5 Things you didn't know about Tommaso Ciampa

The name Tommaso Ciampa is synonymous with NXT. Having debuted on the Black and Gold brand in 2015 alongside Johnny Gargano in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, Ciampa has been an NXT mainstay ever since.

Having won the NXT Tag Team Championships and the NXT Championship, as well as participating in one of the most memorable feuds in NXT history against Gargano, Ciampa has had an incredible run with the brand. Things, however, were never easy.

Ciampa struggled through ten years on the independent scene before receiving his break in NXT and when he finally arrived, suffered numerous injuries including a neck injury that threatened to end his career. Ciampa also valiantly battled mental health issues and struggled to find anyone who believed in him as a performer.

Through it all, Ciampa has proven to be a fighter and revealed as much during his recent interview on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia. We unpack all that and more in 5 Things You Didn't Know About Tommaso Ciampa.

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#5. Triple H is his mentor

Tommaso Ciampa gives Triple H a great deal of credit when it comes to his success over the years. Not only did Triple H give Ciampa an opportunity to shine in NXT, but he credits 'The Game' as his mentor, in both professional wrestling and life. Ciampa told Lilian Garcia, "Hunter has become a mentor, for sure, but not even just in wrestling, but in life in a sense."

When Ciampa and Johnny Gargano were invited to participate in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, they knew WWE had no further plans for them. Triple H was accessible, so Ciampa went to him for advice. After Johnny Gargano was announced for the Cruiserweight Classic, Tommaso Ciampa went to Triple H to suggest that he face Gargano in the first round.

The bout was a resounding success and Ciampa found that he had earned Triple H's respect. Ciampa has since made a habit of going to Triple H for advice, which has been invaluable to him.

When a torn labrum threatened to halt Ciampa's ability to sign with NXT, Triple H signed him anyway and WWE inevitably paid for the surgery.

According to Ciampa,

"If you're lucky and fortunate, you find this promoter who buys in on you and gives you the opportunity. For Johnny Gargano, he had Gabe Sapolsky, who had bought in. He gave him a lot of opportunities in Dragon Gate USA and Evolve. That confidence being instilled in Johnny turned him into this insane performer. I go all these years in the independents and I don't have that. I just happened to get really lucky that the dude that decided to buy in on me happened to be the dude that is in the position that Hunter's in with NXT and WWE in general."

#4. His wife has been instrumental to his career success

Tommaso Ciampa visited by his wife and child after neck surgery

Tommaso Ciampa was introduced to Jessie Ward by fellow wrestler Samoa Joe. Ward, a former Tough Enough contestant and producer, hit it off with Ciampa and the two were married in 2013. Ciampa didn't expect his wife's advice to be instrumental to his professional wrestling career, but it was career-altering for him.

He told Lilian Garcia,

"She wasn't involved in the business. She did Tough Enough as a contestant. The next season she became a producer on Tough Enough and then that lended her a gig in WWE for three years as a backstage producer. Then she got out of the business. By the time we met, she was out of the business."

Ciampa was wrestling in the independent circuit, but struggled to garner the success he would later achieve in NXT. That's when his wife dropped some eye-opening advice,

"You're spending a lot of time trying to make other people look good. You ever think about how you're gonna look good yourself?"

At first, Ciampa fought against the notion, but he eventually took his wife's advice to heart. As Ciampa began to trust his wife's advice, things began to change for him,

"I started to kind of catch momentum and steamroll in the independents. Even how I handled social media became a thing, and having shirts and 8x10s became a thing. She was the one who pushed that because it's not my thing. She would push it, 'You should probably promote yourself.' I think that probably got me to focus less on the match and wrestling, and got me to focus a little bit more on how I present myself. Then it evolved into me becoming Tommaso Ciampa, which is my godmother's last name. I put all my eggs in my basket. I'm not gonna pretend I'm this or that."

#3. Ciampa struggled in Ring of Honor

Tommaso Ciampa knows that he's worth more than $20,000. To label Ciampa's time at Ring of Honor as disappointing would be an understatement. Ciampa felt typecast and despite often pleading for a change of character and for matches against some of the wrestlers on the star studded roster, those pleas often fell on deaf ears.

Ciampa was hired for his promo skills, but inexplicably wasn't even allowed to speak during his first two years with the company. Ciampa was limited to short, enhancement matches against talent not even contracted to Ring of Honor. He thought,

"Man, I'm not getting better here. I'd beg - let me work with Generico, and Chris Hero, and Claudio and I just never got to do it. It was so frustrating."

When Ciampa finally gained some momentum, he felt like he was "hitting an imaginary ceiling." Ciampa told Lilian Garcia,

"I felt like the 'Psychopath' character was too distant from me and I couldn't humanize it enough with that fan base. The Ring of Honor fan base is so real and so true. It's the NXT fan base, it's the same fan base. You just can't feed them crap. You've got to be raw with them. If you're not raw with them, they'll see right through it and they're not gonna buy in."

Ciampa tried his best to make the changes that were needed and ended up having a fantastic match against Jay Briscoe in England. The two were set to headline an upcoming pay-per-view in Las Vegas, but the powers that be in Ring of Honor nixed the idea, changing the match to a 4-Way instead. The reason they gave: Ciampa couldn't sell a pay-per-view.

Things really came to a head when Ciampa's contract was up. When negotiating with ROH, he was given a low ball offer by Joe Koff, who told Ciampa, "No one's gonna offer you more than $20,000." Ciampa was shocked that ROH only thought of him as mid-card talent and nothing more,

"I didn't realize you thought that of me. It was like a light bulb friendly, relaxed demeanor. It was like, 'Oh, we don't have to do this anymore. My contract's coming up. I'm good. I'm gonna go somewhere else and find out, if you're right or not.'"

#2. He refuses to go to RAW or SmackDown

Don't expect to see Tommaso Ciampa competing for RAW or SmackDown anytime soon, if ever at all. Tommaso Ciampa is NXT loyal and that's where he wants to stay forever. Ciampa told Lilian Garcia,

"I've fought the call up. I've fought it hard. I remember Shawn Michaels...laughing at Johnny and I, 'I've never experienced this in my life where two guys were like, 'Keep your money, I don't want it.' I won't [go to RAW or SmackDown]. I'm not kidding. I've communicated this."

While Ciampa has always expressed loyalty to the Black and Gold brand, things are now different for the 34 year old family man.

"Now, it's different. Before, I didn't want to because I really believed in NXT and wanted to ride it out. I wanted to see how far we could take it. Now it's hit a whole different level of - there is that, but I have a little one at home and my schedule is better in NXT than it would be on the road. I've had neck surgery and I'm not fricking stupid. I get that my window is smaller than it was and my bump card is ticking. If I'm doing 200 plus dates a year on the road with RAW or SmackDown, or I'm doing a manageable load of 30-50 matches in NXT - I can do 4 years of that vs what I can do on RAW and SmackDown in a year. How long can my career portfolio grow here, as opposed to going there?"

Ciampa has promised to retire, if he is ever "called up" to the "main roster."

"Now, it's become a thing where I've legitimately vocalized to them, 'If I have to to RAW or SmackDown, then I'm gonna retire and I would love to produce, or coach, or be a part of it, but there's no way I'm taking on that load and going, 'Yeah, I'll have a six month run and then call it quits.' I just won't do it, it's just not worth it to me. It's not worth it to my family."

When Lilian Garcia commended Ciampa for listening to his body, he replied, "I have to."

#1. He battles depression

After being released from his OVW contract, Tommaso Ciampa's mental health took a turn for the worse. He wasn't feeling well physically and despite never being a drinker or into drugs, began taking pills. His depression became more intense and his loved ones noticed a change in character.

One night, Tommaso Ciampa decided that he would take his own life,

"My attempt at suicide was reversing the exhaust in the car....the worst part of it to me is that my sister had an ex-boyfriend, who years after they broke up committed suicide, and that is how he did it. I knew it was possible from that."

Ciampa's memories of those times are still faint, but at some point he drove his car to a mall parking lot at approximately 3AM. Luckily, a mall security guard, who was off shift, alerted the police. By the time police arrived, Ciampa was "virtually passed out." Police forced the door of his vehicle open and saved his life. After his suicide attempt, Ciampa ended up at a clinic, where he received the help he needed.

He eventually moved to Missouri to train with WWE Hall of Famer Harley Race. There he found a caring mentor. According to Ciampa,

"Harley Race was a great mentor to me. He just took me under his wing quite a bit. Harley's not the 'I love you' type, but he cared and showed that he cared. My dad is awesome, so it's not like it was a father figure that I was missing. I guess it was just a person in the business who I respected - he's the first one who showed faith in me. I needed that so much at that point in my life and that helped."

To this day, Ciampa leaves his DMs open and receives more than twenty messages a week from fans who battle depression. Ciampa still battles depression, but believes he can offer hope to those who struggle, "I think that it helps when you have someone who can relate, or who can listen and not pass judgment."

(Transcription Credit: Michael McClead, Sportskeeda)

Readers may watch Lilian Garcia's interview with Tommaso Ciampa in its entirety below:

Edited by Zaid Khan