Pulled the wires off the plugs yesterday and noticed that on the front wire this little metal piece inside the wire was hanging outside of the wire about an 1/8". I pushed it back deeper into the wire with the spark plug. Was I too rough removing the wire, does it need to be replaced?

This picture is after I pushed the metal piece back in, obviously.

 

The spark plug rubber boot can slip back a bit sometimes, pushing it back to even like you did is not a problem.
This tool works perfectly to avoid damaging spark plug wires.

 

Its fine, would would know if you screwed it up when you pull the coil wire off the crimped end, (The metal piece) you referred too, that would have stayed on the plug.

rk classic.