6 things we learned about Tommaso Ciampa on Edge and Christian's Pod of Awesomeness
Earlier this month, WWE graced New York City for a weekend with its annual festivities to celebrate WrestleMania. It was the biggest WrestleMania weekend yet, featuring almost every major star under the WWE umbrella. One of the stars that could not take part in the action was Tommaso Ciampa. The former NXT Champion had a stellar run as a really evil man, reigning supreme at the top of the NXT mountain heading into Takeover: New York.
Ciampa was set to defend his NXT Championship in a feud-ending match against Johnny Gargano at the Barclays Center, but he was forced to vacate the title due to neck surgery. With his title run ending in heartbreaking fashion and a lengthy spell on the sidelines impending, Ciampa eventually bit the kayfabe bullet and is no more in the heel character he portrayed so well.
He was a guest on 'Edge and Christian's Pod of Awesomeness', sitting down with the two legends during WrestleMania weekend and having one of the more revealing wrestling podcast interviews in recent memory. It was pretty astonishing to hear a man, who had been portraying this evil character for so long, speak so openly about himself and his professional wrestling career. Here are six takeaways from Tommaso Ciampa's revealing interview with Edge and Christian.
To listen to the full podcast, click here.
#6 His neck issues began in 2006
Tommaso Ciampa first felt his neck after a bump during a dark match for WWE, back in 2006. His tag team partner that night was Kofi Kingston, the current WWE Champion. After the match, Ciampa was checked on by many officials and roster members, who were concerned for him.
Mick Foley told him that it was the worst bump he had ever seen, Mick Foley! This was the start of lingering problems which have all contributed to Ciampa's recent condition. He started to lose the feeling in his hands at the end of last year, with the problem getting worse and worse. He had to have an anterior cervical fusion surgery to take the pressure off his spinal cord.
Ciampa suffers from spinal stenosis, the same condition that forced Edge to retire and may be on borrowed time. But it is tough to tell. He returned from a lengthy injury spell, after blowing his knee out during the Tag Team Ladder Match at NXT Takeover: Chicago.
He would return from that to go on the best run of his career. However, this time would be much more of a challenge. Neck injuries are no joke and this injury is career threatening for the former NXT Champion. He is keeping company on the treatment table with Tegan Nox, who injured her knee during the Mae Young Classic. Ciampa had been speaking to her and giving her advice on how to deal with a long-term injury, having gone through the same thing himself.
His current condition is not the best and it will be a while until we see him back in the ring, ready to perform again.