Former NXT Champion Johnny Gargano has admitted that he considered signing elsewhere before returning to WWE.
Gargano finished up with NXT in December 2021 after his contract expired. Previous reports indicated that Gargano had considered signing with AEW, before the popular star ultimately returned to WWE on the August 22 edition of Raw.
On WWE After The Bell, Gargano noted that the idea of joining another promotion crossed his mind while he was away from WWE.
Noting that he still has many goals he wants to achieve in WWE, Gargano said:
“Obviously, it crossed my mind, but I was at the point to where I wasn’t ready to come back yet. I was enjoying myself. I have people that work around me that go out and talk to other places, and I have a great team around me that have those discussions so I don’t have to.
“That was a big thing too while I was gone. I was very focused on being a dad and letting the business stuff be handled by other people. It was cool that promotions respected that and said, ‘Okay, we’re going to leave Johnny alone, but we’ll talk to his people about what could potentially happen.’
“I’m lucky to be in that spot. It’s weird to say something like that given I’m from the Indies and I do everything myself.
“Obviously, it crossed my mind, I watch everything. I’m a wrestling fan. We’ll all wrestling nerds at the end of the day. I’m a wrestling fan. It always just came back down to, and I said this in my return promo, when I was a kid, I dreamed of being Intercontinental Champion.
“I dreamed of being WWE Champion and wrestling at WrestleMania. Those things hold so much weight to me. I don’t know if 20-30 years down the line, if I could forgive myself for not trying. I never really tried. I did everything in NXT and was fulfilled in NXT and proud of it, but I didn’t try on that scale yet. I haven’t done it and I wanted to do it.”
Gargano last wrestled at NXT WarGames in November 2021. He will return to the ring on the September 12 edition of Raw.
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