Wrestling legend was originally scheduled to appear at Halloween Havoc 2021

In an interview with TalkSport.com, WWE NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa commented on how there were plans for Bron Breakker’s father Rick Steiner to appear at the Halloween Havoc 2021 event…

“So, he was meant to be at Halloween Havoc. He pulled out last minute. Maybe because I retained, but I won’t say that’s why [laughs]. I would love to be friends with him. I said to Bron ‘I don’t want to meet your dad, I want him to be my buddy.’ I want us to exchange numbers and whatever Rick Steiner does. He’s probably not a big phone guy, I don’t know [laughs]. But I just wanna be friends with him.”

Ciampa also reflected on his cinematic match against Johnny Gargano shortly after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic…

“The cinematic match specifically, it’s a weird one. The day we filmed, there was only three takes. It wasn’t a heavily edited act. There was two ‘stunts’ in it and the rest we just wrestled and they let us do it. The thing that hurt it was, it was the first cinematic match we had filmed. It was filmed before the Boneyard match at WrestleMania, but it came out after it and I think that’s what hurt that match. Because once you see the Boneyard match it’s held to a different standard. So that was a bummer, because everyone involved with the recording of our match and our peers were so happy with what we did, but then you see it get a mixed reception from the fans. It’s a tough spot.”

Tommaso Ciampa opens up on ‘bummer’ cinematic match with Johnny Gargano

Tommaso Ciampa reunited with ‘goldie’ to start his second reign as NXT champion at the birth of NXT 2.0. For the past couple of months he’s been working with the rookie Bron Breakker, the son of the legendary Rick Steiner, while guiding the brand into their new era.