Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa had their last dance on the April 8 episode of NXT, which concluded with Gargano besting Ciampa to close the feud. The match was shot in a cinematic style but still took place at the empty Performance Center coming off the heels of WrestleMania 36, which featured two cinematic matches and an empty Performance Center brawl between Edge and Randy Orton.
Speaking on WWE After The Bell, Triple H revealed that Gargano vs. Ciampa was filmed before WrestleMania 36, but unfortunately got stuck airing last.
"That was one we wanted to get done and be done with that storyline so we could move in different directions. What could we do that was different? The concept was to do something cinematic. We had this mega-ton of footage, the next day we have a mega-ton of footage of the Boneyard match and everything at WrestleMania. All these edit teams have to break these things down and everything goes in an order. It kept getting moved down the pecking order of how it could get executed and edited. I was very happy and proud with that match. By the time we got to it, everybody was to the point of, 'These cinematic matches are overdone.' That was done in one shot, like they would have done in arena, but there was probably five of us. The fan in me just sat that and was like, 'they beat the crap out of each other.' Shawn and I were like two little kids. They did a phenomenal job," he said.
The bout between Gargano and Ciampa was criticized for going too long and, as alluded to Triple H, being last in a line of cinematic matches, leading to fan burnout.
Elsewhere during the podcast, Triple H discussed how the Boneyard match came together. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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