Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Johnny Gargano On Candice LeRae, Becoming A Father, Shawn Michaels & NXT

Episode Date: April 7, 2022

Johnny Gargano (@johnnygargano) is a professional wrestler known for his time in WWE and NXT. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Dallas, TX to talk about why he decided to let his WWE contract expire, becoming a father for the first time with his wife Candice LeRae, why they named their son Quill, what he learned from working with Triple H and Shawn Michaels, his thoughts on AEW, why he wants to retire at 40, his prediction for the Cleveland Browns 2022 season with Deshaun Watson and much more! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet CVV CLIPS: youtube.com/CVVCLIPS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are gathered. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blurley! All right, my friends, welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CBV Chris Van Fleet. First of all, you're awesome. Thank you so much for being with us on this one. And if you've listened to the show for a while or if you're an OG YouTube subscriber, you know that Johnny Gargano and I go way back.

Like, over a decade ago. I moved to Cleveland from Toronto in 2010, and he was a star on the independent wrestling scene there in the Midwest. So because of that, we had this tradition of doing interviews together every single year during WrestleMania weekend. We did it in 2017 in Orlando at his apartment. We did it in 2018 in New Orleans in the lobby of the hotel. We did it at 2019 in New York in his hotel room right after he won the NXT Championship.

And then again, this weekend in Dallas, Dallas, the tradition continued, although obviously things are quite a bit different for him, personally and professionally, this time around. I'm sure you already follow Johnny Wrestling on social media, but if not, you can find him at his name at Johnny Gargano. I'm at my name, at Chris Van Fleet, and take a screenshot, tag us, let us know that you're listening. And if this is the first episode of the show that you've ever heard, I hope that you like it enough to want to subscribe and also to want to dig in some of the previous episodes.

I mean, this is episode number 334. So if I do the math correctly here, I think that means there's 333 episodes you could go and listen to. James Patterson, 45, is our fan of the week. He left this review on Apple podcast that says, love it.

I just love all you do. Thank you so much for the good and free content. And then there's an emoji with the, like, smoke blowing out of the nose. the emoji, a heart, and a fist. So thank you for that. James Patterson 45. Yes, of course, the content is free.

I don't have a Patreon or an only fans, although perhaps we should start an only fans. Hmm. Look, I'm just glad that you enjoy these conversations as much as I enjoy having them. So thank you for the review. I read one on every single episode. It's my way to say thank you for being with me on this journey.

and if you listen on Spotify and you have a few extra seconds today perhaps maybe while you're sitting on the toilet please leave a rating on there. Okay, are you ready? Ladies and gentlemen, Johnny and Gargano. The tradition continues. It's Rustmania Weekend. Here we are. Here we are. Back again.

Congratulations, my friend. Thank you. You're a father. Yeah, you can probably see the tiredness on my face and hear it in my voice. I don't think I've slept in, like, really slept in like two months. What was the, what's the most amount of sleep that you've had since you became a father? Probably the three-hour flight from Orlando to Dallas that I took today. I think that's the most continual sleep I've had without a little crazy human being going like, ah, or ah, babies make a lot of noise.

I don't know you know this. I've heard. They make a lot of noise, like the most noise. But like, and then like the night you or the day you bring home your baby for the first time, and they're making all these noises, are you like, oh, is that a good? noise or bad noise? So I would freak out about it. Luckily, we have the internet.

So you just kind of look at the internet, but like, is this normal? And I'm like, yeah, sure, it's normal. If it was like 1990s, like, I couldn't imagine my mom, like when I was a baby making all these noises, she'd probably be freaking out. I think she was freaking out. I think at one point, I think at one point there was a story where I was so gassy. Babies, I don't know if you know this, like when they poop, like they, they straight up like, like straight up, just cartoony poop.

And I believe I did that. And my mom freaked out and tried to rush me to the hospital because she thought I was dying or something. But anymore, you just have the internet. You were like, is this normal? Like, yeah, sure, it's fine. And then your mom goes to the hospital and they go, oh, no, your son was just going to the bathroom. Pretty much, yes. Yeah, yeah.

How do you and Candace split up the duties? We don't. So we, Candice does a lot of the feeding because, you know, she has those. She has the apparatus. Yeah, she has the milk farm that the baby is eating from. So I tried to handle all of the diaper changing. Oh, wow. I know, which is a lot because my dad, he's very proud of the fact that he never changed a single one of my diapers.

Not one. He's proud of that? I'm proud of it. He said, I never changed a single diaper. And I have changed at this point, I can't even have a count on it because literally it's just it never stops. Every hour, every 15 minutes sometimes, it's change and change and change and change and poop and more poop and more poop and pee and more poop. So is Candace going to be like, I'm so proud, I've never changed a diaper? So she changes too, but I just try to step in because I feel like I'm not doing anything.

So I got a really kind of, I can't feed him without a bottle. Right. So I just try to change all the poobiness. I walked by your booth earlier today and you just had like a bunch of baby gifts there. Yeah. I appreciate that now. Like I've kind of accepted. I'm going to take a step back as the star of the household.

Basically the ranking to the household now go. Quill is number one. The dog Paudet is number two. Canis is number three. And I'm a solid number four. So I'm fine with that. Only as long as you recognize that. Yeah, I know my role.

What was the ranking before? You were just number three. Yeah, number three. Yeah. Yeah. You were still last place. So, yeah, I just still get stepped down one more. Yeah, I'm fine with it.

Just absolute last place. Always last place. Yeah. So if you have any more kids or any more animals, you'll just keep. Yeah. I'm always going to be in last place. Unless we get a really sucky kid. Then maybe I may be a baby kid becomes the number two.

Yeah, maybe. But you're still last place. Yeah, always. Yeah. What kind of gifts did you get? So we have baby books. You can show all. Remember my hotel room.

There's no secret here. We have from a fan named Lisa, who I believe is Adventures with Bailey. She makes all the signs. Oh, yeah. The Bailey signs and all like the, she had Johnny Wrestling signs. Yeah, yeah. All the signs you see, Lisa makes them. And she was at my appearance today.

And she brought a bunch of baby books, kind of Marvel. Look at that. Night Night Groot. Is every word in this book, I am Groot? Then the next page, I am Groot. I hope so. Legends of Wrestling Alphabet. Yeah.

Man, look at this. Shirts. We got a Gerald. Gerald is my favorite. One of my favorite Disney characters. Plush there. We got onesies. You can never have enough onesies.

Bibs, the Iron Man bib there. Very on brand for a quilt. If someone comes and gives you a baby gift, you go, all right, and then my photo amount is this much. No, I'm very nice. I don't know about the people that I deal with Benderwise. Thanks for the gift. Now pay me for the photo.

I wouldn't do that far. This is great, though. I mean, this is a whole new chapter of your life in so many ways. We've sat in multiple hotel rooms or different spots. Russell, Maine, I was at your house the first time we did Russell, Mania in Orlando. Then it was a lobby of a hotel. My apartment. That wasn't even in the house.

That's right. It was when I first moved to Orlando. Me and Tomaso were living together. That's right. Tomaso was, I think, in the house while. And he wasn't like on TV at the time. I don't think so, right? I can't remember now.

No, I think we were still teaming, though, weren't we? I don't. I think, was that, was that WrestleMania weekend in Orlando? So it was me and Tamaso against, revival and Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then it was last, I mean, the last time we did an interview

in person was three years ago in New York. Yeah, it feels like it was so much longer than that. How does it feel now? Like, this is your WrestleMania weekend. Yeah, uh, I get, like, I don't even think about it that way. Because I've been so disconnected for so long. Like, when I left NXC in December,

like I haven't done anything wrestling related since then. Uh, so this is my first kind of foray back in this. It was really fun to be able to come here and it's really fun during this time period of my life to kind of be very picky and choosy of what I want to do and where I want to do it. And I was like, oh, you know, it's WrestleMania weekend. RussellCon could be fun.

I've never done a RussellCon before. So to show up and see a lot of faces I haven't seen in forever. Yeah. I feel every single person in wrestling is in at RussellCon right now. That's how this works. It's so weird. I'm like, oh, I know everyone here. It's crazy.

But look, this happens every year. But every other year you've been here at WrestleMania weekend, you've been so focused on everything that you're. you were doing. Well, you know, the city was still filled with literally everybody in wrestling. Yeah. And I'm no secret, or no, it's nothing new to me to be on the Indies in WrestleMania Weekend. I did it for literally 10 years before I went to DVD.

So literally my last WrestleMania weekend where I did independent wrestling appearances was 2016 in Dallas, Texas. And the way it all works out and full circle comes back around, my first independent appearances, not with WWB, is back here in Dallas, Texas. And I don't know how it worked out that way, but here we're going to be. but here we are. Wow. How do you feel about everything? You just did the interview with Renee recently. So now it's kind of out there, how, like, you kind of dealt with everything. Now that it's out there, people are able to digest it. How are you feeling about it? As far as like my time or how I feeling. Yeah, just like, you know, that was the first time you really spoke about why you left WWE.

And now it's out there. And like, how do you feel about leaving? I mean, I feel very content. It was just a time period of my life where I was like, that chapter I felt was closed as well as I could close it to be able to end on that note and end that story the right way and get that opportunity to go out there and basically thank everybody I wanted to thank. And I thank people that don't even work for the company anymore. I had no restraints. I literally just went out there and spoke from the heart and it was not scripted.

And to be able to do that, I mean, like I said, in the Renee interview, like to be given that platform to do that. that's an incredible amount of trust and that shows you the relationship I have and continue to have with people in WWE and people in NXT to where they trusted me to go out there on live television with a live microphone.

I could have literally said, I am signing with this place and slammed down the microphone. I could have done anything I wanted. But I have way too much respect for everyone in that building, way too much respect for everyone in that company. And like I said, I have such a great relationship there that it just felt like

at the time, And now I just want to go out and have the chance to do my own thing and make my own choices. Yeah. And see what else is out there. Because I don't think you only get a very, a rare time to let your deal run out. A lot of people don't have that opportunity. People are still in a contract for years and years and years. Like my deal was coming up and I just knew that I wanted to have this time to kind of reassess things.

You're also one of the very rare people who's been able to leave on their own terms over the last, especially over the last two years with everything that's happened with, you know, everything with COVID. that you basically decided and said, I'm going to go bad on myself now. Yeah, yeah. And it's on a T-shirt, too. So, I mean, it's... I branded it.

I was kind of throwing that out there. Of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Plug in that for you. Yeah, pro wrestling teas.com slash Johnny Gargan. Go ahead and check it out. At what point do you feel like things change for you and you went? I know my contract's coming up, but maybe I'm not going to renew that.

Like I said, I think the last year, I kind of knew that I accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish in NXT. And there's not to say that I could have went to Raw and SmackDown and did other things. I just knew coming up on it, like I knew I didn't want to resign, but there was also still that option of maybe I do want to resign. Like I didn't, I made my mind up, but I was also like, there was a little like 1% chance. I always said like 99% chance I don't resign because there was still like a 1% chance I could have.

Yeah. But I feel like when Candace got pregnant, that's when the 1% kind of went away. And I was like, I don't want to have anyone be in charge of my time during the time period where I'm with Quill. I don't want to be sitting at home and have a Connecticut number call me and say, you need to go be at this show or go to this appearance. I just wanted to have a clean slate, leave on that note, and then be able to come back in the future or go elsewhere. And that's so interesting because there's a lot of people that would go, oh, my God, I'm about to be a father for the first time. My wife is pregnant. I need to take the most secure thing that I can possibly take,

and you didn't do that. That's where the whole bet on yourself thing comes into play, because I'm kind of just hoping that this time period where, not, again, I talked on it, but not only from a physical standpoint, but also a mental standpoint, to be able to give myself a refresh to where I can step away from wrestling,

step out of that bubble, and also, I don't want to learn to love it again, because I'm always going to love it, but just reignite that passion I had for it to its maximum amount. And also I just wanted to be in the best place mentally for Quill and for K&S and for Podma. Like for career-wise, I imagine you'll always do something with wrestling, but are you looking to do stuff elsewhere as well? I'm always looking to do.

I feel like this time period of my life is kind of that figuring out who I am outside of wrestling time period. But I also, like you said, I'm always going to love wrestling. I'm always going to want to be a part of wrestling in some way, shape, or form because that's just who I am. I'm Johnny Wrestling for a reason, I guess. but it's really interesting because I've done wrestling stuff for like 16 years of this. Your whole life. My whole life. So who am I outside of wrestling?

That's kind of the time period now where I'm going to kind of try to answer that existential question in my life of what am I outside of wrestling. When was the last time in your life that wrestling wasn't the main focus? Probably when I was like eight years old when I like Power Rangers. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, are you going to go back to who the- Being a Power Ranger? Yeah, probably.

That's my new profession. But I mean, you're going to go back to whatever the mindset was at eight years old of like, like, when you're eight years old, you can be anything and do anything that you want to do. Be a power agent. Absolutely. You can still be a power engine. I could be. I know, that's the thing. Maybe I will.

Have you taken this time to, like, reflect on like, I'm probably going to have some matches, but like, what I want to do after this? Yeah. Like, it's hard because obviously the name Johnny Erdogan around wrestling is always going to be beneficial money-wise. Like people are always going to want to see me, want to meet me, want to see me wrestle,

want to learn from me. So in reality, I have a job for life. Like, I could go back to the WWB and be a producer. I can go back to VE, be a coach.

I could go do whatever. I could train people in my own thing. Is that door open at WWA? Yes. I mean, I hope so. I'd assume so. Like I said,

I have a great relationship with everyone there. And I'm very lucky that I have that. Because that's always in the back of my mind of what I'm going to do after wrestling. because there's a big part of me that says I only want to wrestle until I'm 40 and that's only like six years away at this point.

So I feel like I have about five years left to really kind of maximize whatever I want to do in this. Yeah, and then it's like, then whatever you do between the time that you started wrestling and 40, now it becomes your legacy. Yeah, I know. That's the big thing. That's the thing I struggle with the most because there's that question of like,

okay, like if I want to go do Indies again or do if I want to go to AEW, or if I want to go to Impact, Do I want to go to R.H? Or I want to go back to WVB. Like my dream, growing up, obviously, a lot of little kids' dreams is to wrestle for WWB. To wrestle at WrestleMania, to be DWB champion.

And that was always my dream. And that still is my dream. But there's also things that change those dreams, like having a baby, wanting to be home more, wanting to, like, so there's a lot of things I'm juggling right now of, like, legacy, mixed with being a good dad, mixed with how do I maximize the time I have left? Like, it's a lot of just questions I got to answer. I don't know what that is yet. I'm just hoping that as this all plays out,

the right answer and the right path will kind of show itself to me. And like since you didn't win the WWE championship, is you winning the NXT championship? Is that like, is that the moment for you? That was for me during that time period, yes, that was my goal. My ultimate goal, that was like the moment I could dream of. But like I said, I am, as you know, being from Cleveland, we're kind of built to be underdogs.

We're built to have a chip on our soldier. chip on our shoulder. So I'm always looking for that next mountain to climb because I feel like I'm constantly doubted. I'm constantly looked down upon. Again, that's just a Cleveland mindset to have. You're constantly being beaten down on. So I'm always looking to prove people wrong however I can.

So if someone's going to tell me if you go to Rawr Smackdown, you're going to fail, I'm going to be like, well, I feel like I can do this or I feel that I can do that. And if I believe in myself, and again, it comes down to betting on yourself. Yeah. Like it's one of those things about, but like that again, is that what I ultimately want?

Yeah. I don't know. The first time that I ever met you, I was doing an interview with you for Channel 19 News in Cleveland, WIO, and we were promoting the independent wrestling show

that you were doing. I interviewed you and Gregory I. Uh-huh. Who's awesome. And I remember you saying off camera, you were like, it's WWE. This was the time when Impact was doing the gut check.

Yeah. And you were like, no, I want to go to WWE. Yep. And I remember like seeing you then maybe a year later and maybe a year after that and it was still like, I want to go to WWE.

When did you finally get on WWE's radar? Oh, man. I don't think I was fully on WWB's radar until 2015, 16. I believe I signed in 2016. And I had a tryout in 2050. Might have been 16 as well. I can't. My brain doesn't work anymore.

Might have been 16 or 15. 15 or 16. Is this dad brain? I think so. Or dad brain. Dad brain or really tired. brain or been doing a meat and grief for five hours, not a stop brain. One of those.

They're all kind of blending together now. Maybe, you know, dropped on the head a few times. Yeah, TTE brain, yeah. 2015, 2016, I think is when I fully got on their radar. That was thanks to a guy named William Regal, obviously. William Regal was a big proponent of independent wrestlers and guys like me who were undersized, who wasn't given an opportunity during that time period. And then it's so crazy to be in that window to where from 2016,

to 2022 based, 2021 when I left, like I felt like we, I had a hell of a run. Like I did, I maximize my time there for sure. Like, especially in NXT, like matches and, and the stuff I was, like, the opportunities I was given to be able to go out there and meet them at takeovers in front of 15,000 seat arenas. Like today, being able to do that meet and greet and signing stuff like that, it just is a, it's very reassuring to have people come up to me and share their stories of how I've affected their life.

It is wild to think that when I was younger, the boyhood dream of Sean Michaels is what made me want to be a wrestler. There were some kids out there, me winning the NIC title would take over New York is going to be what made them want to be a wrestler. So it's cool to have that kind of legacy in itself.

But before you were even recognized by WWE, you were definitely on a lot of people's radar in the Midwest. Like you were a big name in the Midwest. Was there ever a time when you were like, if I could just do this, I would get their attention? Or if I could just do that,

I could get their attention. No, I never, like, I, W.B. was obviously always a dream, but it was always, though, one of that question of, like, I know I'll be there eventually, but I knew that in my brain, but I also, in the back of my head, there's always that question of, like, do they want someone like you? Like, I am always going to think that whatever I did from 2016 and 2021, that was never supposed to happen. Like, the Johnny Gargano story, that whole run I had in NNXT, like, to think about it, the fact that I was sold no at my tryout in 2015, 16, whenever it was. was. Me and Tomaso were both told no. There wasn't a spot for you in NXT. To go from that to going to where I'm ending 2021 on NXT television, getting the chance to say goodbye my own way on live television. Like it's crazy to go from that in that building being told no to being in that building in 2021 and being given the honor and respect to go out there on live television with a microphone and say whatever you want to say. That's wild. How did you get that no to change into a yes.

I think just, because that's, that, for a lot of people they hear no and it's like, well, I guess they don't want me. Like you said, I, I, I, I had that cleave of mentality where I'm never going to take no for an answer, and I just use that to work harder. And that's not to say I wasn't working hard in the first place,

but all I need is for you to open the door a little bit. And if you open the door a little bit, I'm going to kick it down. My story, I feel, I'm never, like, I guess you say the name Johnny Gargano, Johnny Rust, people think like, oh, he's a very successful star, He's a very successful wrestler. But I am never going to be that guy who is like no matter what, the first draft pick, right? I'm never going to be the guy you look at and you're like, that guy right there.

That's who I'm going to build my company around. That's just not me. I'm not built that way. I'm the guy where you open the door a little bit and I sneak through. And once I'm in there, like I'm working my balls off. And ultimately, I get where I want to be. And I'm always going to think of the mindset where I'm a top guy. Like no matter what, I'm always going to say, I'm going to get to the top.

top spot. I'm not going to start there because that's not how I am. That's not how people view me. But you start me at the bottom. I promise you I will work like crazy to get to that top spot. I love this so much. So what was the match or the moment where you feel like they went, oh, we can really do something with this guy in NXT? So I feel like my match with Andrade at Takeover, Philadelphia. That was the first match where I made an event, a takeover. I feel like that match was the one that kind of solidified them of like, wow,

oh, like hearing the crowd reaction, seeing the match in itself, hearing the praise that match got. I'd be like that was really what got them. And what got there, honestly, was, me and Tomaso, obviously, versus revival,

was very, very, everyone loved those tag team matches we had. That was such as a tag match. And I feel like that's always kind of been my story. It's like I start as a, like this guy, he is what he is. he's just, uh, he's an extra.

Like, we'll just use him in an extra. But that's, but that's, put him in a tag team. Yeah. Oh, this guy's great in the tag matches. This guy's great in tag matches. But he's just strictly a tag match wrestler. Let's put him in a singles match. Oh, he's a really good singles match wrestler.

Oh, but can he tell a story? Oh, wait. He did a story too. Oh, wait. No, he doesn't have a character, though. Oh, wait, now he's cutting promos, too. Oh, like, it's one of those, everyone, it's constantly doubted every single time. And that's what I love.

I love being doubted because I love people telling me I can't do something. because you tell me I can't do something. I'm going to want to do it even more. So I felt like having that opportunity against Andrade in Philadelphia actually came from a match in... We and Andrade did a match in San Antonio in a house show for Nxte.

And it was the opener. And it was right before Takeover War Games in Texas. And Hunter was there that night. And me and Andrade went out there and I looked at Andrade and said, hey man, let's go out there and just freaking kill it. Like, let's go nuts.

Of course, A hundred is always get. Andrade's always game. I love working Andrade. He's one of the best in the world. So we went out there and we freaking tore it down. And I feel like Hunter's sitting there and being live and watching that match live, being like, wait a minute. And especially during that time period, too, I hired a nutritionist.

So I was looking all shredded. I was looking leaned up. But it's one of those things where you kind of need both. You need to look a certain way. You need to wrestle a certain way. You need to act a certain way. It's such a big, everything kind of perfect storm moment that led to ultimately take over Philadelphia. Yeah.

Like when you got, you got so jacked. Yeah. Like super shredded. Yes. To the point where you didn't even flex and you still had ass. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You still have that right now? No, no, no, I got Dad Bob right now.

I got Dad Bob right now. But that's one of those things too. Or like, that I feel takes such a toll out of me as well. Like having to, for my body type, I need to diet down a lot and get super ripped. Because when you're super ripped, you appear way bigger than you actually are. What were you actually weighing at that time? I don't remember. I mean, like, still probably like, I think I was like one.

80 or something like that but like it's not like like I'm sure I'm going to be pitched as like 2-0 something or whatever sure but like you just look so much bigger when you're you're leaner um so I I love food I'm an Italian kid my dad owns a catering company like I've grown up being a fat kid all my life uh so I got to kind of hide my inner fat kid to diet down a lot and get super lean because that's another thing for me like when I return to wrestling I feel like I need to look a certain way because triple H always put it in my head to where when you're going for a long period of time, when you come back, you've got to be super jacked.

You don't remember when Triple H's, like Torres Quads. Of course. Came back at Madison Square Garden, freaking jacked to the gills. Obviously, I'm never going to be that big, but, I mean, I got to look good. Yeah. I love that mentality of like,

because it's also, you know, you're only as good as your last match, your last appearance or your last promo or whatever. So now when you come out, you're now as good as this one. This moment. Yeah. Everyone's going to judge you based on first impression

that's right now. So if you, in their opinion, look worse than the last time they saw you. Then you don't care. That's it. You don't care anymore. You lost it. And I'm never going to be that guy to where you see him.

And you're like, oh, he's just a shell of his former self. Did you ever tell Triple H that? I'm sure I have. I've told him all the time how, like, I talk about how like, every, I don't remember, like, the making in the game book he had. Uh-huh. Like that basically molded an entire generation of indie wrestlers to where he told people that if you go to subway, order a six-inch wheat and get double meat turkey.

And that's all you need. So many guys did that for so long. There's probably a Chipotle hack for that now. I am curious to read the book now that I have a little bit more knowledge of weightlifting and dieting and things like that and seeing how much of it is actually accurate. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. soccer podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Klanberberg.

And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really stake their claimant, and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are.

The U.S. Soccer podcast, presented by Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. I'm so curious to know the first moment when you and Candace had an interaction. Oh, an interaction. Yeah. And then how did that blossom into creating a person? Creating a human. I think the first time we interacted was, again, my dates are all wonky.

I'm going to say 2013 2014 maybe we interacted at PWG I think it was All-Star weekend Candice was just there with her cousin

and they were visiting the show I think that was my PWG debut so she was in a locker room hanging out and me and her cousin started talking because I saw her cousin had a Samsung phone so I kind of slylyly started like

chatting up with her cousin to get Canis's attention as well. So I was like, oh, you have a Sandsophone. I have one too. I also don't have an iPhone. Yeah, she hasn't. Candace had an iPhone. So she started being like,

iPhones are so much better than that sort of that interaction where I was like, no, it's not. So that's when we started kind of interacting each other. And the first time, and then I brought up a show called Catfish. If you don't know the show Catfish, Candice had never seen it before.

So I use that opening to find her on Facebook and send her a link to a catfish episode. This is brilliant. I know. Everyone's taking notes right now. Yeah, and the other play I did, you can ask Candace about this. So we were,

we chat on Facebook a message her, and she would say like, uh, why don't you, uh, why don't you just text me? Here's my number. And she sent me your number.

And I was like, oh, cool, here's mine back. Because I was like, I don't want to, I don't want to be the first person. I sent you to the first Facebook message. It's your turn now.

And then she ended up texting me and, uh, and then what was your first date? Our first date. Oh, boy. So our first date was actually, it's not very romantic. You're going to always take notes on this.

Was in LaSalle, Illinois. We were both working for a promotion called Dreamwave at the time. And we both snuck away because we weren't dating yet. We were just talking. We snuck away to a subway outside of the hotel. To eat the Triple H meal? To eat the Triple H meal? Oh, my God.

It comes full circle. And a funny moment is we were sitting there eating. And we looked out the window and one of my friends named Trent, who was also on the show, Trent Beretta, Greg, with us. We see him walking from the hotel like he's coming to subway. And as he gets closer, he's like waving,

but then he realizes what he's kind of walking in on. But then by that point, he's too far gone, so he comes and, like, sits with us. So in reality, our first date was also with Trent Beretta as well. Yeah, he probably doesn't remember that at all, but we do. So what was the moment? There's always a moment with every couple. What was the moment where you went,

oh, this is a thing? Like, I really care about her. So it's funny because the first time she, so, I would always, because Candace used to work at Universal Studios as a baker. So she would have to drive from Riverside to Universal, which is about an hour and a half drive. Traffic and things like that, it could be more. Again, who knows, I have a dadbrain right now. It could be way short of that. I can't be calling me out in the comments. But she would always

have to drive. And her hours were so weird to where she'd have to drive at like, in the middle of the night to get there for early in the morning. Sure. So I would stay up. And then she's on California time. So she's what, three hours? Three hours behind. So I would have to stay up till like she would leave it like I think like one in the morning. So I'd be like four in the morning. So I would have to stay up all night and talk to her on her drive.

And I'm laying in bed like talking to her, but I'm like it's four in the morning. So I'm half falling asleep. And I would do that for a lot of the time when she would drive to work. So we did that for a good while. And then she ended up coming to Cleveland and working for AIW. And we had a singles match there. And that was the first time she met my parents was after we wrestled each other. How does that conversation with the parents go?

I think they already kind of knew. They already kind of knew that me and Candace were talking. Because then like, I just beat up your daughter. Yeah. She beat up me. And I took her to all the, I took her to all the, the first time I met her parents was actually in California. You beat up our son.

First time I met her parents was, though, was actually in California after a PDBG show where I think we wrestled as well. So, I mean, it's always, it's always after we wrestle. And when she came to Cleveland, I did all the tourist stuff. I took her to the Rock and Wall Fame. I took her to all the spots. There's so many. Yeah, that's it.

Rock and Roll Hall fame. Science Museum. Yeah. What was your job before wrestling was your full-time job? I used to work in my dad's catering company. So I'd work... It's named, like it's your last name. Yeah, Gariano's catering.

And I worked for my dad from 8 a.m. to like 3 p.m. every Monday through Friday. And then I would go and wrestle on the weekends. Man. Yeah. At what point did you... Did you go, oh, wrestling's like a thing? I couldn't like, sorry, dad.

Yeah, that was hard in itself because, like, my dad's goal was always for me to take over the restaurant. So he never saw the wrestling thing as something that would work out for me. He always believed in me, obviously, but like he is a dad, so he wants to play it safe and say that here's a safe job you can have. So I'd like you to work at my restaurant forever. Yeah. But obviously I had bigger, like my dream was obviously to be in WV, into wrestle and things like that. So it just ended up being where I would start having these shows that would be like on Friday or like Saturday or Sunday. I'd have like international bookings.

And I'd be like if I'm leaving for two weeks, I can't work at the restaurant. So it's one of those things where like he kind of just accepted that I kind of had to go and do that. Man, what's been your favorite gear in your time in WWA? Because everybody knows you for your gear. They were always so good. Yeah. I'd obviously probably say the Iron Man gear holds a special place in my heart because it was like takeover New York. And that was like the moment that I won the title.

and stuff like that. But then like the Spider-Man slash Venom gear from Takeover Brooklyn and then the Takeover Toronto Wolverine gear is another one I really like. I mean, they were all so good. How do you then want up? I mean, you're trying to one-up yourself in the ring

every time you go in there. How do you want up what you're going out with? That was honestly the most stressful part. Because everyone at a certain point expected certain gear for take-old. Of course. And so like every couple months I had to come up with something new.

and me and my artist at the time, Adam Ritches, would like sit down and we'd rack our brain because we also didn't want to be the people that would just do gear just to do it. We wanted it to fit the story. We wanted the character to make sense for what I was going through in the story of the wrestling match.

So that was a lot of work in itself. Yeah. What do you think is the biggest thing that you learned from working so closely with Triple H? I mean, Triple H has a tireless work ethic. And he is, I'd say him and Sean both are just great at like the small details and great at seeing the big picture in itself as well.

It was always great to be able to kind of pick Sean and Hunter's brain. Hunter is so good at making finishing stretches mean so much more. Like you look at my match with Andrade. We had it going a certain way, but Hunter was kind of just sitting there hearing it. And he was like, how about this? How about this? How about this? And he made it 10 times better. But we're so lucky to be in that environment.

And I'm not, I am 100% on board and so lucky to that. I just have a Rolodex of basically the smartest minds in wrestling in my back pocket. If I had a question, I'd be like, hey, Triple H, what do you think about this? Hey, Sean Michaels, how would you do this? And I always run my stuff by them because, like I said, there are two of the smartest people, not just in wrestling, but that I've ever met. Yeah, what do you think it was that really endeared you to Sean Michaels? because it was pretty obvious, you know, with your final promo,

you guys had like a really, really close relationship. We do, and we continue to have a really close relationship. Like, it's so funny, like, when Quill was born, like, all, everyone reached out. Sean reached out, like, Hunter reached out. Like, I'm so lucky to have such a great relationship with everyone there that I've worked so long with. Like, what endeared me to Sean?

I think he just saw a lot of himself in me into where, like, Sean was during that time period, like the guy that was always overlooked, the little underdog that would always be counted out. He was never the 6'5 guy. He was never the psycho SIDS or he was never like the big tall guys that they always want to go with. So I think Sean related and especially relates to me, Tomaso, the Unisputed era. I felt like he really related to us. And he would take the time and he watched all of our indie stuff as well

because he just really appreciated how we would go out there and kill ourselves in front of literally like what 20 people on the Indies during that time period. Like that blew him away. And like for Sean, like the passion, the heart, the love, all you put into it, like, he really respects that. And he knew, too, as I've expressed to him numerous times how much he meant to me growing up. He was painted on my wall, for God's sake. It feels like from the outside looking in, you were like his children. Yeah, we were.

Yeah, we still are. Honestly, yeah, we are. So like, do you feel like if and when you go somewhere else that you're going to be like, you know, breaking his heart or something? I don't think so because me and Sean sat down. a lot of times. And like he was someone who I went to a lot for advice. And like I basically told him like, especially during this time period, I just got to figure out what is next

for me and what I want to do. He totally understood having Quill coming, having a baby on the way. And he totally understood stepping away and figuring out stuff for yourself. He's got to think too, like Sean did that for a long time. When he hurt his back, he was away from wrestling for a good long time period. Yeah. And he didn't come back until I think he was like 37, 38. And then when he had his long run, another a long run with WWB.

So I knew better than anyone he'd understand what I was going through, how I was feeling. And Sean, I'm very lucky that I have such a great relationship with him that he just wants what's best for me. He wants what's going to make me happy at the end of the day. I mean, you've seen the comments online. You have so many friends there. Everyone assumes you're going to AEW now.

But are you just keeping your options open? Definitely. My options are 100% open. And I watch everything, honestly. You can watch my YouTube video. I watched me and Kansas, we're watching AEW laying in the hospital room. We were watching NXT laying in the hospital room. We were watching

Elimination Chamber laying in the hospital room. I literally watch everything. I'm a wrestling fan at the end of the day and I enjoy good wrestling. And I really enjoy watching my friends be successful. That makes me very, very happy. Like, I don't know, I don't know really where I fit in right now in the wrestling landscape. But I also feel

like the wrestling landscape changes on not just a monthly, but a weekly basis. Especially this current time period. You never know what's going to happen next. It's one of those things where a new company could pop up, or this person can be a charge, or this person can do this,

or this person can do that, or AEW is doing this, or ROH is doing this, or NXE's doing this. It literally changes on a weekly basis. So I feel like I'm in a pretty good position right now to kind of sit back and kind of view everything outside the bubble and just figure out what the best fit for me is,

because I don't really know right now where I fit in. I mean, if you only want to wrestle until you're 40, what are the things you want to accomplish between now and 40, professionally. See, that's another thing that I got to figure out. Like, I feel really good about the legacy I left as far as, like, work rate goes. As far as, like, I think you can look at my matches with Andrade, Tomaso, Adam Cole, Alistair Black. Like, there's a, there's a whole resume there of takeover matches that people will look to and say, that's great. But I mean, there's a big part of me that feels like

for a certain section of the audience, like, maybe I'm not getting the respect or credit I deserve for some of my work. And I still, at the end of the day, always want to be regarded as a guy who is a great dude, who is one of the best to do it. Great dude being first and probably one of the best to ever do it. Second. But I still want to, if there's, if there's one, I have a bad, I have a bad habit of, I kind of wrestle for love. I've always wrestled for love. Maybe they call that, like, the insecurity in me of being a chubby kid growing up, like wrestling was all I had. So I'm constantly chasing

that love. I'm constantly chasing that adulation from the crowd. Perhaps you should chase money now? I shouldn't. Maybe I should chase money. I probably should. I don't know if I will.

You got another mouth to feed. I do. I do. I have another mouth to feed. But also, I just want to kind of it irks me. There's like one person out there that says Johnny Gariano sucks.

I want to change that person's mine. Wow. There's one person. There could be 10 people. And you're never going to retire. I'm never going to retire. because there's always even that one person.

You can have the most amazing matches week after week after week. Oh, I know, I know. I'm chasing something that doesn't exist. Yeah. I'm aware. I think that's like,

that's kind of wrestling in a nutshell, though. That's what drives me. It's like you're chasing vapor. Yeah. Every time you go to grab it, it's gone. Yeah, I know.

And trust me, after every single one of my takeover matches, I questioned everything I did. That's just how I am. But I hope that this time period allows need a miss wrestling, reignites that passion I have for it. So when I come back, I'm fully ready to go 110% wherever that may be and give the Johnny

Organo one last fun little ride. Take us behind what happened when you got called up to Raw. Yeah. Because it seemed really quick. It also didn't seem like there was much of a plan. There wasn't. That I know of. Like I told the story on Renee's podcast, but I was literally in Cleveland, Ohio when I got the call

that I was going to be on Raw that next night, I think. So Tomaso, I had to call Tomaso, and he had to run to my apartment and pick up a suit, pick up my gear, because I literally had to fly from Cleveland to Lafayette, Louisiana. And the whole process, like, it just felt like I didn't know what was going on. And I hate, I know that's the nature of the business, and that's how it works, is you kind of just got to be ready for anything. But I feel like I work so much better when I have a plan. And that's why I felt like I loved NXC for so long,

is because we would commit to these long-term stories with me and Tomaso or like me and Andrejad. We tell a long-serve story. We put a plan up. I feel like wrestling is best. When you kind of plan a flag and you say, like, okay, we're going to work to that moment. How do we get there?

Yeah. And you commit to that plan. Right. I know like injuries and stuff can come up and change it. Obviously, the Hamasso thing did that a bunch. But other than that, I feel like that's how I work best. So it just felt like there was no particular, like, goal in place. And yeah, yeah, I mean, I do question if we would have stayed what could have happened.

Like, me and Tomazer could have won the tag titles, maybe. We could have done WrestleMania, maybe. Like, all those things that I wanted to do, maybe could have started being checked off. But especially for me during that time period, I felt like I had so much more to give NXT, and I wanted to kind of have that match WrestleMania weekend for the NXT title. Because I felt like that's where my story was going to. to go. So to be able to have that match against Adam Cole,

if we would have stayed up there, that match would have never happened. Yeah, it didn't feel if the chapter in NXT was done. It wasn't done. It was so going. Start a new chapter. And for me, I very much so are the process. I like my chapters to be a clean ending. As you can see, how my run in NXT ended. I love

having closure. And it just felt like I got no closure. And until I got closure, I wasn't going to be able to fully commit. And we've seen it with plenty of guys who get called up, plenty of women. I got called up to the main roster, and it's like, where they had in NXT, all the momentum is gone. And I think when you and Tomaso showed up on Raw, people went,

oh no, it's happening again. That's a horrible way to feel because these are people that have been working their whole lives to get to that moment. You should be happy. And I do hope eventually it gets to the point again where when new stars and new people show up on Raw on Smackdown, there's more of a happy feeling. Yeah, we're excited to see these people feeling.

Because it was like that for a little bit. There was a time period where people show up on wrong spec and people were free like, yeah. Well, yeah, it was like a, but it was like a graduation process. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Instead, like, you know, people went up in their theme music change and their gimmick, their whole character change. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, no, they didn't just sign this person. Yeah, yeah.

This person has like, the fans know who this person is. I guess it's the hard part, too, of feeling like you want your own thing, but also, like, I think like that was such the disconnect of, like, you'd grow to love these characters. and then you would root for them, and you want to see them move on. But they would move on, and they'd be completely different people. And I guess that's kind of the hard,

that's the fine line to walk. And I guess it's okay to do that if like the developmental show isn't on television and people aren't seeing it all the time. Yeah, I guess. But I mean, that's kind of the fine line they got to walk.

If the door is still open, if you still have a good relationship with WWE, do you still want that WrestleMania moment? Of course. I definitely do. And I don't know when that'll come. that'll come. I've said numerous times,

I have a great relationship there. But, like, I just got to figure out what's going to be worth it for me. What sacrifices am I going to have to make that happen, especially now with Quill being around and being born? I don't want to miss his time. And me and Cannes talked about that a lot when I was making on my decision.

I would hate to just be on the road constantly and miss like his first words or miss, like, him walking for the first time. Like, I want to be there for all those moments because me and canis only really plan on having one. So I got one shot at this. I got one shot of seeing all of this and living this part of my life. And if we have one life, I want to try to enjoy as much as I can of this moment. So it's going to be one of those moments to where I don't know when and I don't know where

I'm going to feel like, okay, it's the right time to go. But I guess we're going to have to figure that out along the way. How did you narrow it down to Quill? So actually, it was a Candace choice. McCannis just showed me on her phone. She had a screenshot of a baby name sort of a website and she had the name Quill screenshoted in 2017. Five years. She had never told you this. She told me it. But we were trying to figure like when did we figure out the name Quill and we thought it was like a couple years ago. It was five years ago. We decided on the name Quill. And like all we needed really was the boy and the boy came and uh... Quill could be a girl's name. Yes, it could be. But we wanted to.

you know, I need to be a boy, so I wanted to be a boy. What if he wants to be a wrestler? So I say all the time, and this is kind of my my guide to fatherhood or my thought process I'm parenting. Please tell me, because I'm not a father, and I'm sure I will be one day soon. I believe that you can, like, just let the kid

make his own choices, or his or her own choices, whatever he wants to be. I will support Quill to the end of the earth. If he loves wrestling, if he hates wrestling, if he wants to do this, he wants to do ballet. He wants to do dance. He wants to be a contractor. He wants to be a firefighter. Like, whatever his sexual preferences, like, I support him 110%. It is his life, his choices. I'm just his dad, and I'm going to back him in whatever he does. That is my, that is my, the way I view

things, the way me and Kane is both few things is whatever choices he makes in his life, just back in 110%. But the only choice, I guess, the only, the caveat to that is if he wants to be an NFL player, he can't play for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I appreciate that as a first. fellow Cleveland Browns fan. If he wants to be the starting quarterback of Cleveland Browns, full support. Let's make a prediction here. What is the Brown's record going to be this season?

This season? It's always so weird now that it's 17 games, too. I'm going to go. It gets to depends on who the quarterback is. We know who the quarterback is. Maybe. I mean, we don't know how things are going to go. Well, okay. We know who they're going to start the season with.

Maybe, yeah, hopefully, maybe. But I think the talent is there. I definitely feel like we have, everything to win the division. Without going too hard. Without Big Ben, too. I know. I know. I know. I'm going to go 12 and 5 as my Brown's record prediction.

I think they're going to win. They're going to win the North. I think you're going to make a deep run in the playoffs. If they don't win the North with this team. It's a failure. They're going to get, especially like... Although Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow is great. Right.

Joe Burroughs great. And the Bengals could win the North. They could 100%. Although everyone saw all those memes during the Super Bowl where it's like, here's all the things the Rams have. And then Cincinnati has Joe Burrow. That's going to be the tricky thing now too. I do appreciate the Brown's front office playing 4D chess

to where paying Deshaun Watson $230 million guaranteed. Now, obviously, Lamar Jackson's contract is coming up. Joe Burroughs contract is coming up. they're going to want that big quarterback money. They're going to say this guy in our division is making $230 million guaranteed. Do the Cincinnati Bengals have over $230 million to guarantee Joe Burrow?

That's going to be the question now. Now these lower level, like these low market teams are going to, like now they've got to pay big bucks to keep these quarterbacks. So in a sense, we could outpriced the Bengals. And that's how we ultimately go to D Chess with it. Andrew Barry's very smart. Wow.

Yeah. That's a great way of putting it. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, I've thoroughly enjoyed this time. My pleasure. Thank you for always making the time to chat with us. And we've never done this on, I just started doing it after our last interview, but I end every podcast with the same question.

Okay. I'm all about gratitude. I start and end every day. I say out loud three things I'm grateful for. And I end every interview with this. So what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? Family is number one. Health is number two.

And time, I think, is number three. and obviously time is the time I'm able to have during this whole time process with my family that is healthy. Wherever you go, I can't wait to see what you do next. Thank you, buddy. Thank you, buddy. Always a pleasure.

Johnny Wrestling, my friends, and I just love that he's taking this pause right now to spend as much time as possible with Quill that he can, and I'm super grateful that we got to share this conversation with him during his very quick trip to Dallas. Take a screenshot, share this episode with somebody who you know would love it,

and tag us on social media. Let us know what you thought. Let us know what stood out for you. Let us know where you think Johnny's going to go next. Tag him at Johnny Gargano. Tag me at Chris Van Vleet. And I'll leave you with this quote from Abraham Maslow. I love this.

In any given moment, we have two options, to step forward into growth or step back into safety. Be great. Be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do.

With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even know. understand. He's the spitfire of Sports Smack. Take advantage of it, but get up

in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.