Johnny Gargano Reveals "Weird Contract" WWE Nearly Offered Him In 2016
It is well-known that Vince McMahon and WWE officials don't allow their talents to work for different promotions while under contract, but Johnny Gargano almost got an exception.
Gargano began working in NXT in 2015, finally landing an official contract with the company a year later. Before coming to WWE, Gargano worked for other notable promotions like Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Dragon Gate USA and Chikara.
During an interview on The Sessions with Renée Paquette (h/t Fightful.com), Gargano revealed that WWE was close to offering him a unique contract that would have allowed Gargano to work on the independent scene along with WWE NXT.
"We would always hear this thing like, 'Maybe we'll give you this weird contract, where you can still do indies and we will also have you do NXT,' like when that was being discussed at the time," Gargano explained. (Samoa) Joe was gonna be under it when he was initially brought in. It was a weird thing that never ended up happening because legal was like, 'Wait a minute, what are we doing here? We can't do this.'"
Unfortunately, Tommaso Ciampa — Gargano's legendary tag team partner — needed shoulder surgery and was sidelined long-term. Gargano then spoke with Canyon Ceman, the WWE Senior Director of Talent Development, to ask if the contracts would be finalized. Ceman told him that it just had to "go through legal" stuff, but that never materialized.
With Ciampa needing surgery, Triple H generously decided to offer them full-time contracts while also offering to cover Ciampa's surgery. Gargano, Ciampa and Candice LeRae accepted the offers and moved to Orlando, Florida. Gargano and LeRae got married in September 2016.
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Gargano went on to become one of the most accomplished, beloved and successful performers in the history of the NXT brand. Gargano and Ciampa held the NXT Tag Team titles on one occasion together, and both went on to become holders of the NXT Championship.
Gargano's WWE contract expired in December, and he decided not to sign a new deal. Gargano and LeRae welcomed their first child last month, so he's not in a rush to return to the ring. Many speculated that he would join fellow former NXT star Kyle O'Reilly in AEW, but it remains to be seen if anything will happen there.
Johnny Gargano's Final WWE Match
His final WWE match took place at the Dec. 5 NXT WarGames pay-per-view. Gargano, Pete Dunne and LA Knight lost a WarGames match to Grayson Waller, Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes and Tony D'Angelo. Gargano was attacked by Waller on the ensuing edition of NXT after speaking to the WWE Universe.
