Tommaso Ciampa Wishes His Story With Johnny Gargano Ended At NXT TakeOver New York
Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano will always be linked together because….they were always linked together.
The two joined WWE in 2015 in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, went on to win the NXT Tag Team Titles, feuded over the NXT Title, and reunited on the main roster.
It’s arguably the greatest feud in NXT history, but Ciampa admits he has a tough time looking back on things presently.
“I feel like I’m not removed enough to look back with what I assume the appreciation is,” Ciampa told James Stewart on Stick To Wrestling. “[Our careers] will be interlinked. We understand that and have accepted it over the years. In real time, some of the stuff that happened during it, from us doing the tryout, getting the ‘no,’ coming in for the Dusty Classic, getting to the Cruiserweight Classic, all the way through New Orleans, even after New Orleans, we did a Chicago street fight. The first big monkey wrench was me tearing my ACL, but that just helped the story and made people wait for it. We had a bit of a monkey wrench when Aleister got hurt and our three-way turned into another singles match. It was a little too soon for that. I think everyone knew, but it was making the best out of a bad situation. I do wish it ended in New York. Ideally, I wish it ended with me having a match, him winning the title. Obviously, with the neck surgery, we couldn’t. Even with that, I remember feeling like, the fact that they sent me out at the end and had us hug on stage, that was the closure and it should be over. When I came back, I voiced that opinion. ‘I don’t think we should come back to this.’ I was okay coming back to it for Worlds Collide, we wrestled Trent and Tyler, that felt okay. One-off, DIY, we were both babyfaces in different stories and it felt fine. I thought it should’ve been left alone. I voiced the opinion, I got out-voted.”
Gargano won the NXT Title against Adam Cole at NXT TakeOver New York. After the match, Ciampa, who was sidelined after undergoing neck surgery, embraced Gargano. The two were scheduled to face each other at TakeOver New York.
“We did get them pretty hot on the last televised show pre-pandemic. That show is when we did a big crash off the stage and it was the final show before Tampa Bay. The crowd was great, everything was great, and the pandemic hit. What was supposed to be a one-off at the Performance Center became regular weekly shows at the Performance Center because we couldn’t have a crowd. That really put a damper on things. We had that warehouse match that didn’t get the praise we were hoping it would get. It was a tough spot. That was the time Undertaker did the cinematic match with AJ, and Bray did it with Cena. We filmed ours first, but it aired after. They had crazy fireworks. We had no production elements. It just was two dudes in a warehouse fighting. For me, I do wish we just left it alone. It makes it hard for me…ten years, 20 years from now I think I’ll be able to appreciate it more. During it, what a blast. It was the time of my life,” said Ciampa.
Ciampa left WWE in January 2025. His last match saw him team with Gargano on WWE SmackDown.
Elsewhere during the interview, Ciampa commented on leaving WWE. You can find his full comments here.
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