Ciampa Discusses His Relationships With Vince McMahon And Triple H

Ciampa has worked under both WWE Hall of Famer Triple H while in NXT, and former CEO and Chairman of the Board Vince McMahon, since coming up to "Monday Night Raw." However, now that Vince is no longer with WWE following allegations against the former WWE Champion, Triple H is looking over creative where Ciampa is once again.

"I absolutely adored working under Vince," Ciampa said on "Smash the Mat Podcast." "It's something that any, any wrestler coming up the way I came up would be lying to you if they said they didn't want to walk into gorilla and get that big Vince hug — and we had some good conversations. I think that my trajectory with him was going to be really good. I had a lot of faith in it.

"But, of course, with [Triple H], I have a built-in relationship, a lot of equity with him over the years. The cool thing for me with NXT is the storytelling. I think [Triple H] is second to none, right now, modern era, 2022 pro wrestling at storytelling, and we saw that Monday with the US Title package and that intertwining. You also saw it with the girls with Iyo [Sky] and Dakota [Kai] and Bayley and how it just intertwined through the show, and it built steam and momentum."

Ciampa worked under Triple H's umbrella from when he first stepped foot in "NXT" in 2015 until the end of the "Black and Gold" era of the brand back in the middle of 2021 when Triple H stepped away from "NXT" following a heart issue that required surgery.

Following Triple H's leaving of "NXT," his former D-Generation X stablemate and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels took over creative for the show as it was rebranded to "NXT 2.0," with a heavier emphasis on younger athletes and character development.

The Blackheart wrestled his last match for the "NXT" brand on WrestleMania 38 weekend, losing to Tony D'Angelo at Stand & Deliver just hours before night one of WrestleMania 38. During his time in "NXT," Ciampa became NXT Champion twice for a combined total of 350 days. Ciampa also won the NXT Tag Team Championships alongside Johnny Gargano as DIY at Takeover: Toronto in 2016 by defeating The Revival, now known as FTR in AEW.

Following his loss to D'Angelo, Ciampa made his way to the "Monday Night Raw" roster under Vince, and over the first few months, he has been aligned with two-time Grand Slam Champion The Miz. This past Monday, Ciampa won a triple threat against Dolph Ziggler and Chad Gable, and then a singles match against AJ Styles to become the number one contender for the United States Championship. Ciampa will take on Bobby Lashley on "Raw" this Monday to attempt to walk out as the new United States Champion.

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