Former NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa recently took part in an interview with Sports Illustrated, in which he discussed his impending return to NXT programming. Ciampa has been out of action recovering from his anterior cervical fusion surgery, which ruled him out of a potential WrestleMania weekend showdown with Johnny Gargano.
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On if he’ll join the main roster:
“I don’t know if people think I’m going to Raw or SmackDown, but here’s a spoiler, I’m not. I’m going to NXT. If someone tells me anything else, I’m answering them with a no. I bleed black and gold. NXT is home. And I have unfinished business there.”
On the NXT Championship & believing in himself:
“I didn’t lose the title. Storyline or not, entertainment or not, that title meant the world to me. I was ‘The Guy’ for NXT, the hottest brand in the entire world. I came through knee surgery and two shoulder surgeries to get to that point. That’s what I worked my entire career for, so giving up the title is not how I envisioned it ending.
“I am the best sports entertainer in the world. I always hear, ‘Sports entertainer? You’re a sell-out!’ Call me a sell-out if you want. I’m buying in. This is my brand. NXT is mine.”
On Adam Cole:
“When I was in Ring of Honor, Adam Cole was the champion. When I won the title in NXT, in the back of my head, I told myself, ‘I have to do for this title what Adam Cole did for the Ring of Honor title.’ He was the champ and carried the company to a new level. My job was to create my own footsteps, but do the job he did. So I don’t have any hard feelings for Adam. The only disservice to Adam Cole is the second I get cleared.”
On his style:
“I’m an entertainer and I’m really damn good at it. I’m not the best at strictly wrestling, but this is a television show for an entertainment company. NXT, this is my baby. When you put together everything this business entails—the entrance, persona, and talking on a microphone, spontaneity, adapting to a live audience—that’s what I’m the best at doing.
“I can’t chain-wrestle with the best, I can’t fly with the best—but I talk with the best, I look the best, I perform the best. When I talk about being the greatest sports entertainer of all-time, I mean that. And when my music finally hits, Adam Cole and the rest of the world will again learn why I am the greatest.”
