WWE Reportedly Happy With How Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae Handled Exits, Were Confident In Gargano’s Return

WWE was impressed with how Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae handled their exits and were confident that Gargano would return according to a new report. Gargano and LeRae both returned to WWE over the last couple of months, with Gargano returning in August and LeRae returning last week. According to Fightful Select, the couple maintained a good relationship with the company in their last year on the NXT roster and during their time away after their contracts expired. Several sources said after Vince McMahon exited the company that they were confident Gargano would be returning, believing that Triple H taking over was a “tipping point” that caused the matter to accelerate.

One source said that Gargano was on good terms with WWE up through his contract expiration despite not signing a new deal, and that Gargano was clear that he would return on his own time which WWE was happy to accomodate. Several sources in NXT viewed how Gargano handled his exit as being done with “incredible professionalism,” including how he went out of his way to help get talent like Austin Theory, Indi Hartwell, and Dexter Lumis over. Gargano reportedly knew that he’d be taking time off starting in December as much as a year ahead of when his deal expired.

Gargano and LeRae were reportedly talking to “the major companies” in the month before Gargano returned. There isn’t much detail known of those discussions beyong the fact that Impact didn’t seem to be in serious consideration. It was also noted that there had been interest in bringing Gargano to the main roster even before the new regime.