It’s been a pretty bad couple of years for Tommaso Ciampa in terms of injuries, having torn his MCL at the end of 2017 and now facing up to a year out with a neck injury.
The current NXT Champion is scheduled for an anterior cervical fusion procedure tomorrow (March 7), and will presumably be forced to vacate his title.
As reported by cagesideseats, this surgery involves making an incision in the neck, removing a damaged or degenerative disc(s), decompressing affected nerves and spinal tissue, then replacing the disc with a “spacer” – often made of bone from patient’s own hip.
It is not a new procedure within WWE, with Kurt Angle, Edge and Nikki Bella undergoing similar surgery in the past.
While recovery can take between three and six months, for a professional athlete looking to return to something as strenuous as wrestling, we’re looking at more like nine months to a year.
There is an episode of NXT tonight, but it isn’t known whether the future of the brand’s main title will be announced tonight or on next week’s taping.
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