Johnny Gargano Reveals If NXT 2.0 Influenced His Decision To Leave WWE

When Johnny Gargano left WWE in December 2021 following the expiration of his contract, many wondered if the switch from NXT to NXT 2.0 played a part in Gargano’s decision.

However, ‘Johnny Wrestling’ has denied the move to 2.0 made him leave WWE, saying the following to Renee Paquette on The Sessions:

“I know people said, like, ‘Oh, Johnny left because NXT changed.’ No, I always had it in my mind that I wasn’t leaving to go to any particular place. I kind of just felt like I needed to go because I felt like if you watch a TV show, or if you watch anything in general, if you see the same character, and obviously I changed character, I turned heel, I did funny stuff, I did things like that here and there. But if you see the same person on TV for five years, six years, it gets stale.

“I believe that being off TV and being away makes people miss you. I think people need to have a chance to miss you, and if they don’t, then they don’t really care in general. I felt like for the last year that I was going to have fun this past year, and I’m gonna do whatever I can to try to set this place up for the future. That’s why me and Candice focused a lot on Indi Hartwell. We wanted to give Indi a good spot. We wanted to give Austin Theory a good spot. We wanted to help out as much as possible.

“I want to try and give guys opportunities that they wouldn’t have gotten. To have a long match with Kushida at TakeOver, I was really proud that I was able to give him that spotlight as well. It was really important for me to try to help as many people as possible before I left to kind of set that place up for a good spot for the future.”

Since leaving WWE, Gargano has stayed away from wrestling, as he and wife Candice LeRae recently welcomed their first child into the world.

H/T: WrestlingNews.co