It seems it will be heartbreak for ‘The Blackheart’ as the current NXT Champion and recent WWE call-up Tomasso Ciampa will have to spend an extended time on the sidelines.

    Initially reported via Wrestling Observer Radio and, just now, confirmed by WWE themselves; current NXT Champion Tomasso Ciampa will require neck surgery and will go under the knife tomorrow morning, on the 7th of March- forcing him to miss NXT Takeover: New York and vacate the championship.

    The news comes at a heartbreaking time in his run in NXT as he has been the current NXT Champion for over 225 days- putting on fantastic matches most notably against Aleister Black, Velveteen Dream and, of course, Johnny Gargano. The injury ensures that the BlackHeart will be forced to, not only miss NXT Takeover: New York but, vacate his championship at the same time. The injury had been known to Ciampa for a period of time, according to reports, but he intended to get to Takeover and then take time to recover after that show; regardless of consequences.

    However, evidently, circumstances have changed and it has been deemed not suitable for Ciampa to continue competing. Due to the lack of information about the extent of the injury; we do not have a definite time of recovering but it is believed it could be either as short as six months or as long as 14. We have most recently seen Ciampa as one of the newest four call-ups to RAW and Smackdown Live- alongside his part-time nemesis, part-time best friend Johnny Gargano, Ricochet and Aleister Black as well as team with the aforementioned Gargano in the upcoming Dusty Rhodes Classic. It remains to be seen what Triple H and NXT will do to solve this conundrum but it is clear from the, already, large outpouring of emotion that Ciampa will be sorely missed.

    In many peoples minds, Tomasso is the greatest NXT Champion in its seven year history; combined with the excellent match types and incredible character work he has brought to the table. Obviously; the Gargano/Ciampa storyline has had to, unfortunately, come to a quite sudden end but it is clear that this cannot be helped and Ciampa’s health is the most important aspect of this situation.

    We here at TWM wish Tomasso Ciampa all the best in his recovery and we hope to see him back as soon as possible.