Tommaso Ciampa was first around in WWE back in 2005 but was just starting in the business at 20 years old. Ciampa reflected on meeting Stephanie McMahon and the Undertaker while appearing on a recent episode of Chasing Glory with Lillian Garcia.
Ciampa commented on Stephanie giving him a tour before television and being greeted by her:
“Somebody gives you this script you’re gonna read and I remember asking the writer, ‘How do you pronounce a couple of words?’ I had no clue what I was saying,” recalled Ciampa when discussing his role as a lawyer. “It went from that and all of a sudden, Stephanie McMahon came over and she took me for a tour. Like a 20-minute, ‘I’m gonna show you around and make you comfortable.’ I think they were in a weird spot and maybe Stephanie’s way of taking me around was to say like, ‘Should we trust him?’ She was the nicest person. I actually told her at the PC when I got to NXT, ‘Being in the ring with Undertaker was awesome, but my takeaway was how Stephanie treated me.’ This person, who didn’t need to treat me good, took her time and treated me like an equal. She said to me, ‘Now, you’re kind of in that position.'”
Ciampa also reflected when he went to the ring for a walkthrough with the Undertaker and he realized he was just “one of the boys”:
“At Chaotic, where I was training, we’d always call dinner ‘treats.’ Everybody would call each other ‘daddy.’ For no reason. Taker picks me, chokeslams me, and he’s going to scoop me for the Tombstone and as he’s picking me off the mat he goes, ‘Nice and easy, daddy.’ And I’m trying not to laugh to myself. That was the one story I immediately told [my training partners] when I got back. ‘Taker says ‘daddy’ too! Is this like a wrestling thing?'”
H/T to Fightful for the transcription and credit Chasing Glory.
You can follow me @PaytonVince on Twitter.
Check out our brand new store at PRO WRESTLING TEES, show us your support and buy a shirt.
You can visit our store by clicking here.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter @BodySlamNet and on Instagram @BodySlamDotNet
Also check us out on Facebook and give us a like and share by clicking HERE.
