"Wild crowd. Wild Environment." - US Title contender on wrestling for a prison crowd prior to WWE signing

A few weeks ago, WWE announced that the United States Title would be defended inside the Elimination Chamber this year. This will be the first time that a mid-card championship will be on the line inside the Chamber.

Austin Theory is set to defend his championship against Seth Rollins, Bronson Reed, Montez Ford, Damian Priest, and Johnny Gargano. While many competitors from the Chamber bout wrestled in indie shows, Gargano recently revealed that he used to wrestle in front of prisoners prior to singing with WWE.

Johnny Wrestling is a beloved superstar among the WWE Universe, especially for those who have followed him since his NXT days. Gargano is finally set to compete in a major contest since his return to the Stamford-based promotion back in August 2022.

During an interview with Beat of Sports, the former NXT Champion revealed that he wrestled for prisons during his days on the indie scene.

"I [wrestled in] an actual prison. Before my time in WWE, I was an independent wrestler, so I would wrestle on a bunch of random shows here and there. They had a show booked in a prison. I’ve wrestled multiple times in prisons, which is a wild crowd. Wild environment. They ran a wrestling show in the middle of the yard where they had all their activities and stuff like that. 'Hey, come watch a wrestling show,' and we wrestled in a prison. It was wild," said Gargano. [H/T: Fightful]

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Johnny Wrestling could potentially be reuniting with former WWE tag partner upon the latter's return

There are plenty of reasons why Gargano is so loved and respected among the fans. The family man stepped out of the spotlight to take care of his baby alongside his wife Candice LeRae prior to returning to the Stamford-based promotion last year.

While he hasn't done anything of substance since, aside from assisting Dexter Lumis during the latter's feud with The Miz, it was reported earlier that Johnny Wrestling might be reuniting with his former friend-turned-rival from NXT, Tomasso Ciampa.

"There are plans to reunite Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa on Monday Night Raw when Ciampa returns, Triple H thinks DIY will be great for the Tag Team division and wants them to have a run as a team again before fully breaking off into top singles contenders on the main roster," Xero news tweeted.

Ciampa has been out of action due to an injury since September 2022 but has been giving updates about rehab on his Instagram, as reported latest by Sportskeeda.

Would you like to see Johnny Gargano walk out of Elimination Chamber 2023 as the new United States Champion? Voice your take in the comments section below...