Johnny Gargano spoke with ESPN before tonight’s Street Fight against Tommaso Ciampa at NXT TakeOver: Chicago II. Here are some of the highlights:
Having his wife, Candice LeRae, in NXT and wanting her to see her get a chance to do her own thing:
“To have her in the WWE, to have her in NXT, man, I think it’s about time. I’ve said many times how big a wrestling fan I am, but all my bias aside as her husband, I’m a huge Candice LeRae fan. I was a huge Candice LeRae fan before we started dating. I was a huge Candice LeRae fan before we got married. I think she is, if you’re talking man or woman, one of the best wrestlers in the world. She is the toughest person I know. And I am extremely excited for her to be on this stage. Like anyone, she worked hard for a very, very long time and she deserves it. Right now, I know she was introduced into NXT as Candice Gargano, she’s my wife, and in this story, she is my wife. I know she [was] in the Mae Young Classic, and I was out there supporting her 110 percent, but I can’t wait until she shows the world what she is truly capable of as Candice LeRae. Because like I said, for my money, she’s one of the best wrestlers in the world. I think she’s going to blow people’s minds. She’s opened a lot of doors in professional wrestling for a lot of people.”
The crowd being so invested in his previous TakeOver match with Tommaso Ciampa:
“It was a really different atmosphere than any match I’ve ever been a part of. The crowd was so rowdy, but at certain points they were just watching. I can attribute it to [being like] watching a movie. At points things get somber, things get sad. At points you get excited, you get rowdy, you get crazy. You don’t get that very often in professional wrestling. [Most of the time] it’s like oh, we’re going to make noise, we’re going to chant and do things like that. And I think that speaks volumes to how deep this story goes, and how emotionally connected people are to me and to Tommaso, and just everything we stand for, and the history.”
Establishing himself in the indies before heading to WWE:
“I just wanted to accomplish everything I possibly could on the indies. Following guys like Daniel Bryan — in their footsteps — where they did everything they possibly could, and when they were brought into WWE they were ready to be stars.”
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