Johnny Gargano lived through not one but two generational changes in NXT. When he originally signed with WWE in 2015, people from independent wrestling circuits were still looked down upon. Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa were some of the top names who wrestled against the stigma. They paved the way for other indie names to come in and leave their mark on the development brand.
However, things started changing once again towards the end of his run. In terms of preferred talents, NXT is now back to where it used to be with more focus on outside athletes than indie names.
The former NXT champion opened up about this change on The Sessions with Renee Paquette. He claimed that he totally understands the mindset of bringing people from other sports because it’s basically a lottery ticket:
“From what I understand they’re still going to sign indie people, but they want to go away from just the sole, full classes of indie people. Which is how it was originally as well, which I completely understand in the sense of where any NCAA person they sign, someone that comes from a different walk of life, that are just genetic freaks.
That’s basically a lottery ticket.” said Johnny Gargano, “You’re buying a lottery ticket. This person could turn out to be the next Kurt Angle, you never know. So I totally understand bringing those people in, giving them opportunities and seeing what they turn out to be.”
‘You Cannot Pay Someone To Love This’
Though later in the interview, Johnny Gargano claimed that he is always going to lean towards the talents from independent wrestling scenes. According to him, they are the people who really love wrestling, and it’s not something that you can teach:
“I am always going to go more towards the indie wrestling route because that’s where I’m from. That’s my background. That’s what I believe in. I believe in my heart. That’s why I kind of lean towards the more Indie Hartwell, Cora Jades of the world. Again, that’s not taking anything away from those guys, but I firmly believe that you can pay someone to learn a headlock, you can pay someone to learn a wrist lock. You cannot pay someone to love this.
You cannot pay someone to love wrestling. When you’re an indie wrestler, and you had to pay to train, you had to travel all over and take $5, you have to love this. Because if you don’t love this, you ain’t gonna be doing it. So I’m always gonna lean towards more, giving those people opportunities that I feel like they just want it. I relate to them so much. “
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