On the May 31 NXT, the WWE Universe got our first chance to see and hear Tommaso Ciampa since he turned on his #DIY tag partner at the end of TakeOver: Chicago. As you can see a portion of in the above video clip, the Sicilian Psychopath explained his action.
Turns out it’s our fault for fantasy booking a Ronin reunion with Rich Swann after word came out Ciampa had hurt his ankle on a house show two days before TakeOver.
Here’s a full transcript of what was a great promo from Tommaso:
I’d like to take a moment right now to call Johnny Gargano out to the ring. I feel like I should give you an explanation. Johnny Gargano!
Oh right. Johnny’s not here tonight. Oh, you don’t like that, do you? No. Do you guys want to replace Johnny Gargano? Let me tell you all a little something about being replaced. Over the last two weeks of my life I’ve learned more life lessons than I had the 32 years prior. The Thursday before TakeOver: Chicago I sustained an injury, and questions started to circulate whether or not I would be ready to perform by TakeOver: Chicago. I didn’t have those questions. I had answers.
I knew - yes, I was going to fight. Because that’s what we do, right? That’s what this is about, that’s what #DIY has been about since day one - two kids who fight. In a mere 24 hours all those questions, those questions started to turn to these hypotheticals. You people started to replace me with dream partners for Johnny Gargano. It took less than one day for you to replace me! Less than one day for me to become an afterthought!
WELL NEWSFLASH! I’M NOT A DAMN AFTERTHOUGHT!
BUT... I, I put it aside. I looked at Johnny Gargano, my best friend, and I said “Aye, we’re gonna go and we’re gonna fight cause that’s what we do, man”. TakeOver: Chicago, when those lights are bright no one performs like #DIY, so Johnny and I, we’re gonna fight. And I let it all pass by, and here we come, we return to Chicago in a ladder match with AoP and we fought. We fought - cause that’s what we do.
And I realize we lost, and I’m gonna be honest. In the ladder match, I took a fall. I felt something in my knee pop and, man, I’ve been doing this for twelve years and I know the difference between being hurt and being injured, and I knew that this was serious. I knew that I was about to go away for a long, long time. And I laid there, man, in the ring and I just decided, I gotta keep fighting. Right? #DIY, we gotta keep fighting, that’s what we do. So I put it all aside. For you people. For my best friend. I put it all aside, and I fought. It wasn’t enough, but hell, man, we fought.
At the end of the night, when I looked across at Johnny and we were sitting in this ring, I looked across at my best friend - my brother. I looked out at you people, I looked across at Johnny Gargano and I realized... y’all are just alike. And just like you were about to replace me just like that, there was no doubt in my mind that Johnny Gargano was gonna do the same damn thing. If given the opportunity, if I went away, Johnny Gargano wouldn’t even hesitate. And I wasn’t gonna let that happen. I wasn’t gonna become an afterthought.
So, man, I... in that moment, I made my decision. I knew what had to be done. It’s not my fault. It’s your fault! It’s Johnny Gargano’s fault. Because, man, we had something special with #DIY! But you all ruined it! And if I was gonna go away for a long, long time, then Johnny Wrestling was gonna go away for a long, long time.
You don’t understand. You think this is something I wanted. #DIY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SPECIAL! IT WAS YOU AND US, FROM THE GROUND UP, LIVING OUR DREAM, TOGETHER! Johnny and I would talk for the last two years, night after night, about our moment, about how we were searching for our moment. TakeOver: Chicago was supposed to be our moment. It wasn’t our moment. And it certainly wasn’t [gestures to himself and the crowd] our moment. TakeOver: Chicago was MY moment.
I AM A 32 YEAR OLD MAN, AND THERE IS SOMETHING I KNOW - I KNOW IT IN MY HEART! THAT THIS, THIS RIGHT HERE, THIS RING - THIS RING FOR ME IS NOT REPLACEABLE! TOMMASO CIAMPA IS NOT, NOR WILL HE EVER BE, REPLACEABLE. Johnny Gargano, he’s not replaceable.
You know what is replaceable? You. I don’t need you now, and I never needed you. I’M NOT GONNA TELL YOU A SOB STORY ABOUT HOW I’M GONNA GO FIX MYSELF AND BE BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER BEFORE. WHAT I’M GOING TO DO IS PROMISE YOU, PROMISE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU THAT WHEN I RETURN, I WILL BE THE MOST DANGEROUS SON OF A BITCH IN ALL OF NXT!
I AM PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING - WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!
The bittersweet side of this is Ciampa did come to the ring on crutches, and in addition to talking about going away for “a long, long time” because of something in his knee popping, Tom Phillips would later say he required major knee surgery.
So what should be a hot feud is on hold for a while. But considering how well they’ve built the fire to start with, I have a feeling it will burn until Tommaso is cleared for a return.
Don’t make it too long, though, okay wrestling gods?