Top WWE tag team stars could face each other at Royal Rumble after member turns heel, says Bill Apter (Exclusive)

Rarely does a WWE tag team stay together forever in pro wrestling. A split is inevitable, and Bill Apter feels Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano are heading down the same route.

During the latest Smack Talk episode, Bill Apter spoke about Ciampa now becoming the "madman" that NXT fans were used to seeing back in the day.

Bill Apter wasn't sure if Ciampa vs. Gargano could be delayed until WrestleMania and stated it could feature at Royal Rumble or even as soon as Survivor Series.

Apter was eager to see Tommaso as a singles superstar again, and he explained why:

"I want to see Ciampa in a singles role again because he seems to be much more effective as a heel than he was before. And the way they finished off the match, where he never even tagged Gargano... Maybe on the Rumble card or an undercard, Survivor Series." [16:08 - 16:50]

DIY faced Pretty Deadly, and the match wasn't as straightforward as the former tag team champions would have expected. The finish saw Ciampa not tagging in his partner and ending it in his team's favor.

Tommaso was visibly upset, and Bill Apter believed we were seeing the slow-burn return of the 'Blackheart', a character that terrorized the WWE NXT roster many years ago.

The Hall of Famer journalist liked WWE's booking towards a teased breakup of DIY:

"Ciampa is becoming a better madman than he was originally. And the whole thing with Johnny Wrestling there saying that Alex Shelley was one of my mentors. The two of them disagreeing with each other is setting up a really good pattern here of possibly Ciampa and Johnny splitting up again." [From 14:50 - 15:25]

Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano having a grudge match on the WWE main roster could give Triple H another intriguing storyline to work with heading into the new year.

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Please give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.