Johnny Gargano recently spoke with the folks from WKYC, the local NBC-affiliated station based out of Cleveland, Ohio, to promote the NXT house show at The Agora Theatre in the city on Saturday evening. At the show, Gargano is scheduled to face The Undisputed ERA’s Adam Cole in a featured one-on-one bout.

Featured below are some of the highlights from the new Johnny Gargano interview.

On how he found out he was being called up from NXT to the WWE main roster: “I was actually in Cleveland when I got the call that I was going to be on Raw and Smackdown. I was at my mom’s house and it was in the morning. They said, ‘Hey, you’re going to be on Raw and Smackdown in a couple days,’ which is pretty crazy.”

On being in his hometown of Cleveland when a lot of big moments happen in his life: “It seems like all of my biggest life events happen when I’m actually at home in Cleveland, around my family. I was there for my dad’s 77th birthday party, so I got to go to his party later that night and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to be on Raw and Smackdown in a couple days.’ It’s super cool, man. I know I’ve used the word, ‘cool’ a lot, but I’m still just a kid from Cleveland, and life is just cool.”

On participating in his first-ever 30-man Royal Rumble match in WWE and his wife Candice LaRae making her debut the same night in the 30-woman Royal Rumble match: “Everything is so mind-blowing. I kind of take one day at a time because you never know what the next day brings, and I found out I was going to be in the Royal Rumble the night before. Luckily enough, my mom was there for TakeOver, so I kind of had to tell her, ‘Hey, I think you have to stay now.’ Candice’s parents were there, so they got to see me and Candice in the Royal Rumble. For her to appear in the Women’s Royal Rumble and me to appear in the Men’s Royal Rumble, it’s just so cool.”

On being the sixth entrant in the match and how it was cool in retrospect because of his ties to Cleveland and Baker Mayfield: “To be No. 6 in the Royal Rumble, too, holds a special place, I guess, in the hearts of Cleveland fans, I didn’t think about this at the time, but I was wearing a Baker Mayfield shirt like all day. I didn’t realize until after the fact, ‘Oh, I’m No. 6 in the Royal Rumble,’ and I’m wearing a Baker Mayfield shirt that says ‘Undraftable’ on it.”

Check out the complete Johnny Gargano interview at WKYC.com.

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