Former NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa now has his sights set on the black-and-gold brand’s Tag Team Championship.
Ahead of NXT Great American Bash, Ciampa previewed his title match with MSK in an interview with Rick Ucchino of Sportskeeda Wrestling. “The Blackheart” shared his excitement for facing two fresh opponents in Nash Carter and Wes Lee and described why he loves new match-ups like this one.
“I love new opponents,” said Ciampa. “That’s something I’ve loved my entire career. I love getting in there with people, especially when it’s the first time you’ve got in the ring with someone and it’s on a big stage and it’s in front of a TV crowd. There’s something cool about that. It’s super organic, it’s real. It adds an element to the match, and that’s what this is.
“We’ve never shared a ring with these two guys, with the exception of a little face off last Tuesday. So this would be exciting in aspect. It’s also the awesome clash of styles, which I love.”
Ciampa also explained that he enjoys facing new opponents because it provides the unpredicability and the need to adapt that the COVID-19 has somewhat taken away from wrestling. He then described how, alongside Thatcher, he’s in the zone, and that’s bad news for MSK. With some elevated confidence, he expressed his belief that he’s the best wrestler in the world.
“I’m really good at adapting and improving,” said Ciampa. “And I can have a game plan but also have a plan B, C, D, E, F, and I don’t know that many other wrestlers have that. So for me that’s exciting. Sometimes you’re in a zone in wrestling where you kind of just, confidence is high. Right now, Timmy and I, that’s where we’re at.
“I don’t think anyone’s better than me. I genuinely don’t think anyone in the world is better than me. I don’t think they’re better than me on the mic, I don’t think they’re better than me in the ring. I think I’m the best alive. So for MSK, it’s just kind of like ah damn, if you’re in there with the best alive, you’re kinda screwed and that’s pretty much how I feel, no offense.”
As for his team with Thather, Ciampa admitted that, at first, he had his doubts about the pairing. But the former champion quickly realized that he has some natural chemistry with Thatcher.
“With Timmy, we’re very similar,” said Ciampa. “And I didn’t know if that was gonna work or not. And then we had that first match with Undisputed Era, with Roderick Strong and Adam Cole, and the bell rang. And I just remember looking back at him afterwards and being like, ‘Hey we got something.’
“We came back through the curtain, and I think Shawn Michaels was the first person I saw, and that was actually my quote to him. I was like, I guess we have chemistry.’ It’s been so easy and I think one of the reasons is, there’s no rookie in this team. There’s no young guy trying to learn or keep up. It’s like you took two stars who are very confident in who they are and you just said, ‘Okay, now go do your thing.”
