Awesome / Tommaso Ciampa

• The sheer fact that Tommasso Ciampa is so committed to his heel persona that he's asked WWE not to sell merchandise of him, even though he's missing out on income by doing so.
• NXT TakeOver: Toronto gave us what was hailed as possibly the best NXT or even WWE tag match ever up to that point, with a 2/3 falls match between #DIY and The Revival for the NXT Tag team championship. Despite the deviousness of Dash and Dawson, #DIY won the day with a simultaneous Gargano Escape and armbar on both members of the Revival to win the titles.
• Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa once again put on one of the most violent and outstanding matches of the year, this time in a Chicago Street Fight in NXT TakeOver: Chicago II. He eventually came on top.
• The NXT Championship Match with The Velveteen Dream was nothing short of a masterpiece. Ciampa, as per usual, delivered his end of the match, being the nasty heel he's always been, and at one point even bullied Mauro Ranallo! This nearly cost him the title, as Dream took advantage of a distracted Ciampa to deliver a Rolling Death Valley Driver for a two count. One mistake from Dream, a missed Purple Rainmaker onto the outside of the ring, led to Ciampa quickly delivering a draping DDT onto the metal bridge between the two rings, bringing an end to another spectacular title match.
• Proceeded to steal the Super Bowl halftime with the revived Halftime Heat match, where he joined forces with (former?) rival Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole against the trio of Aleister Black, The Velveteen Dream and Ricochet in a tag team match. Despite clocking in at barely over 16 minutes, it still delivered and then some, with many agreeing it was worth watching over the actual Halftime Show, no hyperbole.
• His return at last on the October 2, 2019 edition of NXT (incidentally, the first full episode of the USA Network era) - more specifically, the sheer gravitas his insertion back into the roster seems to have brought the show. It looked like the episode was going to end with Adam Cole on the entrance ramp, gloating with The Undisputed Era over their latest victory^note In this case, a successful NXT Tag Team Title defense against the Street Profits, but then, out of nowhere... BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. NO ONE WILL SURVIVE! Ciampa enters, stalking, circling and staring down Adam Cole- well, more like circling and staring down the NXT Championship in Cole's hand, with maybe a perfunctory glance at Cole for a few seconds like "oh, so you're the one that's been keeping it warm. Welp, party time's over. That's mine, and I want it back." All with the crowd going absolutely bonkers. Cole's nonverbal sell was also pitch perfect - body language of undiluted This Is Gonna Suck from the moment Ciampa's entrance theme hit.
  • October 9, 2019. Four Undisputed Era guys are holding the ring. Thirty seconds, a Ciampa, a crutch, and a chair later, four Undisputed Era guys are backing away from the ring. Note that none of these weapons (including the Ciampa) were actually deployed. The sight of Ciampa approaching the ring with a crutch and a chair was enough to terrify UE to the point where everyone cleared the ring.

    Ciampa: "Goldie, Daddy's home."

• A very understated on during the November 1 edition of Smackdown when NXT invaded Smackdown, after the amazing main event where NXT Champion Adam Cole beat Daniel Bryan, the whole NXT contingent came down to the ring to celebrate the victory, and the whole time Triple H is announcing their continued invasion during Survivor Series, Ciampa is still in character, staring at Goldie the whole time, even when he's part of a big group, on a show where most viewers don't know or care about his character, after the dream match of Adam Cole vs Daniel Bryan.
  • Earlier that night, Ciampa also beat The Miz in an absolute clinic of a match.
• NXT TakeOver: WarGames III gave us one of the absolute best spots in WarGames history: Ciampa nailing the Air Raid Crash on Adam Cole through two tables from the top of the cage.
• After floating around storylines, going through the Heel–Face Revolving Door, and finally establishing a Tag Team with Timothy Thatcher in the years following his banner feud with Gargano and subsequent neck injury, Ciampa showed that he hasn't lost a step as a singles competitor with his 2021 NXT Takeover: Stand And Deliver match with Walter. Even given the limitations of the program - it hadn't had a lot of build and there were few stakes beyond the NXT UK Championship that it didn't make any sense for Ciampa to win, he still pulled out maybe his best singles performance since the Gargano series, taking WALTER to the limit in a stiff but psychologically strong match that fits in with one of each man's best with the company, the bout earning 4.5 stars from Dave Meltzer. Again, impressive given the relative lack of build and the fact everyone knew WALTER wasn't about to drop the NXT UK Championship to a guy in NXT's American tag ranks.

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