Johnny Gargano’s WWE Deal Up In December, More Details

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn aren’t the only WWE contracts coming due in the near future.

Fightful learned that NXT Triple Crown Champion Johnny Gargano’s WWE contract is expiring December 3, 2021. WWE sources confirmed the news with Fightful Select on Monday afternoon. Thus far, WWE sources have indicated to Fightful that Johnny Gargano and WWE have not entered into negotiations to extend his contract, but that WWE “expected to” in the Fall.

It was specified to us that this wasn’t a case similar to Adam Cole and Pete Dunne where the contract coming came as a surprise, and the company has reviewed many of the deals since those and the Malakai Black 30 day non-compete situation. It was also mentioned that roughly around the time Gargano’s deal is up is when the company thought that Adam Cole’s contract would expire, and the company had planned on speaking with them both ahead of that period prior to the shocker that Cole was coming due earlier.

Gargano has been with WWE since 2015, but officially signed with the company in 2016.

With the news of Johnny Gargano’s deal coming up, Fightful learned a little bit about Candice LeRae as well.

It was noted that Candice LeRae’s deal does not match up with Gargano’s, and she still has time left on her contract after. It does expire sometime in 2022, they confirmed. For those asking, her deal has not been “frozen” by WWE during her pregnancy, and she remains an on-screen character. Fightful was told by NXT sources that she insisted on remaining on-screen as long as she plausibly could, and that NXT has been happy with her performance both in and out of the ring.

Gargano is one of several NXT talent that were offered new contracts in the Fall of 2019 when NXT went to the USA Network. A WWE source said that there wasn’t much incentive for top talent to re-sign for several years at the rates being offered, which were “nowhere near” the Raw and Smackdown deals being offered at the time.

This article first appeared on our premium service, Fightful Select. Subscribe to get exclusive news every day, and a half-dozen weekly podcasts.

To directly support us and our continuing breaking news, interviews, and the like, subscribe to FightfulSelect.com. You’ll get exclusive news sent to you directly before anyone else, and dozens of podcasts monthly including Alex Pawlowski’s Sour Graps, Sean Ross Sapp’s Q&A, Retro Reviews and more