Tommaso Ciampa: Second WWE NXT Title Win Shows My Hard Work Has Paid Off

Tommaso Ciampa admits his most recent NXT Championship win is down to 'circumstance' but believes getting the Title for a second time is a sign his hard work since returning from injury has paid off.

Ciampa won the NXT Title, which had been vacated by Samoa Joe, in a Fatal 4 Way Match on last week's NXT, regaining the gold that he himself had to relinquish due to a broken neck in early 2019.

The 36-year-old returned in October 2019 and resumed his place as a cornerstone of the brand, feuding with the likes of Adam Cole, WALTER, Karrion Kross and Timothy Thatcher before forming a tag team with the latter.

Speaking to PWInsider, when asked how surprised and honoured he was to get the chance to lead NXT again, Ciampa said: "Circumstance too, right? I mean, I know what it's like to relinquish the title for injury with the neck and hope Samoa Joe gets back on his feet as quick as possible. I know what it's going to do to him. I know that he's going to come back all graded and hungry. I can't wait for that matchup. That's going to be very special in a lot of ways. 

"But for me, right place, right time, you know? There's been a lot of times in my career has not been right place, right time so this is an exciting new for me. To be able to hold that NXT title and this new branding of NXT 2.0, it's extremely, extremely special, man. I take the responsibility very seriously.

"If anything, it goes to show that just keep working hard and just do it day-in and day-out and it pays off, because that's kind of been something that I've kind of kept saying to myself over the last few years since returning is just, you just worry about you, you put the work in, you can't control what you can't control. I just kept my head down and just kept plowing ahead and just working my butt off, trying to get in the best shape of my life, trying to stay healthy.

"To be at the place I'm at now and to see how much it's all paid off, yeah, man, that's special. It's a really, really cool feeling."