Tommaso Ciampa Reflects On Return From Injury On WWE Raw, Getting His NXT Music Back

Tommaso Ciampa returned from injury on the June 19 episode of "WWE Raw," defeating The Miz in an open challenge match. The former "NXT" Champion had been ruled out of action since October 2022. Ciampa recently reflected on his comeback — and the return of his "No One Will Survive" theme music — during an interview on the "Out of Character with Ryan Satin" podcast. 

"Being relaxed is what helps me perform and stuff," Ciampa said. "So that day, it was very much just like, 'Go with the flow.' Things changed a little bit here and there throughout the day. I really had good chemistry with Mike [The Miz]. That made that part easy. When you're out there with someone who's been doing it for 20 years and they're great and their timing is great and stuff, there's nothing to worry about. You just get to go have fun. 

"That was the best part for me because when I walked out of the curtain, especially that first moment, Cleveland treated me really good that night. And I didn't have a clue that my music was going to be 'No One Will Survive' until literally seconds before walking out of the curtain."

"I was just doing my warm-up, my stretches, and I said to somebody, 'Hey, what's my music gonna be?' And they were like, 'I don't know. I guess we should have thought about that.' No rehearsal or anything," Ciampa said. "And they were like, 'What do you want it to be?' And I said, 'Well, the new one is very good. I like it a lot.' I said, 'It is also very slow and fantastic when I'm like a methodical heel.' 

"I said, 'But I do have this old 'NXT' music that is probably better for this specific scenario, where I'm just gonna come be a surprise.' And then that was it. That was the whole conversation. That was probably three minutes before I went out. And then seconds before I went out, it wasn't even to me, somebody did thumbs up looking past me, and went, 'No One Will Survive.' And I was just like, 'Wait. What?' I was amped when I heard it, and then the crowd reaction was so darn good."

Ciampa's most recent televised match took place on the July 10 episode of "Raw," where he tasted defeat against Miz in a No Disqualification match. The 38-year-old has not returned to performing on WWE's house shows as of this writing, with his latest non-televised bout coming on September 17, 2022. 

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Out of Character with Ryan Satin" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.