Tommaso Ciampa

“If you are teaching your child to be content with a participation award, then you already failed at life.”

“Ring of Honor fanbase is so real and so true. It's like an NXT fanbase; it's the same fanbase. You can't just feed them crap.”

“I still get nervous before going out, especially with a company like WWE and NXT, but it's different. I know how to wrestle, but it's the nerves of performing and wanting your last match to be as good as the one before.”

“I wanted so badly to walk into WrestleMania weekend as the NXT champion and headline TakeOver.”

“The wrestling that I grew up on was this; it was NXT. Definitely not the athleticism factor or the in-ring factor - that's evolved tremendously. But the storytelling part of it, that's what grew up on.”

“So for a guy like Karrion Kross to set his sights right at the top of the card and want to get right into a big program and make a name for himself and make an impact, I fully get it, it makes sense that the two of us got paired together because I think that, for the fans, it's one of those match-ups that they just wanted to see.”

“I don't know if people think I'm going to Raw or SmackDown, but here's a spoiler, I'm not. I'm going to NXT.”

“I had neck surgery and I'm not freaking stupid. I get that my window is smaller than it was and my bump card is ticking.”

“I always tell people, when I was a kid, there was four pay-per-views a year, and everything had three-month builds, and it was just the best thing ever. That's my wrestling. It was like, if there was a way for it to go back to that, oh my God, I would be so happy. And that's what NXT has provided.”

“It's been the best-case scenario neck surgery that I think I could have drawn up as far as the procedure being done, Dr. Cordover in Birmingham, Alabama. Man, he is amazing at what he does. The rehab process has been no setbacks.”

“I wouldn't do autographs - I had a stamp with my signature with, of course, perfect penmanship.”

“If one thing is very clear - in order to get my life back, there can be no Johnny Gargano in NXT.”

“WWE presents me with unlimited opportunities and possibilities. No dream seems unachievable.”

“I am the champion of champions. I'm the main event. I'm untouchable. I, Tommaso Ciampa, am the greatest sports-entertainer of all time.”

“I know that everybody understands how excited the fanbase is for 'In Your House.' It's one of those weird ones right? It just stuck with all of us. Yeah, I think everyone's gonna be happy with what's been produced.”

“I have a really good at-home support system with my wife and the baby and even the dogs in that they all just keep me occupied, they keep me busy, they keep me moving, to keep my mind from drifting.”

“As a kid, playing sports, I was never the best athlete on my teams, but I was always the guy people looked at as the workhorse.”

“There wasn't a pinpoint time that it clicked, but I know for sure the end of Ring of Honor I started to realize that I became good at this. But I felt that at Ring of Honor I was type-casted and I couldn't get out of that and I was asking a lot from them if I can switch my character and have certain opponents.”

“2020 has been a year that none of us are ever gonna forget.”

“I love good versus evil. It always works. Even when you look at superhero movies, the action is really cool and all that, but what sucks you in is good trying to overcome evil.”