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What’s the story?
Former NXT Tag Team Champions Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa could likely continue their feud in 2018.
Apparently, the belief is that Ciampa may make his in-ring return at NXT Takeover: Philadelphia later this month to attack Gargano. This speculation has received further impetus courtesy the following Tweets from the friends-turned-enemies—
In case you didn’t know…
Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa comprised #DIY and previously held the NXT Tag Team Championships.
However, after dropping the titles, they competed in another match in their bid to win back the belts at NXT Takeover: Chicago—a critically acclaimed ladder match against The Authors Of Pain—albeit losing to the latter.
The heart of the matter
Tommaso Ciampa turned on Johnny Gargano following their loss, signalling the beginning of a feud between them, however, the former sustained a knee injury owing to which he’s expected to be out of action until early-to-mid-2018.
Intriguingly, Gargano has now received a title shot at NXT Champion Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas whom he’ll challenge at NXT Takeover: Philadelphia later this month.
While Gargano took to social media so as to hype the same, Ciampa responded and sent out a cryptic Tweet alluding to the possibility that he might indeed interfere in his former tag team partner’s NXT Championship matchup.
What’s next?
Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas vs. Johnny Gargano has been confirmed by the WWE for NXT Takeover: Philadelphia which will take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 27th, 2018.
Industry experts believe that Ciampa will make his return from the knee injury-hiatus, at the aforementioned event and attack Gargano.
Author’s take
Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa’s performance at NXT Takeover: Chicago was a thing of beauty.
It was disheartening to see #DIY broken up, but considerably interesting to see how these two excellent mat workers would perform in a singles match against one another. Don’t blink, Johnny, Ciampa is coming for you.
