WWE NXT: Evaluating Tommaso Ciampa’s Reign After TakeOver Phoenix
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Tommaso Ciampa is nearing a 200 day reign as NXT Champion following a successful title defense at WWE NXT TakeOver Phoenix. Now is as good as time as any to look at his reign thus far in retrospect in terms of how strong his reign has been.
As of this writing, Tommaso Ciampa has been WWE NXT Champion for 195 days. He is currently the 14th man to hold the championship with his reign being the 16th in the title’s history.
With some of today’s biggest WWE Superstars – including Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe and Finn Balor – having held the title before him, we’re curious in to know just how well Ciampa’s current reign stacks against previous champions, especially considering how he’s already held the title longer than most champs have; he’s currently the fifth longest reigning champion.
Before we compare and contrast The Sicilian Sociopath’s title reign with reigns of NXT’s past, let’s first take a look at Thomas Entertainment’s reign as it stands as of this day.
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The Road to Goldie
The spring and summer of NXT in 2018 was dominated by the dissimilation of DIY. After a year of build-up to their first match, the collision between Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano finally came to fruition. Their feud was the hottest thing on the yellow brand, even going as far as to overshadow Aleister Black’s NXT Championship reign just as he won the title. With that in mind, it only made sense for NXT’s hottest title to be inserted into the show’s hottest feud. By that logic, Ciampa needed to be the champion while a babyface Gargano needed to chase him.
The July 25 episode of NXT TV saw Ciampa successfully challenge for Black’s NXT Championship. The Sicilian Psychopath took advantage following an ill-advised run-in from his rival, Gargano, who accidentally struck Black with his title. As the new champion ingested his moment, the NXT Universe in attendance were forced to watch on in stunned silence, followed by an onslaught of outraged boos. This point was accentuated by the fact that Ciampa did not have theme music at the time.
In terms of being a pure heat magnet, Ciampa’s title reign was off to a stellar start. In terms of match quality, his reign was kicked off well in style thanks to having a great match with Black. Their NXT TV title match was actually better than their recent TakeOver rematch, but more on that later.