Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa worked together as DIY for two years on NXT before Ciampa revealed his villainous side and turned on Gargano at NXT TakeOver: Chicago. They would go on to have classic matches with each other, ultimately ending their feud in an Empty Arena match on the April 8th episode of NXT.
During the “What’s NeXT” stage show at Starrcast V, Gargano reflected on his feud with Ciampa and mentioned how things fell into place throughout it to make the whole thing work.
“The story of me and Tommaso was really honestly just things working out for us. As everyone knows, Tommaso tore his ACL in that match, which required him to go get surgery. If he doesn’t tear his ACL, we have that match much sooner. We have that match probably a month or two later at another TakeOver, like probably two months later at a TakeOver. So the fact that Tommaso tore his ACL really gave us an opportunity to really let that story breathe. I think in the current climate of wrestling, fans and us as a culture, we want it now. Like I’m watching a YouTube video, I don’t even want to watch a 10-second ad. I [hit] skip ad, skip ad because I don’t wanna wait for thing. But the injury really made all of us wait for Tommaso to come back to have the match that everyone was waiting for,”
Gargano was then asked about the injury putting everything on hold, to which he responded,
“Oh no, at that time, I was kinda just living in it, and I didn’t really realize what it would become. Obviously we all hoped it would become a huge deal. We didn’t realize it would become even more. I think we all got incredibly lucky. My story of NXT is a lot of injuries happening, and us making the best of how things work out. I think that’s how anything works, you know, happenstance, how the universe works. Things work out best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out, and we did that a lot in NXT.”
Gargano would leave NXT last December, while Ciampa remained on the brand until his call-up to the main roster.
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H/t – Fightful
