Tommaso Ciampa suffered a hip injury in the fall of 2022 and was sidelined beginning in October 2022.
Ciampa returned on the June 19, 2023 episode of WWE Raw, answering The Miz' open challenge. Ciampa had been aligned with Miz prior to his injury.
Speaking to Ryan Satin on Out of Character, Ciampa was asked when he was cleared to return.
"I was given the green light maybe three weeks prior. Whenever we were in Albany. I flew out to Albany to have my last check up with the medical stuff, and then it was a waiting game of creatively having something to do. I think it was three weeks. It was kind of nice too because it gave me three extra weeks of intense dieting. I came back in better shape than I envisioned. I think it was three weeks though," he said.
WWE was in Albany for the May 29 episode of WWE Raw.
When asked how he was feeling on the day of his returning, Ciampa said, "Hardly ever do I get emotional prior to or in the moment. It's always sitting on an airplane reflecting after. The amount of times I've shed a tear on an airplane and people are like 'what the hell is wrong?' especially looking the way I do, I probably look like a lunatic. Day of, I get so focused on business as usual. I forget who I was talking to about this a week ago, it was one of the women's wrestlers, but I can't think of who. They were asking, 'Do you get nervous before you go out?' 'This is exactly the demeanor you get until you walk out the curtain.' I'm so confident in it. Being relaxed is what helps me perform. That day, it was very much go with the flow. Things changed a little bit here and there throughout the day. I really have good chemistry with [The Miz], so that made that part easy. When you're out there with somebody who has been doing it for 20 years, and they are great and their timing is great, there is nothing to worry about, you just get to go have fun. That was the best part. Cleveland treated me good that night."
Ciampa has continued his feud with Miz in recent weeks, but Miz has found a partner in Bronson Reed.
With the help of Reed, Miz defeated Ciampa in a No DQ match on the July 10 episode of WWE Raw.
Fans can find results from past episodes of WWE Raw at Fightful's results section.
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