Johnny Gargano Says Candice LeRae’s First Championship Victory In WWE Means The World To Him

Johnny Gargano believes that Candice LeRae’s first WWE Championship victory was long overdue.

Despite the fact that she was one of the most well-known women’s wrestlers on the independent circuit, Candice LeRae spent much of her first few months in WWE simply known as Johnny Gargano’s wife during the very personal rivalry between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. Now, Candice has forged her own path in NXT and she is one half of the NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions.

For Johnny, who has become synonymous with NXT, he believes that his wife was long overdue for championship success of her own and proclaimed in an interview with Comic Book, that she is one of the best to ever lace a pair of boots.

“I’ve seen everything she has done. I’ve seen all the hard work she’s put in, and I wrote that tweet out over that message about how no one is more deserving than Candice LeRae and I firmly do believe that” Gargano said. “I’ve been really lucky to have a lot of success in NXT, but one of the main things I needed to see happen, I wanted to see happen, one of the things I thought deserved to happen after everything she’s done, all the hard work she’s put in, not just in NXT, but her entire career, that validation for her of holding a title in NXT, holding a title in WWE, that was really special. Not just for her, but for me as well.”

“But I think she, for my money, is one of the best to ever do it. So to now see her get that validation of holding a title, it means the world to me, man. It’s so cool to see and it’s so not just deserving, but she earned that thing,” Gargano said. “For everything she’s done not just in the ring, but behind the scenes, all the struggles she’s gone through just to get to that moment, I just had to keep reminding her, ‘Please just enjoy this. Enjoy this while you have it, because it doesn’t last forever. And I just want you to enjoy the moment because you have earned this thing.’ And like I said, it’s not just for The Way, but as me being Johnny Gargano, husband, it’s so cool.”

Johnny looks to hold on to his own title belt as he defends the North American Championship against Bronson Reed in a Steel Cage Match on the next episode of NXT. Fightful will have live coverage.

Recently, Johnny Gargano spoke to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp. You can check out that full interview here.