Filmmaker Kenny Johnson has made his mark turning the grittier side of pro wrestling into a visual work of art. We’ve featured some of his work in the past, with people like the incredible Veda Scott and the barrier-breaking efforts of Kimber Lee. Now, Johnson is taking us behind the scenes of Johnny Gargano’s very emotional goodbye to the company that crowned him an icon.
Evolve 68 and 69 (the nicest wrestling show of all) would be Gargano’s last with the company as he finished wrapping up his previous commitments before going to WWE. Gargano explains that while he loves independent wrestling, his choice to move on was clear:
My dream was, y’know, as every little kid that wrestled, or every little kid that was a huge fan of professional wrestling, my dream is to wrestle at WrestleMania. My dream is to work for WWE.
I love independent wrestling. It’s what made me fall in love with wrestling. I used to go to indie shows when I was eight years old. Ther ewas nothing like it in the world. But on that same token, I need to try. I need to see what I’m capable of. And honestly, I just wanna make some people proud.
By the end of the show, Gargano had effectively passed the torch to Matt Riddle, and listen — it shouldn’t take a documentary to tell you this guy’s the next big thing, bro. You can catch Gargano’s final Evolve shows over at WWN Live before he heads to Wednesday nights full time, or you can watch him and his nerd friends lip-sync. Either or.
