Ciampa Explains How He Learns From Stephen A Smith, Denzel Washington, And Other Actors For Promos

Ciampa has called himself the greatest sports entertainer and has proven himself in the ring and on the mic. 

Leading up to his United States Title showdown with Bobby Lashley, Ciampa cut well-received promos on WWE Raw Talk that showed off his personality in a new way that fans may not have seen during his time on WWE Raw.

Speaking to Ryan Satin on Out of Character, Ciampa discussed his Raw Talk promo. 

“The only had a question for Miz and he just said, ‘Is there anything for Ciampa in this?’ ‘Just the one question.’ He’s like, ‘Do you think you have an answer for it?’ ‘Yeah, sure.’ I always have stuff. I have a phone over there with literally pages of notes because anytime I think of stuff, I jot and write. Now, it’s just in the bank whenever you need stuff,” he said. 

When asked how long he’s been taking promo notes, Ciampa said, “I have been for years. before I came to NXT, I started doing that. I started doing it right at the end of Ring of Honor and was doing it on the independents. Promos have always been a thing that have mesmerized me. The good ones, the Pipers and Dustys, then I started to find, what are other avenues where promos are happening that aren’t wrestling? I just watched Dwight Howard at the tryout and he did this promo, very entertaining, he was the Shogun or something, but my God, the second he started talking, he was a [yelling] PRO WRESTLER! I hate the pro wrestling promo, I don’t like that promo, so let me go to stuff I like. I started watching monologues from movies like the Rocky Balboa one. Tom Hardy has killer ones. I started watching interview clips with Denzel (Washington) and Jim Carrey. Then I learned about the whole world of poetry and I got into poetry slams. You start going down that rabbit hole on YouTube and now the delivery thing starts to open up. ‘Oh, I can say it like that. My body language can do that. I can inflect here,’ and it became a thing where it’s part of my normal week to week. Anytime I get put in a position of a promo, if it doesn’t come to me right away, I’ll go in ‘what quote from this can I pull?’ and have it.”

Ciampa continued, explaining how he’s also learned from sports reporter Stephen A. Smith. 

“You have to almost train yourself to figure out how it can apply. Recently, I got into Stephen A Smith. He’s a character, that’s what he is. I don’t know what he’s like in real life, but I know he’s not that. The same as Ciampa and Tommaso Whitney. I know what Tommaso Whitney is, and he’s not Ciampa. Something happens with Ciampa where certain words and phrasing come out that I never use in real life, but it fits that guy. I’m sure Stephen A. is the same way. He’s one of those guys that I’ll watch sometimes and the only reason it caught me is because he was on and my wife was like, ‘Oh, I hate that guy.’ That’s a trigger word for me. You feel, let me figure out why. He’s got a lot of cool nuances you can pull from. His mannerisms and facial expressions. Some of his stuff is so arrogant. You can pull from anywhere, you just have to open up the avenue of ‘how can I pull this into my wrestling bubble?'” he wondered. 

Ciampa challenged Lashley for the WWE United States Championship last Monday on WWE Raw, but came up short in his efforts to capture the title. 

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