On the June 19th episode of RAW, Tommaso Ciampa made his return to WWE after undergoing surgery on his hip.
Speaking on a recent edition of the “Out of Character” podcast, Ciampa opened up on when he was cleared to return to the ring, how he was feeling on the day of his return, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On when he was cleared to return: “I was given the green light maybe three weeks prior. Whenever we were in Albany. I flew out to Albany to have my last check up with the medical stuff, and then it was a waiting game of creatively having something to do. I think it was three weeks. It was kind of nice too because it gave me three extra weeks of intense dieting. I came back in better shape than I envisioned. I think it was three weeks though.”
On how he was feeling on the day of his return: “Hardly ever do I get emotional prior to or in the moment. It’s always sitting on an airplane reflecting after. The amount of times I’ve shed a tear on an airplane and people are like, ‘What the hell is wrong?’ Especially looking the way I do, I probably look like a lunatic. Day of, I get so focused on business as usual. I forget who I was talking to about this a week ago, it was one of the women’s wrestlers, but I can’t think of who. They were asking, ‘Do you get nervous before you go out?’ ‘This is exactly the demeanor you get until you walk out the curtain.’ I’m so confident in it. Being relaxed is what helps me perform.
“That day, it was very much go with the flow. Things changed a little bit here and there throughout the day. I really have good chemistry with [The Miz], so that made that part easy. When you’re out there with somebody who has been doing it for 20 years, and they are great and their timing is great, there is nothing to worry about, you just get to go have fun. That was the best part. Cleveland treated me good that night.”
