Johnny Gargano: ‘In My Head, In My Mind, When I Said I’m NXT For Life I Meant It’

Johnny Wrestling wants to remain Johnny NXT. 

In a new interview with Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet, Johnny explains what he meant when he proclaimed that he would be NXT 4-Life. A triple crown winner for the black and gold brand, Johnny is very proud of the accomplishments of the NXT crew and maintains that he would do anything to see it succeed. 

“In my head, in my mind, when I said ‘I’m NXT for life,’ I meant it. I believe just because things are all I have always been a certain way doesn’t mean that to say that way is because that’s always been the norm– I said in the promo too, they don’t tell you you have a choice but you do have a choice. I’m staying here. I love this place, I’m staying here, that’s what it comes down to,” he said. “This is the team I believe in. I’ve worked with a lot of these guys for over 10 years. We’ve all traveled the world together. Like I’m so incredibly proud to be on this team. I don’t want to go on another team. I’m a free agent. I’m not gonna be like ‘oh, I could make more money over there.’ I like my life here. I like working with this team, not just the roster but also the locker room also the writing staff. I have such a good relationship with all these people. Shawn and Hunter, they are incredibly good at letting talented people be talented and not taking the talent out of them just enhancing that talent.”

Johnny also spoke about the advantages of not having a 2-hour product in the face of some longtime fans worrying that the longer run time will ruin some of the charm that the underground brand possesses, “Two hours opens up so many more possibilities for a lot of talented people in this building to get that play. You see that with Keith Lee and [Dominik Dijakovic] now they’re getting tons of play now and people are finally being able to see what they’re capable of, which is awesome. Tegan Nox, can’t wait to see what she’s going to do. Dakota Kai, can’t wait to see what she’s going to do. Chelsea Green, Deonna Purrazzo, Austin Theory, I think he’s great, Swerve’s great. Joaquin Wilde, he’s great. There’s a lot of talented guys in this building that have so much potential and as you know kind of a guy who’s done a lot of stuff here, I’m very excited to see what they do in the future because they deserve it and they work very hard and they deserve it.”

For the foreseeable future at least, Johnny will remain on NXT. You can see him and the rest of the yellow rope rebels every Wednesday night on the USA Network.

If you use any part of this transcription, please credit Pro Wrestling Sheet, with a h/t: Fightful.