Johnny Gargano Addresses Rumours Of Impending WWE Return

Could Johnny Wrestling soon be back in the WWE fold?

Johnny Gargano Takeover Punisher
WWE Network

With the recent appointment of Paul Levesque as the new WWE Head of Creative, that's only further amped up those rumours of Johnny Gargano returning to WWE as part of the main roster.

Speaking during his latest Twitch stream, Johnny Wrestling has now moved to address such speculation. While he didn't give a firm answer on where his pro wrestling future lies, Gargano did detail how he's in good enough shape that he "could show up on television" at any time.

As per WrestleTalk, Johnny explained:

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“So, you guys hear any good rumours lately or what? The comments section is going to be a wild one tonight, I am sure of it. Yeah. Look, I know what to expect, the moderators I’m sure are going to be watching and deleting a lot of things, but I will obviously address the elephant in the room up front. You know the general rule on this channel, and how this thing goes. I talk very openly about professional wrestling, I talk very openly about a lot of things, but if you’re expecting to come here and me to flat out say that ‘I’m coming back here’ or ‘I’m coming back there’, ‘I’m doing this’ or ‘I’m doing that’, that’s not gonna happen. So, to save the moderators some time and effort here, if that is your question, I will answer a lot of questions, ask whatever you want, talk about wrestling, talk about all that good stuff, I have no rules as far as that goes, but if you’re going to ask me the questions that I’m definitely not gonna answer, just save yourself some time, ask me something better than that, and I will happily answer it.”

Gagano continued:

“I will say that I am about, I’m pretty much what I would like to call ‘TV lean’, I’m not ‘TakeOver lean’ yet, but I am TV lean to where I could show up on television, at any point, and I could be in good shape. I know that’s gonna take a life of itself that I’m saying this, but I’m being honest with you guys. (Laughs) I’m not gonna say that I’m not.”

Johnny Gargano departed WWE at the end of last year, with him stepping away from the squared circle to embrace fatherhood following the natural expiry of his prior contract with the sports entertainment juggernaut. He and his wife, Candice LeRae, welcomed their son into the world this past February, and now the attention is when and where Johnny will resurface in the wrestling world.

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Prior to Triple H being put in charge of the WWE creative team, there were already rumours that Johnny may end up returning to the company as a main roster talent. Of course, those rumours have only intensified following the news of the Game's new position within the organisation.

Gargano actually technically made his wrestling return this week, with him making a video appearance on IMPACT Wrestling to praise Alex Shelley ahead of Shelley's upcoming shot at Josh Alexander's IMPACT World Championship at the Emergence special on 12 August.

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Johnny was previously under WWE contract from 2015 through until last December, with that tenure seeing the Cleveland native win the NXT Championship, the NXT North American Championship, and the NXT Tag Team Championships with Tommaso Ciampa - marking Gargano out as the first ever NXT Triple Crown Champion.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.