Johnny Gargano Explains Why WWE Return Didn’t Happen In Cleveland

WWE

Johnny Gargano’s WWE return felt like it was an inevitability following Triple H taking over WWE creative after the retirement of Vince McMahon.

That inevitability became a reality on the Raw show in Toronto on August 22, when he walked out during the show following a commercial break, to the surprise of everyone watching.

What was more surprising is that WWE had been in Gargano’s hometown of Cleveland two weeks before, which is where most people had expected Johnny Wrestling to reappear on their television screens.

Speaking on the WWE After the Bell podcast, Gargano spoke about how he wanted to make sure his return was a complete surprise, which he believes is the reason why he didn’t return in his hometown as many people expected.

He said:

“So it happened very fast, the whole thing. It’s very fun to be able to literally keep a secret in a time period where that doesn’t happen. Everything leaks nowadays. Everything in wrestling leaks. I remember when I was younger, I loved things during the Attitude Era where you’d be watching Nitro or you’re watching Raw and someone just showed up and you’re like, ‘What the hell is going on? I can’t believe they’re here.’ The dirt sheets and things like that were around, but it also wasn’t as prevalent as is today with the Internet and whatnot.

That was the most important thing to me for this secret, for this return, was to make it a complete surprise. Obviously, I could have come back two weeks prior in Cleveland, but everyone believed that. Everyone thought that was going to happen. That’s probably why it didn’t happen. It would have been great. I would love to come back to my hometown. I still haven’t wrestled in that arena, which is mind blowing to me, outside of when I was Cedrick Von Haussen, but that’s a different character. It’s a different universe. It was really important for me to just keep this whole thing under wraps as much as possible.”

While Gargano didn’t make his return in Cleveland that night, his kayfabe son-in-law Dexter Lumis did, appearing in the crowd following the AJ Styles vs The Miz main event.

Gargano also told the unique story about how watching an episode of Stranger Things inspired his WWE return.

transcription via WrestlingNews.co

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