Report: Backstage News On Johnny Gargano's WWE Return

Nine months on from his exit, Johnny Gargano returned to WWE on the August 22 episode of Monday Night Raw, suddenly appearing after a commercial break. The two-time NXT Champion then cut a promo before he was interrupted by his former protege Theory and the two competitors had a back-and-forth that ended with Gargano Superkicking Mr. Money In The Bank. 

Fightful Select reported that Gargano's re-debut was kept a secret backstage and he didn't appear on any rundowns before Raw. Most talents also did not know that Johnny Wrestling was in the building and many only found out he was back a few minutes before his segment. Much of WWE's production team were also not told about his impending return. 

WWE remained interested in re-signing Gargano throughout his time away from the company and those within the organisation thought they had a much better chance of bringing back Johnny Wrestling once Triple H took over as head of creative and was appointed Executive Vice President of Talent Relations. 

Fightful also noted they had not heard of any advanced talks between Gargano and All Elite Wrestling. AEW sources noted throughout the year that they did not think Gargano would end up in the promotion but several within Tony Khan's organisation did push for the former NXT Champion to be brought in. 

Gargano also made an appearance on IMPACT Wrestling while he was a free agent, hyping up Alex Shelley ahead of his IMPACT World Title match against Josh Alexander, but Johnny TakeOver joining the promotion was not a serious consideration.