Tommaso Ciampa Explains Why He Changed His Mind About WWE Main Roster Move

Tommaso Ciampa was certainly one of the best things about NXT throughout his run in the developmental brand. He was part of solid feuds, especially with his eternal friend/rival Johnny Gargano.

The former NXT Champion has accomplished everything there is to accomplish on NXT. Ciampa had previously stated that he would retire from pro wrestling if he was ever called up to the main roster due to the hectic schedule.

However, he is clearly an active part of the WWE main roster now. While speaking on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, Tommaso Ciampa explained why he changed his mind about his main roster move.

“So much. It would be hard to put it on one thing. Number one, 300 days doesn’t exist anymore, so that was big. That was something just kind of recently became a shift. I mean, prior to the pandemic, it slowed, and then now it’s just a whole new game. The pandemic itself, the neck surgery, and how it all went down. I was home almost every single night of Willow’s (his daughter) first three years.”

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“In the weirdest scenario, you couldn’t predict that. However, just the fact that I got to do that, you build such a relationship with your child in those first few years. It’s something they’re never gonna remember probably, but just our bond now, and now like she’s almost four. She can travel with us to events. She came on a Green Bay loop so we could go to Milwaukee and see family. She’s been on like three loops now. So having the time at home with her for the pandemic, the schedule changing for the main roster, and interest in wrestling in general. Those were two big factors and then the success of the neck surgery.”

“With the success of the neck surgery and coming out the other end and going like, oh, not only do I feel good, not only do I have function and strength back, I feel better than I could. You don’t know the discomfort when it’s your norm, and it was my norm. So now all of a sudden, I’m like, Whoa, like I feel amazing. I’m getting back in there. I’m bumping. I’m having matches. We did WarGames. I way overdo it in Portland just to see if I can as a personal test type of thing and I’m fine the next day. That started to factor in. I’m like, Wait, I thought I only had a few years left, but I might have 10 or 20 years left. So once you start opening that up, and you don’t put an expiration date on your career, it was like okay, what do I want to accomplish? Because I honestly felt like when I won the NXT Title like that was it for me. I’ve hit my pinnacle. I have this crappy neck. I’m probably in my twilight.” 

Tommaso Ciampa was unable to defeat Bobby Lashley for the WWE United States Championship on Monday Night RAW this week. We’ll have to see what else is in store for him now.

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