Tommaso Ciampa: People Dream About WrestleMania, But For Me, It Was Always The Royal Rumble

Tommaso Ciampa has Royal Rumble dreams. 

The Royal Rumble is always full of surprises with legends returning for one night, superstars coming back from injury, and surprise appearances from members of the NXT roster. 

While many of Ciampa’s peers have been part of the Royal Rumble surprises, the reigning NXT Champion has yet to experience that walk. He hopes that will change in January. 

“I know people in WWE dream about wrestling at WrestleMania, but for me, it was always the Royal Rumble,” said Ciampa in an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated. “The idea of seeing who would return, the surprise of who would debut, even watching what Edge did last year, that’s always been the Rumble has always meant a lot to me. There are so many people I’d love to have an opportunity to share the ring with. So if that opportunity knocks, I’m answering.”

Ciampa has gotten tastes of the WWE main roster throughout the years, including on Sunday when he defended the NXT Championship against Pete Dunne at Madison Square Garden for a WWE live event. 

Speaking about the short notice match, Ciampa said, “Any time I get asked to do the Garden, I’ll always say yes. So many legendary performers have played here. It means a lot to share a piece of that history and it means a lot to represent NXT against Pete Dunne. Stepping through the curtain, I immediately thought about Reggie Miller coming in here and playing the Knicks, scoring eight points in nine seconds [in the 1995 NBA playoffs]. I’m a huge Boston sports fan, so I thought about games between the Celtics and Knicks. It’s just amazing to be at Madison Square Garden.”

Ciampa’s next challenger for the NXT Championship will be Bron Breakker. The two will clash at NXT New Year’s Evil on January 4. 

You can find results from the WWE live event at Madison Square Garden by clicking here.