Tommaso Ciampa Discusses Injury Timeline & Worries He'd Had Last Match For WWE

Tommaso Ciampa made a triumphant return to WWE programming last month, and in a new interview with Ryan Satin on "Out of Character," Ciampa explained the extent of his injuries which kept him out for so long.

"Somewhere around the start of [NXT] 2.0, what happened is I would take any forward bump, powerslam, suplex, anything where I flipped and landed," he explained, "and I'd get this thing where like I would bump and my left side ... would just kinda go numb and weak." 

Ciampa said it would then go away temporarily, thanks to the light schedule that "NXT" afforded him. Unfortunately, once he started touring with the main roster, things deteriorated quickly, and he noticed the pain was getting worse. Ciampa said that when he was last in the ring in September, he took a suplex from the second rope. He then proceeded to gut out the rest of the match but hasn't wrestled since due to the myriad of health issues that came up on his MRI. 

Ciampa explained that both his surgery and rehab were unpleasant, and on top of that, he was depressed about his last match possibly taking place at a random WWE Live Event. Luckily for him and his fans, the stem cell treatments he underwent have helped him get back into the ring. Also, it was being home with his wife and child that was the only part of his hiatus keeping him sane

"I was excited for that opportunity to do it [on the main roster]," Ciampa said, "so I think this reset has given me a new perspective of just 'it really can be taken away from you at any time.' And I just want to make sure I do whatever I possibly can to give people the best version of myself going forward, because I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface." According to Ciampa, his mind has never been sharper, and he's bursting with ideas for his return.