Johnny Gargano recently spoke with WWE.com ahead of this weekend’s NXT Takeover Philadelphia event; you can read a few highlights below:
Is this one of the biggest matches of Johnny Gargano’s career?
Yeah, it feels that way. Right now, I’m pretty even-keeled. TakeOver week is always really busy. This one just feels like normal, but as it gets closer, it will probably start to feel a little different.
Gargano on what it means to compete in Philadelphia on such a big stage:
It’s super cool. For me, Philadelphia was always kind of that city you traveled to as an independent wrestler. I traveled there once or twice a month, doing that seven-to-eight-hour drive from Cleveland to Philly just to try and make a name for myself. That was for no money — just doing what I could to try and get people to know the name Johnny Gargano. I got a chance to main event the ECW Arena, and now I’m gonna main event the Wells Fargo Arena. That’s pretty wild to me.
Gargano comments on the relationship he has with his father, and the custom wrestling championship he received as a kid:
It’s at my house in Cleveland, hanging right by my TV. When I was little, I was kind of a chubby, shy, socially awkward kid, and to have that title, even though it didn’t “technically” mean anything, it meant a lot to me. It made me feel important, it made me feel special. That title meant a lot to me during a real difficult time for myself. I was just trying to figure out who I was and fit in with other kids. I was that kid who would go to school and just think about wrestling, and, back in that time period, that wasn’t really the coolest thing to do. Wrestling wasn’t really that cool to talk about, but that’s who I was, that’s what I liked, and I tried to stay true to myself. So, no matter what went down at school, whether I got picked on or somebody said something to me, I’d always go home and I’d always be happy because I’d play with my wrestling title, and I’d defend it against my stuffed animals or the friends I did have. Back then, for me, it was a ray of hope.
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Gargano comments on having the support of his family:
I can say that I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without the support from my parents. I was extraordinarily lucky in that sense. When I was younger, I actually stepped foot in a ring for the first time at 8 years old because of my dad. He knew I was such a big wrestling fan, and a local independent company asked him if they could run a show in the parking lot of his catering company. So, he was like, “Yeah, of course,” and before the show even started, they let me and my friend get in the ring and put on a match. So, I was 8 years old and I was able to get into the ring. For that match, my mom made me a costume that said “Italian Stallion JAG” on the vest, which is crazy to look back on that now because the “Italian Stallion” is, of course, Rocky Balboa, and we’re gonna be in Philadelphia [on Saturday], and everything is coming full circle. But yeah, they were incredibly supportive, and many, many times I put on shows in my living room where I would wrestle my stuffed elephant for that World Kid’s Championship. I give them a lot of credit because they sat there, and they watched it. They watched me beat up and have ladder matches with a stuffed elephant for that title, and they never complained once.
