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WWE Star And Cleveland Native Johnny Gargano Chimes In On Browns Stadium Situation

Johnny Gargano and his wide, fellow WWE star Candice LaRae participated in David Njoku's Celebrity Softball Game over the weekend.

Spencer German

Dec 10, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; WWE wrestler Johnny Gargano holds up a broken guitar that he smashed before the game between the Cleveland Browns and the Jacksonville Jaguars at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 10, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; WWE wrestler Johnny Gargano holds up a broken guitar that he smashed before the game between the Cleveland Browns and the Jacksonville Jaguars at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
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The Browns stadium situation has left the fan base divided over whether or not to pump $1 billion into renovating the current facility along the lakefront, or watch the city's beloved Browns leave downtown in favor of a multi-billion dollar dome stadium in Brook Park.

In the spirit of debate, WWE star and Cleveland native Johnny Gargano got in on the conversation over the weekend. Gargano and his wife, fellow WWE character Candice LaRae have attended plenty of Browns games over the years. Speaking from experience, the wrestling power couple made their stances on the subject very apparent.

"As a southern Californian who married a Clevelander, I would like a dome," said LaRae at David Njoku's Celebrity Softball Game on Saturday. "This weather is not for me. I'm just saying."

That opened the door for Gargano to share a personal anecdote from the duo's attendance at one of the coldest Browns home games of all time.

"The Christmas Eve game, the Saints game [in 2022], we went to it," Gargano proclaimed. "We brought our one-year-old child at the time. That was his very first Browns games – the coldest game ever. We were in a box luckily, but, I was like 'I'm a true Clevelander. I need to go out in the stands.' So I went out into the stands, [she] did too, with our dads – my dad's 80 years old. And sat in the stands ... Speaking of that, I'm team dome as well."

Gargano may be team dome, but that doesn't mean he isn't sentimental about the team's current facility, Cleveland Browns Stadium, where he grew up attending games as a kid. It's why he's so thrilled to have the opportunity to entertain the same fans he usually sits with at Browns games later this summer at a WWE Summerslam event on August 3.

"I spend every Sunday pacing around my house watching Browns games, if I'm not at Cleveland Browns Stadium myself," Gargano said. "It's literally a dream come true [to be part of Summerslam there]. I spent countless Sundays in that stadium just really sad during the fourth quarter ... but how great would it be if a WWE show ran here one day? That'd be amazing.

"The fact that we're getting a big four WWE event, in Cleveland Browns Stadium. As a lifelong Clevelander that is a dream. I dreamt of wrestling in that building and the fact that it might come true is just so freaking cool to me."

Gargano will have the opportunity to open up the stadium with a bang ahead of Cleveland's 2024 preseason slate begins against the Packers seven days later. If all goes well, and team does opt for building a dome, it likely won't be the last time a major WWE event comes to the Browns home stadium.

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Spencer German
SPENCER GERMAN

Spencer German is a contributor to the Northeast Ohio cluster of sites, including Cavs Insider, Cleveland Baseball Insider and most notably Browns Digest. He also works as a fill-in host on Cleveland Sports Radio, 92.3 The Fan, one of the Browns radio affiliate stations in Cleveland. Despite being a Cleveland transplant, Spencer has enjoyed making Northeast Ohio home ever since he attended college locally at John Carroll University, where he graduated in 2013.

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