WWE NXT’s Tommaso Ciampa: “I’m open to anything, it just has to make sense”

For many fans, the idea of an NXT star moving up to WWE’s main roster is almost always expected, especially when it comes to a top talent like Tommaso Ciampa. However, he and several others have proven time and time again that NXT is a viable third brand in the company and that Raw and SmackDown don’t always have to be the endgame.

For Ciampa specifically, he’s in his element right now alongside Timothy Thatcher in the tag team ranks. It’s been over four years since he last held the NXT Tag Team Championship with Johnny Gargano and now he’ll get his chance to do it again at The Great American Bash on July 6 when the duo does battle with current champs MSK.

“The Blackheart” never suffers from a shortage of motivation, drive, or determination. Now in the greatest shape of his life, Ciampa is riding a wave of momentum at the moment and looks to reclaim glory on the black-and-gold brand after flying under the radar for the better part of the past two years.

One week ahead of his opportunity at the NXT Tag Team Titles, Ciampa spoke to Daily DDT about teaming with Thatcher, how being left off multiple TakeOver events has led to him doing some of his best work, why a main roster run in WWE (or anywhere) just isn’t ideal for him at this stage of his career, and more.

Tommaso Ciampa details teaming with Timothy Thatcher and returning to the tag team ranks on NXT

The Great American Bash originally returned under the NXT banner as a television special last July. Of all the excellent matches that took place and the many Superstars that competed over that two-week period, Tommaso Ciampa was not among them.

He was still fresh off a loss to Karrion Kross at TakeOver: In Your House 2020 and wouldn’t return to TV until late August. When asked his thoughts on whether this year’s installment is redemption for him after missing last year’s, he said he sees everything as an opportunity to remind people of what he brings to the table.

“To be honest, I take every match nowadays as kind of a ‘proving ground’ for myself, whether it’s TakeOver or a television special or a regular episode of TV,” he explained. “Our audience is so much bigger than it used to be. It feels like every Tuesday you have the platform and you take advantage of it.”

After bouncing around from feud to feud in 2020, he eventually struck gold with Timothy Thatcher, who was equally directionless at the time. He scored his first TakeOver win in almost two years when he beat Thatcher at WarGames IV and then lost the rematch inside the Fight Pit in early January.

That led to the two forming a mutual respect for one another and immediately entering themselves into the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. The chemistry between rivals-turned-partners doesn’t always click right out of the gate, but it did for Ciampa and Thatcher.

“One of our first matches with Undisputed Era, Adam [Cole] and Roddy [Strong] when they were tagging, I just remember knowing immediately the second the bell rang, ‘Okay, we got something there,'” he said. “Since then, it’s just really been a good experience. It’s different, too. It’s fresh for me, it’s fresh for him. He’s obviously very different from Johnny Gargano when we were tagging, so it’s just different.”

The dynamic duo has been racking up wins for months and now get their long-awaited opportunity at the NXT Tag Team Championship at Great American Bash. Ciampa sees this as their chance to take that elusive next step, not to mention that Thatcher has yet to hold gold in NXT and Ciampa’s last 18 months have been “tough” for him.

It’s a big moment that they’ve been working toward for a while and they’ll be ready to show out at The Bash. For Ciampa specifically, he dominated the singles scene on NXT for years before reverting back to being a tag team player, so it’s certainly been an adjustment for him.

“It’s a whole different mindset you have to put yourself in,” he said. “That break on the apron, in some ways, is great because it’s less wear and tear on the body and gives you a breather, but in other ways, it takes you out of the rhythm. It’s like any sport, really. You take LeBron James and you sit him for eight months or whatever it may be, he’s going to have to get back to his rhythm when he gets back to the game. It’s the same feeling. It’s an adjustment, physically and mentally.”

Tommaso Ciampa on being left off TakeOver specials, fitness, and what drives him at this point in his career

Aside from having to take time off for injuries in 2017 and again in 2019, there was a long stretch of time that Ciampa didn’t miss a single TakeOver. Whether he and Johnny Gargano were fighting for or defending the tag titles or he was in the main event for the NXT Championship, he was a featured attraction on almost all of them from 2016 through early 2020.

Despite that, he’s had a handful of fantastic matches on TV in that time, including most recently on the June 15 edition of NXT when he and Thatcher waged war with Grizzled Young Veterans in tornado tag team action.

It was an enthralling encounter that ended with a win for Ciampa and Thatcher, earning them their upcoming shot at the NXT Tag Titles. He noted that he hasn’t quite figured out the roller coaster that almost every performer finds themselves on at one point or another but that it makes him that much more motivated to steal the show whenever possible.

“Everybody’s different with their motivation,” he said. “I’m a little bit more of an internal motivator in the sense that I don’t know you actually have to dangle a carrot in front of me to make me work hard. I just work hard. But when you add the external motivator on top of it, which TakeOver is one of those, I guess I permanently live with a chip on my shoulder. In the last year, I’ve been on two TakeOvers, and that’s kind of crazy for me in a calendar year to be on two TakeOvers because I went a while not only being on them but being a feature for most of them. So, it’s an adjustment and it’s something I’m well aware of. I’d be lying to you if I said that I wasn’t.

“Not competing on TakeOver: In Your House and then competing just a few days later? Yeah, there’s that piece of me that looks at it and goes, ‘Okay,'” he continued. “It’s weird, I don’t even know who you even compare it to. I can’t say, ‘Okay, I’m going to make you regret not putting me on TakeOver.’ To who? We still have a television show, we’re still trying to entertain viewers on that and it’s still the same fan base. It’s not really a ‘proving’ to anything or anybody, it’s just a weird internal thing. I want to be on everything. It’s a selfish way of looking at it, but it’s the truth. I want to be on everything, all of it. I want to be on WrestleMania, I want to be on everything. It’s a weird one.”

He added that each match has its own satisfaction, whether it be a TakeOver outing or headlining an episode of NXT TV and winning there. The biggest goal on his mind right now is to walk away from The Bash with people talking about him and Thatcher, in addition to the obvious goal of becoming champions.

Of course, holding a title gives you more leverage when TakeOver events come around and the card is being put together. There’s also no reason for him not to be focused on more when he finds himself in such stellar shape these days.

The pandemic presented him with an opportunity to take his fitness more seriously and to make the most of a bad situation.

“We’re so used to traveling and early fights and sleeping in different hotels and long bus and car rides and stuff,” he said. “That just takes a toll on your recovery and your ability to sit and measure and prep your meals and stuff. I think it was an adjustment at first when the pandemic hit and I was home so much, but when I got through those initial few months, I looked at it like, ‘Okay, how do I make the most of this time at home and the ability to recovery? I’m not really wrestling as much as I normally would.’ It was the perfect combination of all of that.”

“The Blackheart” admitted that he’s more of an internal motivator and he’s always wondering how far he can push himself physically. His obsession with fitness and dieting comes from his ability to control it, whereas with wrestling, it’s virtually impossible to control anything due to so many factors constantly changing.

He added that IMPACT Wrestling’s Moose and Ring of Honor’s EC3 are his two biggest workout partners, literally and figuratively, and that they push each other to the limit in the gym on a regular basis.

Tommaso Ciampa clarifies his comments about a possible WWE main roster run

Ciampa is routinely asked about whether a run on WWE’s main roster is in his future, and a decent amount of fans believe he would rather retire than go to either Raw or SmackDown out of his undying loyalty to NXT.

That stems from an interview he did two years ago where his comments were taken out of context online. What he meant by what he said was that, due to his surgically repaired neck and the myriad of other injuries he’s had, he doesn’t think his body could handle that type of schedule.

“I think I’m over two years removed from neck surgery and, to be honest, again, taking an opportunity from the pandemic, and obviously it was a terrible situation, a blessing when it comes to a limited schedule,” he said. “I feel amazing physically but I’m also not dumb. I’m also intelligent enough to look at it and say to myself, ‘Okay, how often am I traveling and working right now? What happens when that doubles, triples, quadruples?’

“It’s one of those things where it has nothing to do with… I’m not anti-Raw,” he continued. “We’re all a part of the same umbrella. Like, I’m not dumb. The rosters across the board are just filled with the most talented men and women around. It’s just one of those things that got taken out of context of where, ‘Hey, will I do 300 dates a year anywhere in the world for anybody? No.’ Because physically… I have a two-and-a-half-year-old at home that I really enjoy spending time with and I have a surgically repaired neck on top of shoulders and knees. This isn’t a matter of want or liking something or disliking something… I’m open to anything. It just has to make sense. It has to make sense for my well-being. For me, as a human being, as a husband, as a father, it’s got to make sense.”

The former NXT champion has been in NXT long enough to see a ton of talent come and even more talent go. It’s the nature of the business, and unfortunately, that occurred last Friday when at least 13 wrestlers from NXT and 205 Live were reported to have been released from the promotion.

He’s no stranger to the feeling of being let go and not knowing what’s next but also embracing that uncertainty, having been fired from WWE’s old developmental territory, OVW, once before. He was given excellent advice that others in a similar situation may find just as helpful.

“For the people who aren’t aware, when I was 21, I was signed and sent down to OVW,” he said. Within six months, I was released. Crushing, obviously, right? It’s your dream job and my window was real quick. Some people are lucky to be there a little big longer. But I remember when it happened, the advice given to me was, ‘Go find yourself and if this something you love and you want to pursue it, pursue it by all means. Find yourself and get experience. Not just wrestling, but get life experience.’ That was probably the best piece of advice that was given to me at the time, that was my takeaway. It just evolved.”

The freedom he got from embarking on a path of his own was invaluable and made him into the performer he is today. The key is believing in yourself, and with one win to go until he’s NXT Tag Team Champion again, his success story is a prime example of that.

Watch Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher challenge MSK for the NXT Tag Team Championship at NXT’s Great American Bash on July 6 at 8/7c on USA Network.