Johnny Gargano On Not Watching His Own Matches, Dealing With Fans Outside Of The Ring

NXT mainstay Johnny Gargano recently appeared on Chasing Glory with Lillian Garcia. During the interview former WWE ring announcer Garcia asked Gargano about a range of different subjects, including whether he watched back his own matches.

"I hate watching them," Gargano said. "I watch them, maybe if I feel good about it, I'll watch GIF's on twitter and think, okay, that looked pretty good, but watching a full match, maybe I'll watch it once.

"It's funny, here at the Performance Center we watch it with Shawn Michaels, who is my childhood inspiration, which is surreal and a dream come true. I know people that strive to be really good are perfectionists and hate their own work, but as long as other people enjoy it, and as long as Triple H and Shawn Michaels enjoy it, and the fans are going nuts and they enjoyed it I wash my hands with that and say, okay, good."

Also during the conversation, Gargano was asked about his work and whether Triple H and Shawn Michaels enjoyed what he was doing in NXT. Gargano, who recently declared that he's staying with the brand and that he will be "NXT 4 Life" after speculation on his future due to the NXT Title loss to Adam Cole at the recent "Takeover: Toronto 2019" event, also talked in-depth about his current spot within WWE.

"They were all very excited," Gargano said about the reaction to his match against Cole at TakeOver. "But they're very proud. It's always a different feeling at every TakeOver, they're always super pumped. I always feel weird because I'm always low key, calm and collected, whether I'm getting ready to go out or coming back afterwards, I'm very even, but I think that's because this is where I have always wanted to be.

"I have always wanted to be in those main event spots and be in that type of pressure where I just don't let it affect me. I get excited but never fearful. I know I am going to go out there and do my best.

"I'm like it on the inside but I don't show it anymore, but I believe I am in that spot because I am so calm, cool and collected. I can handle the pressure, I want the pressure, I want the spotlight. I always feel weird because others are so amped up and I'm just calm, waiting for my music to play. I come to the back and ask if that was okay? They are all amped up and talking about how it was so great and I'm like, okay, cool.

"I don't get too excited, or overwhelmed I guess. I kind of hide things very well, not sure if it's because of who I am. I was a chubby kid growing up so I don't show my emotions very much because my dad is that way, he doesn't show his emotions a lot, so maybe for me I just kind of go off of what he was like since he didn't show emotions maybe I won't show emotions.

"I'm very emotionless unless I'm out in the ring. When I'm in the ring I can open up more and maybe that's what made me love wrestling so much. I can be a different person and show emotion and fire and do all of this sort of thing and then go out in the back and be calm."

With his stock rising in the wrestling business, Gargano was asked about fanfare and how he deals with the pressures outside of the ring that comes with the territory of being a public figure and a fan favorite.

"I get where it's annoying," Gargano said. "When you get to an airport and it's 6am, and eBay people have 10 cards for you to sign I get that it's annoying, but honestly for me, it takes 10 seconds to sign 10 autographs, it's really quick and I can do that and it's going to help this person.

"I don't know what they're going through, like, if they need to sell these cards to put food on the table if it takes me 10 seconds and I can help out, cool, it's literally 10 seconds of my life.

"I can understand that some people don't want people approaching them at 6 in the morning, or have had a rough time, I get that they are going to sell it and not for personal reasons, but if I can help that person eat I guess, it takes me 10 seconds, it's not a big deal for me."

The conversation then turned to Gargano's interests outside of pro wrestling, to which he revealed some interesting items. Most in particular, a love of Disney he shares with his wife Candice LeRae.

"I love Disney stuff," Gargano explained. "I love Marvel stuff. I'm a sports fan, so I do have interests and sports outside of wrestling. I would like to eventually get into acting. I would love to do that eventually. I have always had a passion for that. I took acting classes when I was in High School, and I've always been fond of the entertainment aspect of wrestling as well, but that Johnny Wrestling moniker is really who I am.

"It's in my name, but I and Candice LeRae go to Disney all the time. We do Marvel stuff all the time, we go do stuff with sports all the time. I do have other likes and interests outside of wrestling but pro wrestling will always be my number one for me.

"It'll always be my end all be all, and luckily in this day and age and in this climate, I will have a job with WWE forever if I want it. I can be a producer, I can be a coach at the Performance Center, there's a ton of offers and a ton of things, look, if you want to transition into something else there's it's always on the table, so much so that I have already produced shows for NXT with local live events, I am a producer on the show.

"I try to dip my hand into everything here because I want to learn everything because you never know what is going to come in handy. There are so many jobs and things you can do here in NXT."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Chasing Glory with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Peter Bahi contributed to this article.