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WWE legend Bully Ray was confused by Ciampa's promo and presentation on RAW and wondered if the company wanted fans to cheer for the former NXT star.
Ciampa earned a shot at winning the US Championship last week on WWE RAW and faced Bobby Lashley earlier this week. The former NXT Champion put on a fantastic match, where he came close to winning but narrowly lost to Lashley.
Bully Ray spoke about Ciampa's presentation on the Busted Open podcast. He stated that the RAW star's loss left him confused as the promos made him seem like someone fans should cheer for.
"So last night there's Ciampa, talking about the US Championship, talking about the legacy, the story, the heritage, everything behind the US Championship. He's talking about Harley, how Harley Race broke him in - and if Harley Race broke you in and Harley Race trained you, that's a pretty big deal. Shows the robe, wears the robe and said he's going to win this one for Harley. During the whole thing, every time I saw Ciampa, last night talking about Harley, I'm like, 'Wow, I'm pulling for Ciampa. I want to see Ciampa win.' And then Ciampa taps. I was very confused last night about the whole Ciampa thing. Should I have liked him? Should I have loved him? Should I have hated him? Why would I hate him? I didn't have any reason to hate him last night," said Bully Ray. [From 3:14 to 4:04]
The Hall of Famer said he expected Ciampa to win after the promo that he cut ahead of the match on RAW. Bully Ray said that everything he saw and heard from Ciampa made him want to love the RAW Superstar.
Ciampa says he's just getting started on WWE RAW
Ciampa recently stated that he has a lot to offer going forward and that his journey on the main roster has just begun.
"There's no denying that, over the last couple of weeks, the WWE Universe, on a larger scale than just the NXT Universe, is seeing that. And, uh, I'm just getting started right now," said Ciampa.
The former NXT star has featured heavily on the Red brand ever since Triple H took charge of WWE's creative, with both sharing a close relationship which they built in NXT.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Busted Open and H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription.
