Johnny Gargano Recalls His NXT Farewell, Shawn Michaels’ Influence On Him

Johnny Gargano gave a farewell speech in WWE NXT before he exited in December of 2021, and he recalled the emotional goodbye in a new interview. Gargano chose not to re-sign with WWE at the time left the company, though he has of course since returned. He spoke with Chris Van Vliet on Insight about that promo and more; you can check out the highlights below (per Wrestling Inc):

On his WWE NXT farewell: “The last night in the company was very sad, and like you said Tommaso [Ciampa] brought up my tears, and where they came from in that show, and a story I think I’ve only told maybe once before but, I have such a great relationship, and I’m very lucky and it’s crazy to say, with Shawn Michaels.”

On Shawn Michaels’ influence on him: “He was my hero growing up and I spent a lot of time with him, and I made the shadowboxes for people that were really special to me in that building. I made a shadowbox for Shawn, I made a shadowbox for coach [Matt] Bloom, and I gave cards to all the coaches, everyone I spent seven years with. Terry Taylor, Steve Corino, people like that, I gave them special cards and stuff of pictures of us together.”

On being able to say what he wanted in his farewell: “They gave me that moment to go on live television, with a microphone, and I wasn’t under contract anymore the next day. Like, I literally could’ve said whatever I wanted in that moment, but I have such a great relationship with everyone I wasn’t going to do anything crazy obviously.”