Johnny Gargano was hands-on with a lot of his theme songs.
Recently Gargano held his first Twitch stream and discussed a number of topics including his theme music in NXT. Gargano spoke specifically about his Rebel Heart song, how he requested a female vocalist, and that Time To Dance by Panic at the Disco was one of the inspiration songs he sent during its making.
"So Rebel Heart obviously holds a special place in my Rebel Heart. A lot of people don't realize I've been very, very lucky, throughout my career I've been pretty hands-on with a lot of my theme songs. So Chrome Hearts with me and Tommaso that was just given to us. That was when we started and we were pretty much extras. We didn't have a contract yet and they gave us that song as a, you know, just here. We didn't hear our music, we didn't see our tron. Things were a lot different back then. We didn't hear anything like that until we came out, basically. So that was chrome hearts. Then for the Cruiserweight Classic, I got my own song, which was kinda like Chrome Hearts, but it was called From the Heart, and I sent them a couple of different songs for inspiration for that. Then, for Rebel Heart, I specifically requested a female singer because I feel like a lot of guys just never had female singers. I know Christian did. I was a big fan of that. A couple other guys here and there, but I really wanted a female vocalist for my song. Then I sent them another few songs to kind of go off of there. A lot of people don't realize that I sent them Time to Dance by Panic at the Disco. You can kind of hear a little bit of Rebel Heart in that. A lot of people haven't referenced that. I know Bomb.com is what a lot of people say Rebel Heart sounds like. It does a little bit. But that was never something I sent them. But yeah, I had a lot of input in Rebel Heart. I had a lot of input in Coming Back For You as well when we went to that. It's just so funny because I got so tired of Rebel Heart because I came out to it for forever. Then hearing it again recently, it just made me so happy to be able to kind of close that chapter with that song. Again, it made me very, very happy," Gargano said.
Gargano finished up his run with WWE following the December 7 episode of NXT, where he addressed the audience and was then attacked by Grayson Waller. Elsewhere during the stream, he said he wants to give people a break from Johnny Gargano and spend time with his family. Learn more here.
If you use the quote above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.