WWE star and former two-time NXT chamion Tommaso Ciampa recently spoke with Sean Ross Sapp from Fightful about a wide range of rasslin related topics, including what changed his mind in giving the main roster a chance, and how he feels like he is just entering his prime now since he has been taking better care of his body. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
How Raw Talk affords a little bit more freedom in terms of promo:
“So RAW Talk in general when you do social media stuff, you have a lot more freedom. I think two weeks ago we did a RAW Talk and they said, ‘Yeah, yeah. Say what you want a little bit,” and I got to. On this one, Miz gave me the green light again, he said, ‘Do you have something you want to say?’ I said, ‘I’ll think of something.’ For me this whole process has been – I know an opportunity when I see it and I will maximize my minutes. That’s kind of been my M.O. my entire career. I’ll take whatever you give me and I’m going to turn it into the best thing I possibly can. So the fact he gave me the platform for it. I just need eyes on me. So give me an opening, I’ll take it.”
What changed his mind about having a run on the main roster:
“I get asked this all the time. Having a successful neck surgery, huge factor. Going into that and having the pain I had for as long as I had. I always felt like, ‘Your career’s ending soon,’ and now I don’t feel that way. Now I feel like, ‘Oh, you might have just finished the first half of your career.’ I’ve learned how to wrestle with it and I’m not in pain. Having a child, having the pandemic happen and spending three years with her at home and having that time, and now she’s at the point she’s with me right now at SummerSlam. A lot has changed. My life has changed. My maturity has changed. The opportunities are exciting to me. There’s a lot of new opponents for me to face. It’s hard to put it on one thing.”
Feels like if he takes care of his body he’ll be entering his prime now:
“The way I take care of my body, I just feel like, ‘Oh, shoot. okay, I’m 37. If I go ’til 55, I’m at the halfway point. We’ve got a long ways to go. It’s the same concept. He’s got some neck issues, too, like everybody else that wrestles. You just learn. We got a cool medical team, too. They’re great, dude. You get those people who are helping you with the strength and conditioning, guys like Coach Hayes and [Ty-rai], who’s a PT. So many people who are just educating you and the more you get educated, the more you start to learn like, ‘Oh, I can get longevity out of my career doing this.’”