Ciampa Addresses WWE Dropping 'Tommaso' From His Ring Name
Back in April, former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon issued an edict to have newly signed talents' names either cut or changed, limiting their real-life names or names they've used on the independents before coming to WWE. Some examples include Theory dropping "Austin" as his first name, Riddle losing his first name "Matt" and talent like Gunther losing the "WALTER" name he iconically used on the independent scene.
Another name that was affected by that edict was "Tommaso" Ciampa. The former 2x NXT Champion has worked for WWE since 2015 under both names. He also had worked under the same name on the indies since 2007.
With McMahon exiting WWE after announcing his retirement, Triple H has taken over the role as Head of Creative. Triple H is the same person who ran "NXT" when Ciampa was the face of the brand. During an interview before WWE's SummerSlam event, Wrestling Inc. Senior News Editor Nick Hausman asked Ciampa whether or not he'd like to bring back "Tommaso" as his on-screen first name.
"I'm good with Ciampa," the former NXT Champion said. "Tommaso is my birth name, Ciampa is actually my godmother's name so when I picked that for wrestling there was a lot of meaning behind that for me. The first time it was on the 'NXT' title I got uber emotional and then it was on packaging and figures and stuff.
"The fact that that gets to live on, not to get emotional on you, but my godmother during this time has gone through some hard times healthwise so the fact that I kept that – I was like, oh no, if we're picking one, please, let's keep Ciampa."
The 37-year-old is currently part of the "Raw" roster, where he's been paired with The Miz. Ciampa cornered Miz during his match against Logan Paul this past Saturday at SummerSlam in Nashville, Tennessee. During the match, AJ Styles made an appearance, attacking Ciampa which led to a victory for Paul after a Skull-Crushing Finale on Miz.
If you use quotes from this article, please credit give an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.