On the August 22 episode of WWE Raw, Johnny Gargano made his return to WWE.
The return came as a surprise with Gargano's music playing coming out of a commercial break and fans being unsure of what was actually happening until Gargano made his way onto the ramp. Gargano hadn't been seen on WWE television since December 2021, cutting one final promo in NXT before his contract expired, thus making him a free agent.
Though Gargano teased a return to wrestling multiple times since December, he was happy that his return was kept secret.
"It happened very fast, the whole thing," Gargano said on WWE After The Bell. "It was very fun to be able to, literally keep a secret, in a time period where that doesn't happen. Everything leaks nowadays. Everything in wrestling leaks. That was the most important thing for me, for this secret for the return, was to make it a complete surprise. Obviously, I could have come back two weeks prior in Cleveland, but everybody believed that and thought that was going to happen. That's probably why it didn't happen. It would have been great, I would have loved to come back in my hometown, I still haven't wrestled in that arena, which is mind-blowing to me. It was really important for me to keep this whole thing under wraps as much as possible and the fact that we were able to do that, the fact that I flew into Buffalo and was snuck across the border. Legally, not snuck. Snuck legally. Snuck across the border into Toronto and was in a room by myself for eight hours. I was in the Toronto Raptors locker room."
Gargano returned in Toronto as opposed to his hometown of Cleveland a couple of weeks prior.
"A big part of me didn't want to come back in Cleveland because I knew if I would have come back in Cleveland, I would have gotten an amazing reaction, but people would have been like, 'he's this little kid from NXT and he got the reaction because it's his hometown. No one knows who he is because he's from NXT. These Indie kids. Whatever.' To come back in Toronto with like 16,000 people in the arena, it was really cool because a commercial break happened, we came back from a commercial break, and my music started playing. The reaction was such a cool reaction to experience because it was like, the music hit and everyone was like, 'That's familiar, what is this?' My name came across the tron and everyone was like, 'What's going on right now? What's happening?' I walked out and everyone lost their minds. The 'Johnny Wrestling' chants started and everyone was super fun to play with. That will be one of the lasting memories to me. That gradual pop and reaction when people realized what was happening. It was really gratifying," he said.
Gargano said he was appreciative of the fans for giving him such a reaction and remembering who he was despite his absence.
Gargano is set to make his in-ring return on Monday's WWE Raw. Fightful will have live coverage of WWE Raw beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
Elsewhere during the interview, Gargano discussed his WWE return. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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