May 8, 2024 • 11 mins
The big events keep on coming for WWE and we're not far away from SummerSlam, August 3rd in Cleveland! Johnny Gargano called (aka Johnny SummerSlam / Johnny Cleveland for this interview), and we discussed how he was at SummerSlam in 1996 and that night he decided to become a wrestler, what it means for him to have such a big event in the Browns Stadium, will he have special ring gear for the show (of course!), some of our favorite SummerSlam matches including with Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Undertaker, Mankind, could Bret Hart be Mr. SummerSlam, how much it meant to be a part of WrestleMania this year, DIY's goals of tag team gold and why R Truth the best!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
It's Mike Jones. The big eventsdon't stop for ww and we're going to
talk about one of this year's biggestwith my guest, Johnny Gargano. Good
morning. Are you doing man?I'm doing great, brother, Johnny.
You're the man of eight thousand nicknames. Gargano, Johnny Wrestling, Johnny Champion,
Johnny d i Y today though,Johnny Taco Today, I want to
(00:22):
call you Johnny SummerSlam and Johnny Cleveland. Dude. Exciting is it for you
that Summer Slam, the biggest partyof the summer for WWE, is going
to be in your hometown, inyour favorite place, in the Browns Stadium.
You gotta be going nuts about this. It's incredible. Man. When
I found out this was a possibilitya couple months back, I was bouncing
(00:42):
off the walls. I couldn't believeit was real. I still don't believe
it's real, honestly, but ticketsare going on sale, so I believe
it has to be real. Andtrust me, I've had like five hundred
people already reach out to me andask for tickets, So in that regard,
yes, it is very real.All of a sudden, Johnny Ticket
Guy is the other nickname. Yeahtomorrow. Tomorrow is what tickets are going
(01:06):
on sale for Summer Slam through ticketMasters, So it's I mean, it's
such a huge event. This isprobably gonna be the biggest Summer Slam of
all coming off the biggest WrestleMania ofall And I wanted to say kudos to
you, Johnny Gargano for your firstWrestleMania appearance. Man, that tag team
Ladder match was it was unreal.You and Pete done with that DDT through
(01:26):
the table just one of so manyspots I was like, Oh my god,
what is going on here? Andthat's the thing, right, I
mean, I feel like duey,especially right now, it might be the
hottest has ever been. It definitelyis the hottest has ever been. And
we are continually raising the bar soWrestleMania. They're going it the biggest WrestleMania
of all time, as you saidyourself, is going to be the biggest
(01:47):
Summer Slam all of all time.It's coming to Cleveland, Ohio, and
the fact that Summer Slam coming backto Cleveland. Last time SummerSlam was in
Cleveland was nineteen ninety six, twentyeight years ago. And I have to
say, Little Johnny Gargana was inattendance that night. That was the first
three of the event I ever wentto, And that was a night I
decided I needed to become a rushand wrestler. So the fact that twenty
(02:07):
eight years later it's coming back inClean Brown Stadium and I have the opportunity
to wrestle on that show in CleanBrown Stadium, the stars of a line
in amazing ways. Man, that'sfantastic. And I was gonna ask you
about that if you were what nineor ten years old at that point,
ninety six, Yeah, I believethat was ninety six. I would have
been around nine, eight or nine. So you got to see Shawn Michaels
(02:30):
Invader in that championship match at theend there, and that was it for
you. Yeah. And I wasdressed as Shawn Michaels. My mom made
me a Shawn Michael's costume U,so I was dressed as Shawn Michaels.
The Shawn Michaels was Invader Shawn defendthe championship And how wild is it that
years years years on the line,I wrestled that my first WrestleMania paying homage
(02:50):
to Shawn Michaels. So that tellsyou everything kind of comes small circle as
well. That's amazing. So I'mgonna guess then, Johnny, that you
have already you've been thinking about anoutfit. You're also the man of ten
thousand outfits. You always go allout for the ring gear. I'm gonna
get you're doing something to throw backto nineteen ninety six. Then, I
mean, so Cleveland, I'm theonly wrestler I will say this, I'm
(03:14):
the only wrestler that has Cleveland reppedon his ring gear. I have the
Cleveland skyline on the majority of mywrestling gear. So I already kind of
got a Cleveland's beam in my gearas it is. But we'll see what
I whip up for summer site.You know, it's a big event.
It's very special to me. Youknow, there's gonna be something Cleveland centric
involved. I gotta workshop all outof ideas here. I got a little
(03:38):
bit of time, but I'm gonnaworkshop a few ideas and we'll figure out
what I want to come up with. Yeah, we got about three months.
August third at the Brown Stadium,and let me remind everyone, Johnny,
the tickets go on sale tomorrow throughticket Master, and let's let me
talk to you about some of yourSummer Slam memories. What are some of
your favorite matches then if if youcan think back over the years. So
(04:00):
obviously I mentioned in nineteen ninety sixbecause that holds especially to my heart,
the boiler room brawl at that eventUndertakeo versus Mankind. I remember being in
the arena that night and it wasa wild atmosphere. I will say I
think one of the best openers ofa SummerSlam ever Kurt Angle versus raymis Sterio.
(04:21):
That's an amazing one. Again,we're going Shawn Michaels again. Shawn
Michaels was a triple h and ShawnMichael's return match. That's another one that
I loved a lot. But SummerSlamalways brings out the hit SummerSlam. I
would consider it the WRESTLEMANI of theSummer. A lot of stories are culminated,
a lot of huge matches are ondeck, So it's just something that
(04:43):
I know they're gonna whip up somethingspecial for Cleveland. And let's not forget
too Sean Michael's Raising Yeah, yep, that one as well. I mean,
come on, Sean Michael says he'smister WrestleMania, but he has some
SummerSlam bangers as well. Okay,that was actually gonna be my next question.
Who do we consider mister SummerSlam.I'm gonna throw this at you,
sir. I'm gonna see what youthink. Brett Hart because please British book
(05:08):
on British Wimbley Stadium, mister perfect. Uh, you know, fuck Demolition
for the tag titles, Owen Hartfor the championship. I mean, Brett
Hart, that is a that isan all star resume just at SummerSlam.
I think for me he's mister SummerSlam. That's a good shout. I tend
to agree with you. I mean, based on those matches alone, that's
one hundred percent a great resume.Yeah. Now, Johnny, if you
(05:30):
could pick your match at SummerSlam,would you like to go against one of
your fellow Cleveland guys against the Mizor Logan Paul or maybe maybe even a
three way for that US title,the Cleveland Throwdown. I could see that
happening. Hey, I mean,Logan Paul is the United States Champion.
I will say that, and uh, he's been an incredible champion, so
far uh miss. Obviously you mentionedhim as well. US Cleveland guys having
(05:54):
a Cleveland showdown would be something special. But I will say this as well.
Uh So, we just got Draftto smack Down. Me and my
tag team partner Tomaso Champa, andwe have not gotten a shot at those
v tag team titles yet. Wehave not won a title yet on Raw
or SmackDown, and we said thatwas our goal for twenty twenty four.
(06:15):
So if the stars were to alignand me and Tomaso were to get a
title match at SummerSlam to the DEVtag team titles, I want to put
that out in the universe. Itwould definitely be the culmination to be able
to have a title match at SummerSlam in Cleveland Brown Stadium with that crazy
atmosphere. I can only imagine whatthe crowd would be like for that.
It would just it'd be something thatI would remember for a very very long
(06:38):
time and be a culmination of workif we were able to make that happen,
absolutely of I mean, how longhave you been in wrestling now?
It's what fifteen years now, twentyyears? Twenty years almost? Wow?
Yeah, I know two thousand andfive is when I officially made my debut.
Man, that's unbelievable. And Imean to go from that now to
wrestling, you know, in yourhometown in Cleveland, I mean, you
(07:01):
probably never imagined that would happen,that you would get to be a part
of something so huge. No.I mean in two thousand and five,
I was wrestling in parking lots oflike bars in front of like ten people
when I first started out. Soto go from that to wrestling in clean
Brown Stadium, it's wild, likeright, if you think about my parents
(07:26):
and like people that I've known,like you have to think about Cleveland too.
All these people have watched me growup, like guys that I have
been wrestling for twenty years. Sowrestling fans in Cleveland have been a part
of that journey for me. They'vebeen there since day one, whether it
be small VFW halls, whether itbe little little buildings that hold wrestling shows,
They've seen me grow up in frontof their very own eyes. And
(07:46):
to see me now into the atclean Bround Stadium, wrestling in the humongous
stadium at a big two v event, it just I said, the stars
have aligned in crazy ways to makethis possible. I love this man,
I Johnny, I can already hearthe excitement in your voice just talking about
it. How pumped you are forCleveland Brown Stadium in summer slam. Well,
(08:07):
let me remind everyone tickets go onsale tomorrow on May ninth at Ticketmaster
of course, WWE dot com aswell well. Last two things I have
for you, sir, WW superstars. You guys get to travel all around
the world all the time. AndI just saw Chelsea Green said that she
spent all of thirty hours in Francefor SmackDown and Backlash. Has that happened
(08:28):
to you, I'm sure it has. That you've gone to a country,
You're like, hey, I'm hereand we're gone, Like, what's the
fastest you've ever been in a place. So it's funny that you said Chelsea
did that, because I did thatas well. So literally, me,
Chelsea Green, and Piper Nibven,we were the three that did it.
I flew to France on Thursday night. I got there on Friday night.
(08:56):
Oh yeah, I got there onFriday night. I was there on Saturday
and then I'm time change and stufflike that restled the show. So I
was in France for I think alittle over thirty hours. It was sixteen
hours of travel to France, therefor about thirty hours and then sixteen hours
(09:18):
home. So yes, that hashappened, and it just happened literally two
days ago. Was that your firsttime ever in France? No, so
I've been in France before. Meand my wife Canta's actually went there for
vacation Disneyland Paris a bit ago.But NXC actually ran a live event in
France a couple of years back,and the crowd we always remember this,
(09:41):
the crowd in France. The fanswere absolutely electric, and I'm now the
world is seeing it due to backlashand smackdowns, how incredible the crowds in
France are. They're so amazing.And I know people are really pumped about
all the international pls because the internationalcrowds just make the show that much better.
And the fact that the next Americanple is in Cleveland, Ohio,
(10:05):
I have nothing but faith in theCleveland fans. They're going to carry on
the tradition from the international PLDs andbe an absolutely amazing crowd. I know
France at the bar high, soCleveland's got to come reality. I'm sure
though, I'm sure they'll be okay. No worries there, I firmly,
but I've been wrestling in front ofthose people for my whole life, and
I know they can bring it becauseI know they're going to bring it.
(10:28):
Last question for you, Johnny Gargano. Seriously, is anybody better than Our
Truth on TV? Every time he'son, he is solid gold man.
I just I can't get enough truth. He's a national treasurer uh. And
the fact that that guy like hehas had so much staying power, and
it's just because like he is soversatile, he is so entertaining, he
(10:50):
can do absolutely anything, and heis the same way behind the scenes as
well. I promise you what youu see on television is not an act.
Would you get with Our Truth?Is what you get? And he
is a national treasure and a surefireHall of Famer. One day, I'm
so happy that he's finally getting hisflowers and people are finally now talking about
how amazing he is. I knowthey have for a while, but he's
(11:13):
actually getting credit for now, whichhe should. He is absolutely one of
the best of all time, andthe fact that he's getting at now is
super cool to see because everyone justloves our truth. He's the man.
Well, Johnny Gargano, you're theCleveland Man, You're mister SummerSlam. I
hope this year and I can't waitto see how packed it is at Cleveland
Brown Stadium. Everyone getting rowdy.We got to show France up. America's
(11:35):
got to step up. So getyour tickets for SummerSlam. They go and
sale tomorrow May nine at Ticketmaster andof course everyone can watch on Peacock.
Johnny Gargano, mister Cleveland, Thankyou, sir, Thank you man.
Appreciate you very much. Can't wait. Thanks man,
It's Mike Jones. The big eventsdon't stop for ww and we're going to
talk about one of this year's biggestwith my guest, Johnny Gargano. Good
morning. Are you doing man?I'm doing great, brother, Johnny.
You're the man of eight thousand nicknames. Gargano, Johnny Wrestling, Johnny Champion,
Johnny d i Y today though,Johnny Taco Today, I want to
(00:22):
call you Johnny SummerSlam and Johnny Cleveland. Dude. Exciting is it for you
that Summer Slam, the biggest partyof the summer for WWE, is going
to be in your hometown, inyour favorite place, in the Browns Stadium.
You gotta be going nuts about this. It's incredible. Man. When
I found out this was a possibilitya couple months back, I was bouncing
(00:42):
off the walls. I couldn't believeit was real. I still don't believe
it's real, honestly, but ticketsare going on sale, so I believe
it has to be real. Andtrust me, I've had like five hundred
people already reach out to me andask for tickets, So in that regard,
yes, it is very real.All of a sudden, Johnny Ticket
Guy is the other nickname. Yeahtomorrow. Tomorrow is what tickets are going
(01:06):
on sale for Summer Slam through ticketMasters, So it's I mean, it's
such a huge event. This isprobably gonna be the biggest Summer Slam of
all coming off the biggest WrestleMania ofall And I wanted to say kudos to
you, Johnny Gargano for your firstWrestleMania appearance. Man, that tag team
Ladder match was it was unreal.You and Pete done with that DDT through
(01:26):
the table just one of so manyspots I was like, Oh my god,
what is going on here? Andthat's the thing, right, I
mean, I feel like duey,especially right now, it might be the
hottest has ever been. It definitelyis the hottest has ever been. And
we are continually raising the bar soWrestleMania. They're going it the biggest WrestleMania
of all time, as you saidyourself, is going to be the biggest
(01:47):
Summer Slam all of all time.It's coming to Cleveland, Ohio, and
the fact that Summer Slam coming backto Cleveland. Last time SummerSlam was in
Cleveland was nineteen ninety six, twentyeight years ago. And I have to
say, Little Johnny Gargana was inattendance that night. That was the first
three of the event I ever wentto, And that was a night I
decided I needed to become a rushand wrestler. So the fact that twenty
(02:07):
eight years later it's coming back inClean Brown Stadium and I have the opportunity
to wrestle on that show in CleanBrown Stadium, the stars of a line
in amazing ways. Man, that'sfantastic. And I was gonna ask you
about that if you were what nineor ten years old at that point,
ninety six, Yeah, I believethat was ninety six. I would have
been around nine, eight or nine. So you got to see Shawn Michaels
(02:30):
Invader in that championship match at theend there, and that was it for
you. Yeah. And I wasdressed as Shawn Michaels. My mom made
me a Shawn Michael's costume U,so I was dressed as Shawn Michaels.
The Shawn Michaels was Invader Shawn defendthe championship And how wild is it that
years years years on the line,I wrestled that my first WrestleMania paying homage
(02:50):
to Shawn Michaels. So that tellsyou everything kind of comes small circle as
well. That's amazing. So I'mgonna guess then, Johnny, that you
have already you've been thinking about anoutfit. You're also the man of ten
thousand outfits. You always go allout for the ring gear. I'm gonna
get you're doing something to throw backto nineteen ninety six. Then, I
mean, so Cleveland, I'm theonly wrestler I will say this, I'm
(03:14):
the only wrestler that has Cleveland reppedon his ring gear. I have the
Cleveland skyline on the majority of mywrestling gear. So I already kind of
got a Cleveland's beam in my gearas it is. But we'll see what
I whip up for summer site.You know, it's a big event.
It's very special to me. Youknow, there's gonna be something Cleveland centric
involved. I gotta workshop all outof ideas here. I got a little
(03:38):
bit of time, but I'm gonnaworkshop a few ideas and we'll figure out
what I want to come up with. Yeah, we got about three months.
August third at the Brown Stadium,and let me remind everyone, Johnny,
the tickets go on sale tomorrow throughticket Master, and let's let me
talk to you about some of yourSummer Slam memories. What are some of
your favorite matches then if if youcan think back over the years. So
(04:00):
obviously I mentioned in nineteen ninety sixbecause that holds especially to my heart,
the boiler room brawl at that eventUndertakeo versus Mankind. I remember being in
the arena that night and it wasa wild atmosphere. I will say I
think one of the best openers ofa SummerSlam ever Kurt Angle versus raymis Sterio.
(04:21):
That's an amazing one. Again,we're going Shawn Michaels again. Shawn
Michaels was a triple h and ShawnMichael's return match. That's another one that
I loved a lot. But SummerSlamalways brings out the hit SummerSlam. I
would consider it the WRESTLEMANI of theSummer. A lot of stories are culminated,
a lot of huge matches are ondeck, So it's just something that
(04:43):
I know they're gonna whip up somethingspecial for Cleveland. And let's not forget
too Sean Michael's Raising Yeah, yep, that one as well. I mean,
come on, Sean Michael says he'smister WrestleMania, but he has some
SummerSlam bangers as well. Okay,that was actually gonna be my next question.
Who do we consider mister SummerSlam.I'm gonna throw this at you,
sir. I'm gonna see what youthink. Brett Hart because please British book
(05:08):
on British Wimbley Stadium, mister perfect. Uh, you know, fuck Demolition
for the tag titles, Owen Hartfor the championship. I mean, Brett
Hart, that is a that isan all star resume just at SummerSlam.
I think for me he's mister SummerSlam. That's a good shout. I tend
to agree with you. I mean, based on those matches alone, that's
one hundred percent a great resume.Yeah. Now, Johnny, if you
(05:30):
could pick your match at SummerSlam,would you like to go against one of
your fellow Cleveland guys against the Mizor Logan Paul or maybe maybe even a
three way for that US title,the Cleveland Throwdown. I could see that
happening. Hey, I mean,Logan Paul is the United States Champion.
I will say that, and uh, he's been an incredible champion, so
far uh miss. Obviously you mentionedhim as well. US Cleveland guys having
(05:54):
a Cleveland showdown would be something special. But I will say this as well.
Uh So, we just got Draftto smack Down. Me and my
tag team partner Tomaso Champa, andwe have not gotten a shot at those
v tag team titles yet. Wehave not won a title yet on Raw
or SmackDown, and we said thatwas our goal for twenty twenty four.
(06:15):
So if the stars were to alignand me and Tomaso were to get a
title match at SummerSlam to the DEVtag team titles, I want to put
that out in the universe. Itwould definitely be the culmination to be able
to have a title match at SummerSlam in Cleveland Brown Stadium with that crazy
atmosphere. I can only imagine whatthe crowd would be like for that.
It would just it'd be something thatI would remember for a very very long
(06:38):
time and be a culmination of workif we were able to make that happen,
absolutely of I mean, how longhave you been in wrestling now?
It's what fifteen years now, twentyyears? Twenty years almost? Wow?
Yeah, I know two thousand andfive is when I officially made my debut.
Man, that's unbelievable. And Imean to go from that now to
wrestling, you know, in yourhometown in Cleveland, I mean, you
(07:01):
probably never imagined that would happen,that you would get to be a part
of something so huge. No.I mean in two thousand and five,
I was wrestling in parking lots oflike bars in front of like ten people
when I first started out. Soto go from that to wrestling in clean
Brown Stadium, it's wild, likeright, if you think about my parents
(07:26):
and like people that I've known,like you have to think about Cleveland too.
All these people have watched me growup, like guys that I have
been wrestling for twenty years. Sowrestling fans in Cleveland have been a part
of that journey for me. They'vebeen there since day one, whether it
be small VFW halls, whether itbe little little buildings that hold wrestling shows,
They've seen me grow up in frontof their very own eyes. And
(07:46):
to see me now into the atclean Bround Stadium, wrestling in the humongous
stadium at a big two v event, it just I said, the stars
have aligned in crazy ways to makethis possible. I love this man,
I Johnny, I can already hearthe excitement in your voice just talking about
it. How pumped you are forCleveland Brown Stadium in summer slam. Well,
(08:07):
let me remind everyone tickets go onsale tomorrow on May ninth at Ticketmaster
of course, WWE dot com aswell well. Last two things I have
for you, sir, WW superstars. You guys get to travel all around
the world all the time. AndI just saw Chelsea Green said that she
spent all of thirty hours in Francefor SmackDown and Backlash. Has that happened
(08:28):
to you, I'm sure it has. That you've gone to a country,
You're like, hey, I'm hereand we're gone, Like, what's the
fastest you've ever been in a place. So it's funny that you said Chelsea
did that, because I did thatas well. So literally, me,
Chelsea Green, and Piper Nibven,we were the three that did it.
I flew to France on Thursday night. I got there on Friday night.
(08:56):
Oh yeah, I got there onFriday night. I was there on Saturday
and then I'm time change and stufflike that restled the show. So I
was in France for I think alittle over thirty hours. It was sixteen
hours of travel to France, therefor about thirty hours and then sixteen hours
(09:18):
home. So yes, that hashappened, and it just happened literally two
days ago. Was that your firsttime ever in France? No, so
I've been in France before. Meand my wife Canta's actually went there for
vacation Disneyland Paris a bit ago.But NXC actually ran a live event in
France a couple of years back,and the crowd we always remember this,
(09:41):
the crowd in France. The fanswere absolutely electric, and I'm now the
world is seeing it due to backlashand smackdowns, how incredible the crowds in
France are. They're so amazing.And I know people are really pumped about
all the international pls because the internationalcrowds just make the show that much better.
And the fact that the next Americanple is in Cleveland, Ohio,
(10:05):
I have nothing but faith in theCleveland fans. They're going to carry on
the tradition from the international PLDs andbe an absolutely amazing crowd. I know
France at the bar high, soCleveland's got to come reality. I'm sure
though, I'm sure they'll be okay. No worries there, I firmly,
but I've been wrestling in front ofthose people for my whole life, and
I know they can bring it becauseI know they're going to bring it.
(10:28):
Last question for you, Johnny Gargano. Seriously, is anybody better than Our
Truth on TV? Every time he'son, he is solid gold man.
I just I can't get enough truth. He's a national treasurer uh. And
the fact that that guy like hehas had so much staying power, and
it's just because like he is soversatile, he is so entertaining, he
(10:50):
can do absolutely anything, and heis the same way behind the scenes as
well. I promise you what youu see on television is not an act.
Would you get with Our Truth?Is what you get? And he
is a national treasure and a surefireHall of Famer. One day, I'm
so happy that he's finally getting hisflowers and people are finally now talking about
how amazing he is. I knowthey have for a while, but he's
(11:13):
actually getting credit for now, whichhe should. He is absolutely one of
the best of all time, andthe fact that he's getting at now is
super cool to see because everyone justloves our truth. He's the man.
Well, Johnny Gargano, you're theCleveland Man, You're mister SummerSlam. I
hope this year and I can't waitto see how packed it is at Cleveland
Brown Stadium. Everyone getting rowdy.We got to show France up. America's
(11:35):
got to step up. So getyour tickets for SummerSlam. They go and
sale tomorrow May nine at Ticketmaster andof course everyone can watch on Peacock.
Johnny Gargano, mister Cleveland, Thankyou, sir, Thank you man.
Appreciate you very much. Can't wait. Thanks man,
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.