Tommaso Ciampa was held off of WWE TV this week and it was due to him dealing with an apparent injury, one that could end up requiring surgery. The severity of Ciampa’s injury was unknown at the time of publication of this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, with PWInsider.com later reporting a neck injury.
A source speaking with Wrestlezone has said the situation is serious, and Ciampa has spinal stenosis. It was said this came as a genuine shock, and Ciampa might be forced to have surgery on his neck.
Ciampa was reportedly written into plans for RAW this week, but the show needed to be re-written once it was learned that he was not cleared. Original plans slated him to appear in a fatal 4-way match, where he and Johnny Gargano would team against Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins, Aleister Black and Ricochet, and an unconfirmed fourth team. PWInsider noted once Ciampa was deemed not cleared to wrestle, The Revival—who were scheduled to be at ringside for the four-way match—was written in to face Black and Ricochet in a traditional tag team match.
Ciampa, the current NXT Champion, was reportedly trying to work through the injury, possibly taking care of things after he faced Johnny Gargano at NXT Takeover in April.
Ciampa was only seen in pre-taped content on TV this week, and was not listed on any of this weekend’s NXT live dates.
