It’s time for another emotional check-in on Tommaso Ciampa, courtesy of the WWE Performance Center YouTube channel. The above video is all footage of Ciampa after the successful spinal fusion surgery on his neck. Moments with his six month old child, and addressing the NXT roster after handing his title to Triple H stand out.
It’s this quote, delivered with tears in his eyes as he holds daughter Willow in his hospital bed, which is grabbing headlines:
“It’s a sense of relief. It really is. To know that I can get a procedure like this, and not worry about having a check come in, and finances come in... and being able to take care of this little one. To know I have that. Coming into this neck surgery, I knew the window was small coming back, and never once did I fear for my future because it was always clear to me, and it was made clear to me that, whether it’s in the ring or not, that there will be a place for me here [in WWE], you know? And I feel like it’s my opportunity to mess up, and as long as I do my part, they’ll take care of me. And I’m so grateful.”
As to that “small window”? Early signs are positive:
Got the results to my 2 month follow up x-ray.
— CIAMPA (@ProjectCiampa) May 8, 2019
Doc said “this doesn’t look good...it looks great”.
Happy Birthday to The Greatest Sports Entertainer of All Time#PartMan #PartWolverine#AllBlackheart
But the most important thing, as Ciampa explains in the video a few times, is not having numbness in his hands, or weird pain he can’t explain, and just being able to hold his child.