As a 20-year-old just starting in the business and making his WWE debut on WWE SmackDown, Tommaso Ciampa didn't know what to expect when he was backstage in 2005. But he quickly felt at home thanks to his interactions with Stephanie McMahon and The Undertaker.
Speaking to Lilian Garcia on Chasing Glory, Ciampa discussed being greeted by Stephanie McMahon backstage and given a tour before going out on television.
"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.'"
After being given the tour by Stephanie, Ciampa went to the ring for a walkthrough with Undertaker. In that moment, he realized Undertaker 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?'"
Elsewhere during the interview, Ciampa recalled watching Triple H and Vince McMahon make protein shakes backstage as he entered Vince's office to meet with the boss. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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