After making his massive main roster return/debut in August of 2022 and reforming his DIY tag team with Tommaso Ciampa the following year, Johnny Gargano is a little over a week away from another first at WrestleMania 40, where he will make his debut at the “Showcase of the Immortals” alongside his long-time NXT frenemy.
And the best part? The show is taking place in Philadelphia, a city Johnny Wrestling has quite a bit of a history in from his nearly 20 years in the business.
Discussing what's shaping up to be one of the true highlights of his professional wrestling career on The Bump, Gargano celebrated how things have come together, noting that between the match, the location, and the opportunity it presents, his entire career is coming full circle at the Linc in South Philly.
“Being able to sit back and watch that, and see the fans' reactions, seeing them go crazy, and you always dream of that moment, of being able to be in that ring and point at that WrestleMania. You just pointing to it is whatever, but to be able to point to it and say, ‘I am finally having a match at WrestleMania,' it just means the world to me. You said it, ten years. I had my first tryout here in 2015. I've done various things in this company for a very, very long time, but I've never been at WrestleMania,” Johnny Gargano said on The Bump via Fightful. “The fact that it's finally happening, me and Tommaso Ciampa together, DIY, something we've always talked about, something we've always dreamed about, and the fact that it's in Philadelphia, a city that has meant so much to my career. Takeover Philadelphia against Andrade, one of my most famous matches, we ain't gonna talk about what happened afterward with Tommaso, but that's a story in itself [laughs], but we have such a story in that city, and again, even before that, on the indies, I went to Philadelphia so many different times. To be able to make my WrestleMania debut, it's perfect.”
Long considered one of the great tag teams within the WWE Universe, even if some fans didn't know who they were if they only watch RAW or SmackDown, Gargano has a chance to add Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion to his resume at the “Showcase of the Immortals.” Unfortunately, for that to happen, DIY is going to have to go to work, as the duo have more than just Judgment Day to worry about in their ladder match.
Johnny Gargano understands the challenges ahead at WrestleMania.
Continuing his conversation on The Bump, Jonny Gargano reflected on the task at hand at WrestleMania 40, noting that there are some very good teams taking part in their match against Judgment Day.
“The field itself, like right now, there's so many great teams. Obviously, the Judgment Day, they are dominant in WWE. Awesome Truth, we have our history with them, we have an alliance with them. Also, you look at New Day. One of the last decorated tag teams… I'd say New Day and the Usos are probably 1A and 1B in the best tag teams in WWE history, so they are always in the running, always gonna go for gold. I think it is our time now to solidify ourselves. We said this run is gonna be about our legacy. We have done amazing things in WWE. We have main-evented TakeOvers, made incredible moments, incredible memories,” Johnny Gargano noted.
“But we get a chance to wrestle on the grandest stage of them all. This is where you become legends. To be able to step on that stage in Philadelphia and get a chance at the WWE Tag Team Championship, to live that dream, we've never won a title here in RAW or SmackDown. Won many titles in NXT, never won one here. When we grew up, those were the titles we looked at. I said I wanted to be WWE Tag Team Champion, and the fact that I have a chance to make that happen at WrestleMania, we did the goosebumps thing, but that's very real.”
A tough task? You bet, but for Gargano, he wouldn't have it any other way, as he and Ciampa are ready to finally take their shot together as the top prize WWE has to offer for tag teams.
“I've been dreaming about this, we mentioned ten years, but this is really just a lifetime, a lifetime dream that we're doing to accomplish. The fact that we get to wrestle at WrestleMania [for the] WWE Tag Team Championship, Tommaso is my best friend in the world, and the fact that the two of us have an opportunity to go there and make history and become the new WWE Tag Team Champions, just feels right. I feel like we have always talked about our moment. Me and Tommaso have always said, ‘This is gonna be our moment,' it feels like genuinely right now, in this time, it is our moment.”
Could WWE have made things easier for DIY if they believed they were ready for the big time at WrestleMania 40? Sure, a traditional tag team match would have been much easier for Ciampa and Gargano than what's shaping up to be a TLC moshpit in the former home of ECW. Still, when you name your team DIY, sometimes you have to roll up your sleeves and get to work in order to accomplish your goals.
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