The first episode of Monday Night Raw booked completely by Paul Levesque turned out to be massive for former NXT Champion (Tommaso) Ciampa. Not only did he win a triple threat match against Dolph Ziggler and Chad Gable midway through the show (his first win on Raw since early May), he turned around and beat AJ Styles to earn a shot at Bobby Lashley’s United States Championship next week. As fans celebrated Ciampa’s newfound success on social media, he cut a backstage promo on Raw Talk and reacted to becoming No. 1 contender.
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“Earned,” Ciampa said when asked how he was feeling. “(I beat) Dolph Ziggler, Chad Gable and AJ Styles. I win. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again — all I need is an opportunity. And my opportunity comes next week.”
He then responded to Lashley’s claim that he could still beat him with or without his new mentor in The Miz — “Anywhere, anytime, anyone. That’s what Bobby said. I heard what Bobby said. The problem is, Bobby Lashley, I am not anyone. I am the greatest sports entertainer of all time. I am The Blackheart. And the fact of the matter is nobody makes a title more prestigious than the man you are looking at before you. Bobby Lashley, enjoy your last week. Because as of next Monday you are looking at your new United States Champion.”
As soon as Levesque was announced as WWE’s new Head of Creative, fans immediately started speculating about which wrestlers from his days booking the NXT brand would benefit. Given Ciampa’s status as a two-time NXT Champion and one-half of arguably its greatest storyline, his name came up quite often. He addressed that speculation while speaking with ComicBook last week.
“Yeah (I’m excited to work with him) and I was excited for what we were doing too,” Ciampa said. “I never worked with Vince, and the little I got to work with him I was like ‘ah, this guy is a genius. This is interesting, I want to pick his brain.’ I worked with Hunter (and I said), ‘This guy is a genius, I want to pick his brain.’ It’s exciting to be on the inside of what, 20 years from now, we are likely going to look back on and go, ‘Whoa, stuff started to shift there.’ It’s just natural. To me, that’s cool. I don’t know what to expect, all I can do is what I’ve been doing. I can control what I can control. I’ll look good, I’ll be in shape, I can cut a promo if you want me to cut a promo. Aside from that, whatever you want I’ll do it to the best of my ability.”
