KEY POINTS

  • Ciampa differentiates Vince McMahon and Triple H as creative leads
  • Other NXT stars have since debuted on the main roster
  • Ciampa earned a shot at the United States Championship after defeating AJ Styles

Triple H has barely spent a month as the new creative lead of WWE and his fingerprints have been seen across the product.

From a widely successful SummerSlam pay-per-view to having a solid Raw and SmackDown last week, it is apparent that he knows how to utilize them to perfection.

One of the superstars that is getting a push towards the spotlight is former two-time NXT Champion Ciampa.

During his time in WWE's developmental brand, Ciampa was one of the workhorses that helped bring the show to the mainstream and regularly competed with the main roster for the headlines.

Ciampa was called up to the main roster this past April after spending four years in NXT but did not have much direction until being paired up with The Miz.

Tommaso Ciampa, NXT
Tommaso Ciampa holds the NXT Championship aloft. WWE

On the August 1 episode of Raw, Ciampa earned the right to challenge mega-babyface Bobby Lashley for the United States Championship–a sign of confidence from the new powers atop WWE management.

He recently revealed on the "Smash the Mat" podcast that he and former WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon had an amicable working relationship.

"I absolutely adored working under Vince... 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," he mentioned.

But there is always going to be a difference when it came to him working under Triple H's guidance.

"With Hunter [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 Hunter is second to none, right now, modern era, 2022 pro wrestling at storytelling."

Ciampa is among a few of Triple H's most reliable workers in NXT to have made the main roster in recent weeks and it is clear that he wants to inject new energy across both Raw and SmackDown.

Iyo Sky (formerly Io Shirai) and Dakota Kai made their debuts at SummerSlam, while Karrion Kross--a former NXT Champion as well--and Scarlett Bordeaux made their grand return on SmackDown after being released from the company in late 2021.

While the internet wrestling community jokingly put forward that Triple H is favoring his pupils, it can be argued that their call-ups are necessary for building WWE's future.

Fans have grown tired of the repeated matchups between some main roster stars on both the men's and women's divisions, and this is his way of mixing things up to keep things as fresh as possible.

With Triple H's NXT stars leading the charge on the main roster, it may only be a matter of time before one of them holds a major title and it could very well be Ciampa himself.