeah it's exciting is that the goal WrestleMania is that goal for you it's been my goal since I was eight years old I mean that's I say if you get into wrestling people always say like Oh like like do you want to go to do it before I came here that you want to go to the movie do you want to go do that and I'm like when I was a little kid like I loved wrestling and I loved WWE like I loved like that I wanted to be at WrestleMania I'd always dreamed that was the dream I you'd be like I'm in a main event WrestleMania one day like that that was the dream so in order for that to happen you have to meet B&W v and that has not changed for me like that's still my goal is to Main Event WrestleMania one day we mentioned this last year but I remember I was ring announcing one of your matches in Cleveland and I was talking about impact or TNA at the time they were doing the gut check and bringing in and Penta wrestlers from all over the country to you know have a spot and you're like I have no interest like oh I don't want to do TNA I want to go to WWE and you held out and I think that that's so impressive I always had tunnel vision on what I wanted to do for me like it was always that my game plan was always the following like the Daniel Bryan footsteps I think he set the president do everything you possibly can on the Indies and then when you're ready you're ready to move on and you're ready to be successful in do because you've learned everything you possibly can you've done everything you possibly can like I think games will see one when I was working with him he Arkin did to becoming a doctor like you can you can't just become a doctor and just like start operating on people and be successful what you're gonna kill somebody you're gonna be horrible at it you need to go to school you need to learn the Indies are almost like going to school and learning yeah so you when you're ready to go you're ready to go so that was always my goal and I mean look at a guy like Daniel Bryan like he's set he kind of I'm just kind of walking in his footprints right now you get a lot of comparison a nice dude Daniel Bryan I do who I get a lot of comparisons Daniel Bryan and I trust me I'm I'm flattered by all of them because like seeing like I brought up New Orleans WrestleMania like B I watched it at home but watching Daniel Bryan and the main event of WrestleMania achieve his dream and I said I said his numerous signs but I've been in the ring with Daniel Bryan and he's the best restaurant the world bar none so to be able to see him come back this year and you know I know he just recently said in an interview that he wanted me to lose last night cuz he wanted to steal me to go on Smackdown live which I very much to appreciate I'm give him a rain check on that one because I still have some things I want to accomplish in NXT but like to see Daniel Bryan that's the thing I'm most looking forward to this year is seeing Daniel Bryan return to the ring and just kids for me you know being a good guy and not just in the ring but hopefully out of it Daniel Bryan is the best guy yeah and it's so cool to see good things happen to good people and he deserves everything now that he's back maybe you guys can work together I would love to we have in the past and the ndz that you said he's the best best guy I've ever been in the ring with but now I guess it's a little bit different now I know I know I get the I got like when he announced his return on Twitter when it came out that he was coming back like so many people wanted to see us fight each other but they also wanted to see his team together as the ultimate underdog babyface duo where do you want to go back to a tag team I mean look if I'm teaming with Daniel Bryan I'm okay with it if I can have him as my partner I think I can trust him a little bit the the lineup for you at access was massive as you know what's been your craziest fan interaction I haven't my had that many like everyone's been really nice and really cool like the people make you stuff it's like the coolest thing yeah yeah I have a very special interaction with my fans like like and trust me like things are like I just recently when I landed at the airport here in New Orleans I think Zack Ryder got one too but a fan who's a manager at Toys R Us actually got me like a a Johnny gargano like Toys R Us nameplate made like an official one and that because they're closing and he knows how much that sucks and how sad I am about it but like to now have an official Toys R Us like like name play at dads that was super cool as soon as I land into other so that's it to set the mood off right but that's like that's the thing like I it's so weird to me just to have like people like freak out when they meet me because I'm just like I'm just like you guys I'm just a normal dude and there's like you mentioned it access to see the line to see like how many people are around and it breaks my heart because they are I was like you only have two hours and meet all these people so like as soon as those two hours are up you got to go and I always feel so bad I'm like I thought it was like no like I'll literally stay here as long as it takes to meet him but they have things they need to get done so do anyone who waited in line to meet me at access that could I'm very very sorry and if you see me on the street you see me anywhere please do not hesitate to come up and say hi and I will sign and take pictures and do whatever like that people are always saying I don't want to bug you like you're not never a bother and that wherever you see me come on up don't worry Wow yeah I was I remember watching your matches when you were starting to get the Johnny wrestling moniker did that tie into the fact that there was Johnny football in Cleveland at that time it started up as that like I absolutely just a tweet that I sent out one day like when he Johnny football was on Johnny Manziel yeah yeah he was still in college and the Johnny football thing was catching kind of starting to catch fire there I had just ramblas that if he can be Johnny football why can't I be Johnny wrestling that's just a little tweet I sent out and then like the next weekend at shows I started getting the Johnny wrestling chance and then we kind of RAD I got Johnny rustling chance and it got bigger and bigger and bigger and they started an NXT and as soon as organic seed thing happened it absolutely blew up and like they did it was inspired off Johnny Manziel because you know like anything I'm a Cleveland Browns fan so I was pumped about Manziel mania coming to town to its no oh yeah that turned out and now anymore it's kind of taking on a life its own so people don't even make that correlation anymore you're you're way more Johnny wrestling than he is Johnny football he's like Johnny get drunk now sorry like did WWE were they cool with taking that on even though that was something that you did in the end yeah 100% like I was I was hesitant I wasn't sure if they wanted me to be Johnny rustling you hear this man yeah you're not a wrestler but I'm like it's my thing and like as a thing they don't they're not gonna go against themselves you know the Johnny wrestling thing was hot people loved it and that's that's my moneymaker like they said no like you told me no we want Johnny wrestling as you can see like I have Johnny rustling on my Derby merchandise it's on my titantron yeah it's a lot of places and you know that's pretty cool for me that you know in it in a world where people say that wrestling is not allowed to be used it's all over my stuff and they let me go with it so yeah they've been great when you look at some of your friends that are on the WWE roster guys who worked it with the Indies guys who worked with an NXT who are you most proud of man like Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn those guys are you know my guy I've known Kevin and Sammy all like I said on the Indies for a very very long time and like it's great to see what they are like I feel like I know almost everyone up there now I Brussels Seth Rollins like he's great like there's so there's so many guys that like I mean I can name all literally every all the 205 live guys it's nobody shows with all of them like I think I know like 75% of the dhobi roster now which really speaks volumes on where the business is headed and where it's going is that it's a lot of guys just like me who genuinely love this and genuinely want to succeed at it and have dreamed their whole life so just working for this company making something special happen and now they're all getting that opportunity too and it's it's like you said earlier it's a very cool time to be a wrestling fan and a wrestler is there one of your colleagues that you have not met yet like Undertaker or Bill Goldberg or someone like that I think I've met everybody which is wild now I'm trying to think who I haven't met because they'll be there tonight it will be there tonight so will you like it's always cool like to meet like the the like the people that aren't around very often like I said I met like Molly Holly yesterday and she was very nice very complimentary of my matches andrade seeing all of us so it's just cool to see like the off hand legends that just like they're not around wrestling that much anymore but they come back for special events and you see in there yeah everything like everyone's like that's that's the craziest thing to me too as everyone is so like cool like you you think like growing up like oh you never want to meet your heroes especially a guy like it's like Shawn Michaels who's literally the best rush of all time and was painted on my wall and for him just to be the most humble down-to-earth guy the best best human being to like it's just it's so cool to see I just hope that when you get called up to the main roster because it's it's inevitable that you get to stay Johnny wrestling you get to be this guy because so many guys get called up and you know there it just doesn't work out for them and people are real worried about that I get that on Twitter a lot they're worried like oh man I don't see Johnny go to the main roster cuz it's gonna get messed up like look I'm just me that's that's the thing I'm just me I'm just Johnny garganta on the same you know I always have been so that's your real name buddy it is my real name if you see anything I've done in NXT see anything there like you're getting the real me and they've treated me very good so I have no worries about where we're going in the future I appreciate your time thank you for making this out with the pleasure buddy hopefully I see you before next year yeah yeah well we'll be back here next year not in New Orleans Jersey right that's right okay so we'll do this okay next year 365 days from now we'll be back here but hopefully I see you in real life before that hopefully deal you

Channel: Chris Van Vliet

Views: 50,465

Rating: 4.9411764 out of 5

Keywords: johnny gargano interview, johnny gargano, johnny gargano nxt, johnny wrestling, johnny gargano tommaso ciampa, johnny gargano nxt takeover, johnny gargano wife, johnny wrestling match, johnny gargano diy, diy best match, johnny gargano entrance theme, johnny gargano raw, johnny gargano title match, wwe, wwe interview, chris van vliet, chris van vliet wrestling, ring of honor, ricochet, johnny gargano candice lerae

Id: Fs4YB20_f10

Length: 26min 52sec (1612 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 15 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/BojackStrowman]

Controversial opinion time. Gargano and Ciampa won't be massive stars on the main roster and will suffer from KO/Sami syndrome where they are constantly thrown together because it works. I think Ciampa will do a little better than Johnny and can't see Vince seeing much worth in Gargano regardless of how good he is.

[u/SociallyAwareCat]

With Bryan back, I think that hindered Gargano's chances of getting over at the level of Bryan. The main roster crowds might think he is a rip off of Bryan.