Johnny Gargano grades himself.
Ask any fan "who is the best wrestler in WWE/NXT today?" and chances are Johnny Gargano is on the shortlist. Gargano's resume speaks for itself with a list of NXT TakeOver classics against the likes of Andrade, Adam Cole, Tommaso Ciampa, Ricochet and more. But while the rest of the world is quick to praise Gargano for his performances, Gargano isn't always so sure of himself.
"I'm a weird guy, in the sense where I never feel like what I'm doing is special. Maybe that's just a weird way I think about myself. I was a chubby kid growing up, so I always thought I wasn't good enough. I still have that mindset today," Gargano revealed on the State of Combat podcast. "Even though I have abs now, I'm still a chubby kid at heart. So I always feel like, 'maybe that wasn't good enough.' I always come through the curtain in Gorilla and go, 'Was that okay? was that fine?' Because I never know or feel it. In the ring and the crowd going nuts, I kinda feel, 'okay this is going pretty well' but I never know in the moment. Years from now, I'll look back and go, 'I did some pretty cool stuff.' But in the moment, I'm very much, 'Okay, I hope this is fine.' Maybe it's because I'm from Cleveland and I have a workhorse mentality to where I'm there to do a job and I'm gonna do it to the best of my ability. I don't know if my abilities are that good, in my own head, but at least people seem to think they are. If Shawn Michaels thinks my matches are pretty good, if the fans think my matches are pretty good, then I guess I'm doing a pretty good job."
When asked whether his wife and fellow NXT superstar Candice LeRae ever praises him, Gargano said that she is the one who keeps him grounded more than anyone.
"Candice takes pride in keeping me humble. If I have any sense of, 'oh, that match was great,' Candice jumps on me. She is not the one to go to for that. If it's anyone it's the Shawn Michaels' and Triple H's that are super proud of what I've done."
Gargano has another chance to deliver a classic this Saturday at NXT TakeOver: Toronto when he faces Adam Cole for the NXT Title in a Two Out Of Three Falls match.
