Johnny Gargano Explains Months Spent Planking On WWE SmackDown, Why He Got Back Up

After years of "NXT" glory, final beats, and the occasional tag title reign with now AEW star Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano entered a new stage of his career this past summer; the planking stage. Gargano spent most of this year sitting on a table, practically comatose, in a character development that left many fans confused. Now, on his latest YouTube vlog, Gargano is attempting to clear up just why he spent so much time planking.

"Everyone's wondering why," Gargano said. "'Why were you laying around, feeling sorry for yourself for six months Johnny? What was going on?' Well, it's complicated, but the easy answer is right there [points to photo of himself holding titles]. I feel like everyone expected me to be that guy. And I tried to be that guy, and I couldn't. And I felt like I was letting a lot of people down. And I hated that."

Gargano explained that, as he was struggling, his son Quill would be asking him when he was going to "get the treasure," or win a championship. After yet another defeat on "SmackDown," Gargano came to back to see his wife, Candice LeRae, facetiming Quill.

"She'd show me Quill just crying, balling his eyes out, saying 'Daddy lost, and he's not going to get the treasure. There's no treasure,'" Garagano said. "That broke me. So in my head, it was easier to just not try then to get up and fail and let people down. And I'm not saying that's right, I'm not saying that's the way to go about things, but that's what I did."

Gargano snapped out of it when CM Punk challenged him to a Undisputed WWE Championship match in September, in Gargano's hometown of Cleveland. Gargano credits the fan reaction for ultimately keeping him out of his stupor, even after he lost to Punk.

"Even when I gave them no reason to, they still believed in me," Gargano said. "And that just showed me...I don't know. If I try, if I really, really try, I think I can make anything happen."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "JohnnyGargano" and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription