6 Ups And 3 Downs From NXT TakeOver: Chicago

3. The Perfect Villain

NXT TakeOver Chicago 2 Tommaso Ciampa
WWE

While a good part of what makes a great heel is the babyface he’s up against, to be an outstanding villain, you really have to play the part.

And Tommaso Ciampa really, really is good at being a soulless, vile heel.

Yes, a large part of that is that Johnny Gargano is an outstanding underdog hero. But Ciampa is tremendous in this role, and that helped make Saturday’s already-heated match overflow with hatred.

And that made the fact that Ciampa emerged victorious, standing on the entrance and waving goodbye to Gargano even better.

At some point, the feud between former DIY members will have to end, and it will be interesting to see what they do with Ciampa. Gargano clearly has the mega-babyface thing going, but can Tommaso remain just as hated when facing someone else? Let’s hope so.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.