Tommaso Ciampa

Tommaso Ciampa, born May 8, 1985, is a professional wrestler who has built a reputation as a fierce technician with a relentless edge. He debuted in 2005 after training under Killer Kowalski, worked the New England independents, and made early WWE cameos, including a brief on-screen role in 2005.

His first sustained national run came in Ring of Honor (ROH) from 2011 to 2015. There, he joined Prince Nana’s Embassy group, shifted into a singles push, and won the ROH World Television Championship in late 2013. A torn ACL in August 2012 halted his momentum for months, but he returned and remained a featured act until leaving ROH in 2015.

Ciampa arrived in NXT in 2015 and soon formed #DIY with Johnny Gargano. The pair used crisp double teams with underdog fire, captured the NXT Tag Team Championship in November 2016, and helped anchor a classic three-team rivalry with The Revival and the Authors of Pain.

#DIY’s story turned in May 2017 when Ciampa attacked Gargano after a ladder match. He wrestled much of that bout with a damaged knee, underwent surgery, and returned in 2018 as a cold, calculating villain who called himself the Blackheart. Their Unsanctioned Match at TakeOver: New Orleans in April 2018 restored Gargano’s NXT career and set the tone for a long feud that defined the brand.

Ciampa reached the top of NXT in July 2018 when he defeated Aleister Black for the NXT Championship. He held the title through marquee defenses, then relinquished it in March 2019 due to serious neck issues that required surgery. He returned later that year, led a WarGames team against The Undisputed Era, and reset as a veteran standard bearer.

In September 2021, he won the NXT Championship again, retained it at Halloween Havoc against Bron Breakker, then dropped the belt to Breakker in January 2022. Later that year, he joined the WWE main roster, briefly aligning with The Miz, but soon dealt with a hip injury that sidelined him until his return to Raw in June 2023. Upon returning, he confronted Imperium and reunited with Gargano that October, bringing #DIY back to television.

As part of the 2024 WWE Draft, #DIY went to SmackDown and won the WWE Tag Team Championship on July 5th by defeating A-Town Down Under in a dual submission finish. They lost the belts in August to Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga from The Bloodline, then reclaimed them on December 6th in a televised upset over the Motor City Machine Guns. Through 2025, they stayed active in the title scene on SmackDown, including a praised TLC match with The Street Profits and the Machine Guns in April.

Ciampa wrestles a rugged style with tight grappling, sharp strikes, and measured cruelty. His key finishers include the Fairy Tale Ending, a double underhook facebuster, Willow’s Bell, a draping DDT from the ropes, and the Sicilian Stretch, a crossface variant.

He’ll usually punctuate matches with a running knee strike in the corner and well-timed counters that shift momentum late. He leans more on intensity rather than flash, which contrasts neatly with Gargano’s burst offense when they team up.

Injury setbacks have been a large part of Ciampa’s career, as he’s missed long stretches for a torn ACL in 2012, a ruptured knee in 2017, neck surgery in 2019, and hip surgery in 2022. However, he has shown his resilience by returning each time and slotting quickly back into featured programs. Today, Ciampa competes on SmackDown as one-half of #DIY with big match reliability and a persona that makes every fight feel personal.