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Earlier this month, WWE graced New York City for a weekend with its annual festivities to celebrate WrestleMania. It was the biggest WrestleMania weekend yet, featuring almost every major star under the WWE umbrella. One of the stars that could not take part in the action was Tommaso Ciampa. The former NXT Champion had a stellar run as a really evil man, reigning supreme at the top of the NXT mountain heading into Takeover: New York.
Ciampa was set to defend his NXT Championship in a feud-ending match against Johnny Gargano at the Barclays Center, but he was forced to vacate the title due to neck surgery. With his title run ending in heartbreaking fashion and a lengthy spell on the sidelines impending, Ciampa eventually bit the kayfabe bullet and is no more in the heel character he portrayed so well.
He was a guest on 'Edge and Christian's Pod of Awesomeness', sitting down with the two legends during WrestleMania weekend and having one of the more revealing wrestling podcast interviews in recent memory. It was pretty astonishing to hear a man, who had been portraying this evil character for so long, speak so openly about himself and his professional wrestling career. Here are six takeaways from Tommaso Ciampa's revealing interview with Edge and Christian.
To listen to the full podcast, click here.
#6 His neck issues began in 2006
Tommaso Ciampa first felt his neck after a bump during a dark match for WWE, back in 2006. His tag team partner that night was Kofi Kingston, the current WWE Champion. After the match, Ciampa was checked on by many officials and roster members, who were concerned for him.
Mick Foley told him that it was the worst bump he had ever seen, Mick Foley! This was the start of lingering problems which have all contributed to Ciampa's recent condition. He started to lose the feeling in his hands at the end of last year, with the problem getting worse and worse. He had to have an anterior cervical fusion surgery to take the pressure off his spinal cord.
Ciampa suffers from spinal stenosis, the same condition that forced Edge to retire and may be on borrowed time. But it is tough to tell. He returned from a lengthy injury spell, after blowing his knee out during the Tag Team Ladder Match at NXT Takeover: Chicago.
He would return from that to go on the best run of his career. However, this time would be much more of a challenge. Neck injuries are no joke and this injury is career threatening for the former NXT Champion. He is keeping company on the treatment table with Tegan Nox, who injured her knee during the Mae Young Classic. Ciampa had been speaking to her and giving her advice on how to deal with a long-term injury, having gone through the same thing himself.
His current condition is not the best and it will be a while until we see him back in the ring, ready to perform again.
#5 The CWC match with Johnny Gargano was pitched by him
The start of his NXT career was not the ideal one for Tommaso Ciampa. He wanted to be a psycho heel like he had been on the indies, but he ended up in a babyface tag team with some guy named Johnny Gargano.
It was the worst case scenario for Ciampa but it did look like the team was set up to break up. Both Gargano and Ciampa were expecting to be in the Cruiserweight Classic tournament, that enlightened the summer of 2016 with incredible action. However, only Gargano got the call, or text, to be in the tournament. This was when Ciampa got an idea that seemed too good for Triple H and NXT management to resist.
The first night of the tournament was a draining one, with sixteen First Round matches. The last one of the night needed to be a big one, one that the fans would be talking about. Ciampa pitched to be in the main event of Night 1, offering to be one of the sixteen wrestlers who lost in the first round, against Johnny Gargano.
The Game saw the potential in that and Night 1 of the Cruiserweight Classic had an excellent main event ready to stun the fans in Full Sail. Gargano defeated Ciampa in 11 minutes, but the match was a classic. It was one of the best matches of the entire tournament and felt like half an hour long.
It only furthered the story between the DIY teammates and the action proved that there was a solid foundation for a future feud between these two random partners.
#4 The heel turn was delayed numerous times
Ciampa was always hopeful that he would get to do the switch as both he and Johnny Gargano knew that the money was not in teaming with each other, but in facing each other. They had to get a name for merchandise purposes, so DIY sufficed.
The team headed into Takeover: Brooklyn 2 to challenge The Revival for the NXT Tag Team Championships. It was an unbelievable match, as the magic of DIY was in the air. Ciampa and Gargano were supposed to turn on each other around that time, but creative changed it. NXT could get a lot of mileage out of the DIY story before both guys would start feuding with each other, and that is exactly what happened.
DIY won the tag titles from the Revival in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match at Takeover: Toronto, another incredible match and moment for these two teams. Ciampa's heel turn was delayed further so DIY could be used to build the NXT tag team division for after they have broken up.
Authors of Pain were the beneficiaries of this, as they clobbered DIY to become the NXT Tag Team Champions. Ciampa was getting more and more eager and anxious to "flip the switch" and end this heartfelt partnership with Johnny Wrestling. The time came after the brutal Ladder Match, in which Ciampa blew his knee out. He viciously attacked Gargano to end the show.
He would be out for nine months but with this huge attack, Blackheart was born. And the rest is history.
#3 He did not want any merchandise as a heel
Ciampa spoke about the relief he had, following the heel turn. The injury would also turn out to be a blessing in disguise for him. It gave him time to come up with ideas for a character that he has wanted to play for over a year in NXT.
The ball was in his court and you just knew that the eventual return of Tommaso Ciampa would be huge. It was huge, as he attacked Gargano with a crutch after his five-star match with Andrade 'Cien' Almas at Takeover: Philadelphia.
The run that would follow was immense. Ciampa completely bucked the trend and committed to kayfabe for pretty much the entirety of his run. He was the dark and evil soul all across WWE programming and social media, the fans actually hated him.
Ciampa also did not want any merchandise to avoid gaining any form of fan support for his character. He did not want anything catchy to be associated with him, just to remain the most hated man in NXT.
In the era of social media and lack of kayfabe, the former NXT Champion must be commended on his impeccable commitment to the Blackheart character, keeping his aura. Everybody believed that Tommaso Ciampa was a bad man, up until the point when WWE uploaded the documentary on his surgery. That is what makes a podcast like this so interesting because he never opened up even once during his entire heel run.
Ciampa's run with the NXT Championship was one of the greatest in the yellow brand's history.
#2 He adores Shawn Michaels and his 'Skull Sessions'
Tomasso Ciampa found out that he was winning the NXT title from Shawn Michaels, one of the most important trainers at the Performance Center. Michaels took on the role and is loving his job, helping to shape the future of the WWE and professional wrestling.
The NXT wrestlers themselves are all incredible talents but under the guidance of the Heart Break Kid, they could go to the next levels. Ciampa is one of them who adores Michaels, crediting the 2-time WWE Hall of Famer with helping him advance his career in NXT. The likes of Ciampa, Gargano, Velveteen Dream, Undisputed Era and many others are reaping the benefits of learning directly under one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
Michaels conducts Skull sessions, where he would play footage of an old WWE match and discuss on the various details that construct the match. From crowd reaction to timing, HBK's Skull Sessions have certainly proven to be successful in improving the entire roster. It certainly helps that the current PC bunch of wrestlers are all incredibly talented and passionate.
Ciampa spoke about how he has grown over the years, getting more and more comfortable with the mike and finding unique things to stand out from the rest of the roster. Michaels is evidently a big influence on him, as well as the rest of the roster.
How could you not improve when Shawn Michaels is your teacher?
#1 Takeover New York was a real moment and the "Movie's over"
After the whirlwind year that Ciampa has had, it all came crashing down with the aforementioned required neck surgery. There could not be a blowoff to the epic feud between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, but NXT took no compromises. Gargano defeated Adam Cole in a blockbuster 2-out-of-3 Falls Match to finally win the NXT Championship. After the match, Candice LeRae came out to celebrate with her husband. But the biggest post-main event appearance was yet to come. Ciampa, in a neck brace, came on to the stage and congratulated Johnny on fulfilling his destiny. It was a real moment, as the fallen former champion was not given any instructions on what to do on the stage. Ciampa very aptly claimed that the "movie was over" and that he was not playing the evil character again.
He joked about how he destroyed his entire character in one night, beginning the interview by saying that his career was over in a joking manner. Whether or not that is the case, one thing is for certain. The real-life Tommaso Whitney gained some much-needed perspective, as he saw his wife and daughter following his surgery.
After the personal hell he and wife have had to go through to get a baby, Ciampa is not taking things like these for granted. He has a chance to spend some quality time with his family, something he would certainly relish. Ciampa also mentioned that he would have preferred home life over competing at Takeover: New York in the condition that he was in.
He is certainly out for the rest of 2019 and part of 2020 as well, not knowing what is in store for his return. Ciampa and Gargano were brought to the WWE main roster as a team, but it was all scrapped due to the injury.
As it stands, Ciampa has no idea what is coming for him with the potential landscape change for WWE. He could return on NXT or move straight to Raw or Smackdown. Whatever the idea is, Ciampa has promised to himself that he would not think about it until the time is upon him to finally lace that pair of boots again. Hopefully, Tommaso Ciampa has a speedy recovery and is healthy enough to perform at a high level like the machine that he is.
Edge and Christian do know how to bring out the personal side in many performers, with this one being one of the best that they've done.
