WWE News: Top ‘NXT’ Star Reaffirms Plans To Stay With Brand, Says ‘We’re THE Main Roster Now’
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, speculation regarding a potential main roster move for Johnny Gargano fired up once again in August, when the former NXT Champion received an emotional send-off from the fans after his title loss to Adam Cole at NXT TakeOver: Toronto. However, it now appears that “Johnny Wrestling” doesn’t have any plans of moving to Monday Night Raw or SmackDown Live. Instead, he wants to stay on the black-and-gold brand because as he sees it, being a part of the NXT roster is just as good as representing the so-called “main roster” brands.
According to WrestlingNews.co, Gargano took to Twitter on Thursday, where he followed up on a promo he cut on Wednesday’s episode of NXT and reiterated that he plans to remain a part of the brand’s roster going forward. As quoted by the publication, the fan-favorite wrestler stressed in his Twitter statement that it is no longer accurate for one to say that a superstar has been called up to the main roster when they move from NXT to Raw or SmackDown.
“I made my choice. I poured my heart and soul into this brand for YEARS. You think I’m gonna leave now that everything I helped work towards is finally happening? Not a chance! The phrase going ‘up’ is dead. We’re THE Main Roster now. #WeAreNXT and when you’re NXT.. you’re NXT.”
Gargano’s reaffirmation of his desire to remain a part of WWE’s black-and-gold brand came one week before NXT‘s scheduled move to the USA Network, which is set to take place on the September 18 episode of the brand’s eponymous weekly show. Aside from the wider visibility that is expected once NXT switches networks, there are numerous possible changes that could take place in the weeks and months to follow, as suggested by WWE executive Paul “Triple H” Levesque in an interview with Newsweek earlier this month.
Wrong move, @ShaneThorneWWE. No one tells @JohnnyGargano what to do… #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/AwUQzo9j8A
— WWE (@WWE) September 12, 2019
As cited by The Inquisitr, Triple H told Newsweek that he hopes to see more NXT superstars get exposure on television, with the brand’s performers potentially competing against each other to stand out and put their best foot forward. He also suggested that WWE’s cruiserweight-centric weekly show, 205 Live, will soon fall under the NXT umbrella, which could open things up for the cruiserweight division as its performers get to wrestle a wider variety of opponents with no weight restrictions.
Assuming Gargano remains on NXT as he said he would, his presence should further ensure that the brand won’t be lacking in talent once it moves to the USA Network. As All Elite Wrestling’s new weekly primetime show will be airing on TNT on Wednesday nights starting on October 2, per Forbes, NXT can only benefit from having a popular and skilled wrestler like Gargano around as it hopes to win the ratings war against AEW.
