Johnny Gargano: Selling Ability ‘Is My Bread And Butter’

For all his ability in the ring, Johnny Gargano thinks that his selling is what sets him apart from other wrestlers.

"For me, I know that's my bread and butter," Gargano said during an interview with Edge and Christian on a recent episode of E&C's Podcast of Awesomeness. "I can go out there and I can do some cool stuff but it's better when I'm taking cool stuff and making it look even better. That's where I feel I'm at my best."

Gargano noted that his selling ability has been able to improve after working with Shawn Michaels at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. Michaels started helping out at NXT back in the latter part of 2016 and, according to Gargano, played an instrumental role in Gargano becoming a wrestler in the first place.

"Shawn was always my guy growing up. He was my go-to guy for everything. He's probably the reason I got into wrestling," Gargano said, noting Michaels "comes in the Performance Center a lot and I've gotten to spend a decent bit of time with him and just learn various things from him. … My instincts are more of the selling thing and I know that's what he was the best in the world at. He has helped me a tremendous amount, not only in targeting that but making it go even further. For me, like I said, I have the indie instincts of doing a cool thing and selling it but he really is great at honing in on making stuff mean so much more."

Gargano went on to emphasize how working with Michaels had helped him improve in the ring.

"I thought I was an OK wrestler coming here but it's made me 10 times better being able to work with Shawn," he said.

Gargano is coming off a highly acclaimed match at the last NXT TakeOver event against Andrade Almas, which headlined the card from Philadelphia.