In a recent interview with Renee Paquette as part of The Sessions With Renee Paquette podcast, former WWE NXT Champion Johnny Gargano discussed several topics, including his reasons for leaving WWE and the timeframe in regards to his decision.

“I felt like I was in a good place, I had felt this way for a while to where I felt like I accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish in NXT. It is kind of a scary thing to have a new baby on the way and decide I’m going to turn down this new contract that’s a good contract, a safe contract that you’re going to get money every single week coming in, to kind of go off and do your own thing.

I kind of made my mind up a year in advance that this would be my last, I wasn’t leaving to go to any particular place, I kind of just felt like if you watch a TV show, or if you watch anything in general, if you see the same character, obviously I changed character, I turned heel, I did funny stuff, I did things like that here and there, but if you see the same person on TV for 5 years, 6 years, I believe that being off TV and being away makes people miss you and I think people need to have a chance to miss you. It was really important for me to try and help as many people as possible before I left to kind of set that place up for a good spot for the future.”

The interview is available in full at this link.