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In May of 2017 they told me that no one has ever had 3 major surgeries in a 12 week span and returned at a competitive level. I returned to the most successful run of my career.
I feel like, 20 years from now, if I can look back at a 15-year NXT career, it just means more to me. It means a lot to me to have that be something that, yeah, that was my stamp.
Thomas Penmanship is my Dude Love. When I become very successful in WWE as Tommaso Ciampa, one day I'm going to pull out Tommy Penmanship and suddenly develop a split personality.
I am the best sports entertainer in the world. I always hear, 'Sports entertainer? You're a sell-out!' Call me a sell-out if you want. I'm buying in. This is my brand. NXT is mine.
I have a really good at-home support system with my wife and the baby and even the dogs in that they all just keep me occupied, they keep me busy, they keep me moving, to keep my mind from drifting.
The wrestling that I grew up on was this; it was NXT. Definitely not the athleticism factor or the in-ring factor - that's evolved tremendously. But the storytelling part of it, that's what grew up on.
When I was in Ring of Honor, Adam Cole was the champion. When I won the title in NXT, in the back of my head, I told myself, 'I have to do for this title what Adam Cole did for the Ring of Honor title.'
For me, my layer came so organically, 'oh, he went and got neck surgery,' and you see a bit of real life with the baby, my wife and home life. It opened up this whole new insight into me for the viewer.
Going from the top 'heel' in the industry, taking some time away to heal my neck and allow the people to miss me and understand what it was they had with me and just how special I am, allowed me to come back.
The reaction from the fans has, quite possibly, been the most rewarding part of the journey thus far. I feel as though the fans have grown with me over the past 12 years through both triumph and disappointment.
I know that everybody understands how excited the fanbase is for 'In Your House.' It's one of those weird ones right? It just stuck with all of us. Yeah, I think everyone's gonna be happy with what's been produced.
I did a thing for Progress for a tournament and I started using 'Psycho Killer' by Talking Heads as my entrance music. That became my thing and Psycho Killer was my pseudo personality and in one year it just took off.
I still get nervous before going out, especially with a company like WWE and NXT, but it's different. I know how to wrestle, but it's the nerves of performing and wanting your last match to be as good as the one before.
Yeah, I don't know how many people are aware of it, but Scarlett and I have a bit of a past as far as wrestling goes. We were both in Ring of Honor at the same time, and our paths crossed when she was managing Matt Taven.
It's been the best-case scenario neck surgery that I think I could have drawn up as far as the procedure being done, Dr. Cordover in Birmingham, Alabama. Man, he is amazing at what he does. The rehab process has been no setbacks.
I grew up on these long, drawn-out stories with four pay-per-views a year where things paid off. Everything was done for a reason. Then all of a sudden, I find myself in NXT and I get to play that out. I'm playing out my childhood.
I just look at like, if I'm doing 200 plus dates a year on the road with Raw or SmackDown, or I'm doing a manageable load of 30 to 50 matches with NXT - I can do four years of that in the time that I do one year on Raw or SmackDown.
Johnny Gargano, to me, he's the best professional wrestler in the world today. No doubt about it. Inside the ring, bell-to-bell, there's just nobody better. So having him as a teammate for years as part of DIY helped me tremendously.
I was about to walk into TakeOver: New York, WrestleMania weekend, and that was my WrestleMania moment. It wasn't just about winning a title. It was about being the face of this brand, walking out from that curtain - that meant the world to me.
Shoot, me, if I was going to go to war and you told me I could have Keith Lee, I'll sign up on that one. And you told me I could have the freaking UFC madman Matt Riddle - he's like the new Goldberg - I'll sign up on that one too. I love the guys.
It was really implemented in me from day one that everything I do out there cannot be misconstrued as fake. That's not to say I won't do things for a chuckle, but my own personal style is to be intense and snug. I want it as real as humanely possible.
I was in town working for Ring of Honor; my wife was in town. At that point in my life, I thought, 'When else am I ever going to come to WrestleMania?' I sat way up high in the stands, but seeing a couple of friends on that big stage, you start to think maybe this is possible.
When 'In Your House' became a thing when I was a kid, it was just the coolest ever and people are winning houses... So when NXT is bringing out the old-school graphics, the only thing I'm wondering is if somehow we could have that old 'In Your House' set. That's all just the fan in me.
My Instagram took on a life of its own and became very different from my Twitter. I never used Instagram to post. I'm into fitness, I used it to follow a few people in the fitness world to see exercise ideas and or nutrition ideas. All of a sudden I felt like I was a part of that community.
I was training at Killer Kowalski's old place, and at that time it was the Chaotic Training Center but now it is the New England Training Academy, but we were kind of the feeding ground. Anytime WWE was in the northeast area that is who they would call. They would call them for extra talent.
I always tell people, when I was a kid, there was four pay-per-views a year, and everything had three-month builds, and it was just the best thing ever. That's my wrestling. It was like, if there was a way for it to go back to that, oh my God, I would be so happy. And that's what NXT has provided.
I told them that I would sign for five years, I would sign for 10 years, I will make my career here in Ring of Honor if you guys show me that you are looking to invest in me the way that I will invest in you. And the conversation, which I thought was going well, just randomly took a real hard turn.
I'm in Ring of Honor about four years. I was cast as The Sicilian Psychopath there and right from the start one thing that felt weird where I got signed after a tryout because Jim Cornette saw me and 'Delirious' Hunter Johnston and they really liked my promo. The match was fine, but they really liked my promo.
There wasn't a pinpoint time that it clicked, but I know for sure the end of Ring of Honor I started to realize that I became good at this. But I felt that at Ring of Honor I was type-casted and I couldn't get out of that and I was asking a lot from them if I can switch my character and have certain opponents.
So for a guy like Karrion Kross to set his sights right at the top of the card and want to get right into a big program and make a name for himself and make an impact, I fully get it, it makes sense that the two of us got paired together because I think that, for the fans, it's one of those match-ups that they just wanted to see.
There's that part of you as a performer that when you're told you're gonna be a fan favorite, you think 'Oh man, I better smile more and be kinder, let the people in more' I kinda had to fight all those instincts and just be like 'No, no no, you're gonna walk at the same pace, do everything with the same cadence, do everything the same.'