Tommaso Ciampa talks about his relationship with Harley Race and winning on Monday, August 8 despite not coming away with the WWE United States Championship.
Before his first WWE United States Championship match against Bobby Lashley on Monday, August 8’s episode of Monday Night Raw, Tommaso Ciampa revealed that he was dedicating the match to Harley Race, the first United States Champion and someone Ciampa was lucky enough to be very close to.
During an appearance on the August 10 edition of WWE's The Bump, Ciampa detailed his relationship with Harley Race and spoke about how much the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion appreciated passion.
“That’s a bucket list thing that’s not even on the bucket list because you don’t think it’s possible. So I went to Harley’s in 2008, and I was 22, shortly after I was released from developmental at the time," recalled Ciampa. "I was lost, I was depressed. It was a tough time, and moving across the country to Missouri wasn’t an easy choice, it’s something I just felt I had to do. I had to find out essentially if I was chasing the dream and if I was still in love with it, or if I wasn’t, if it was just like some sort of pipe dream, you know. Day one with Harley, man, he just commands respect. He’s a man’s man. I have so many stories, half of which I definitely could not tell for a televised audience, but I’ll tell you this. He’s the first and only promoter that I can remember on the independent scene who would give you extra for your performance. I remember a night he had me wrestle three matches, and he was so proud of my work that he just bumped my pay. You don’t expect that, you know, that’s just the kind of guy he was. He appreciated passion.
"I would go to school every day early, and I would just ask him, every time, ‘Hey boss, tape study today?’ What Harley would do, once he started to dig me and believe in me is he would start to give me, all these different wrestlers would send him their footage for their tryouts and wanted to train with him," Ciampa continued. "He would have me watch it if there was one that I thought was good, ‘Hey boss, you might wanna check this guy out.’ some days Harley wouldn’t want to watch it, “He had us over for Thanksgiving dinner. I put that in a post. It’s one of my favorite memories. So many of us could not afford to fly home. We’re just independent wrestlers, just getting by, and Harley and his wife at the time, BJ, welcomed us to their home, cooked a feast. I just have so many memories of him."
Ciampa concluded by saying that he didn't think he would get that emotional ahead of his first WWE United States Championship opportunity but as he stated after the match, sometimes when you lose, you win.
"I didn’t think I’d get that emotional, but the day I got the robe, 'Oh, this is happening.' The two-week story that’s been told for the United States Title, from the package to the tournament to the matches, I’m so proud that I was part of that. I posted the photo of myself and Harley side-by-side and I just said, sometimes when you lose, you actually win. I won."
"He appreciated passion." @NXTCiampa shares an emotional story about WWE Hall of Famer Harley Race and what his relationship with the late legend means to him. #WWETheBump pic.twitter.com/gHrPXrWrjs
— WWE (@WWE) August 10, 2022
Recently, Ciampa has been getting more opportunities on the main roster during the brief time that Triple H has had control of the main roster’s creative direction. Learn what Tommaso Ciampa thinks about the creative direction of Triple H, and how he felt he was doing under Vince McMahon, at this link.
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