Tommaso Ciampa RULED OUT Of NXT TakeOver: New York; Set To Undergo Major Neck Surgery

God*mnit.

Tommaso Ciampa NXT Champion
WWE.com

In desperately sad - and major - news, it has emerged that NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa is set for imminent neck surgery. Per Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE has confirmed to him this heart-wrenching development, one that will see Ciampa on the sidelines for a "long, long time."

Ciampa is certain to vacate the NXT Championship and miss, at the very least, several months of action.

We'd read murmurs of injury, and reports of withdrawn dates, but the belief up to this point was that Ciampa may soldier through.

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This, not to be histrionic about things, wasn't a mere championship to vacate. We were raging towards the blow-off of an intricate, layered two-and-a-half year story - of the hardest road to recognition, the toll it took on a friendship, and the seminal, physical eruption of it. It did not end there; Johnny Gargano, warped by the depths to which Ciampa plunged him, evolved into a fascinating anti-hero of sorts.

But it ends now, shockingly, on the eve of the final chapter. It's such a cruel development, in that it has deprived of us of what, from a purely artistic standpoint, may well be the greatest narrative ever crafted under the WWE umbrella.

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Any optimistic sense of storyline synergy, or a sequel - Ciampa, of course, had already spent time on the sidelines throughout the epic story - is undermined by the idea that it will take place, if at all, on WWE's main roster.

This is a disaster, but not an emergency - the NXT think-tank has one set of tapings to build towards a main event of TakeOver calibre - but in the meantime, WhatCulture Wrestling wishes Ciampa the best in his surgery and recovery.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!