Tommaso Ciampa talks NXT 2.0, DIY Reunion, More (Patreon)

Fightful Select caught up with Tommaso Ciampa recently. The former NXT Heavyweight Champion took some time with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp for an exclusive interview.

Sean asked Ciampa if he had a moral conflict being in a tag team with a Cleveland Browns fan. Sean mentioned that they are the worst types of human beings and are not good people. Ciampa laughed and said he was not around just one, but they outnumbered him.

Ciampa said that to be fair, he was a fan of the professional teams in Boston growing up. He said, “Sox never won, Patriots never won, and the Celtics, the big three, never won. Then we hit that spurt of becoming a dynasty while I was in my heyday. So I do feel for him.”

Sean asked Ciampa if there was any doubt that he would get to work a Mania. Ciampa said there was a lot of doubt and thought maybe it was just a silly dream.

Ciampa mentioned his injury setback just as Gargano returned to the company. Ciampa would say, “That’s so typical of DIY. You think we’re going to go one way, and then obstacles take us a different way.” He also told Sean that if you asked them four or five years ago, it would have been something they did not see coming. Ciampa said it was fun for them to do it on the main roster.

In closing, Sean asked Ciampa about the change from NXT (Black & Gold) to NXT 2.0.

He said he tried to make the best of what was before him. He said he thought about his family first and looked at it from the perspective of how it was presented. 

Ciampa said many of his friends were leaving the company, things were changing, and he wanted to make the best of it.

He spoke highly of working with Bron Breakker. Ciampa said Breakker made it fun for him and added that he finally got to use his God of War gear, too.