"This is special" - Kevin Owens recently praised current superstar to WWE management
Kevin Owens told Bruce Prichard at this week’s WWE RAW taping that Tommaso Ciampa is receiving “special” reactions from fans.
Ciampa recently became a permanent member of the RAW roster after making sporadic appearances on the show over the last few weeks. So far, the former NXT Champion has featured in backstage RAW segments and competed in matches on Main Event.
Owens revealed on Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast that he spoke to Prichard, WWE’s Executive Director, about fans’ responses to Ciampa of late:
“I was telling Bruce, ‘This is special.’ Not everybody gets to come up [from NXT to RAW] that way with no fanfare, no real machine behind him. Just put him out there and see what happens, and crowds are really responding to him, so that’s really cool. That’s not something that happens for everybody so quick.”
Drop your pick ⤵️
@NXTCiampa https://t.co/SzelXb7vRB
Ciampa defeated T-BAR on the April 14 episode of Main Event before picking up another win over Cedric Alexander on the April 21 episode. Main Event is taped before RAW every week and airs three days later.
Kevin Owens thinks many WWE RAW fans are unaware of NXT stars
.@NXTCiampa is officially on #WWERaw, Ezekiel is still Elias' younger brother and @FightOwensFight might be going insane.
Just a normal Monday night on the red brand. https://t.co/m3We2xBaKR
Tommaso Ciampa cemented his status as one of the greatest superstars in NXT history during his seven years with the brand. NXT founder Triple H even embraced the 36-year-old on-stage after his final NXT match against Tony D’Angelo at Stand & Deliver on April 2.
Despite Ciampa’s NXT history, Kevin Owens believes it is difficult for superstars from the brand to immediately connect with RAW fans:
“When you go out in that arena for RAW, sometimes 70 percent of the audience… they know what NXT is but they don’t really pay attention to it, so they don’t know who this guy is. He comes out to relative silence, or he used to. On Monday, he came out to a huge reaction. He’s having matches and people are getting behind him so much.”
Ciampa appeared in a backstage segment with Owens on the April 11 episode of RAW. Owens told the new main-roster star to “grow up” after he believed Ezekiel’s claim that he is Elias’ younger brother.
Please credit After The Bell and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.