Final Post — Tommaso Ciampa
For my final blog post for RTA902 I wanted to find something that was different from a traditional social media presence. After searching the web and considering my own passions, I was able to find one of the most unique and interesting people on social media.
The social media presence of a professional wrestler is difficult to analyze. While professional wrestling is essentially an athletic form of show-business, the men and women who portray their characters on television often break character online. This makes it difficult to become invested in their television characters or their real-life social media presence because wrestling is meant to be taken a tiny bit more seriously than a standard television show because the line between actor and character is much more blurred. Nowadays many wrestling personalities use social media to promote the amazing charity work they have done or to pay tribute to other positive things going on in their life, regardless of whether they portray a hero or a villain on television.
This is not the case for pro wrestler and NXT superstar, Tommaso Ciampa. Ciampa, real name Tommaso Whitney, is one of wrestling’s greatest modern day villains. While many villainous wrestlers choose to stop portraying their characters once the cameras go off, Ciampa carries his treachery onto social media.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>I've been flooded with messages, tweets, and interview requests the past week.<br><br>Understand something: Praise from a bunch of people who do not possess the grit it requires to walk one single step in my boots means absolutely nothing to me. It's equivalent to lint or a bottle cap.</p>— BLACKHEART (@ProjectCiampa) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ProjectCiampa/status/985159586163421186?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Tommaso Ciampa holds a great deal of significance when it comes to how wrestlers portray themselves both on and off camera. He is the only wrestler at a high level who uses their social media presence to repel fans rather than attract them.
Most businesses would baulk at the idea of trying to appeal to as few consumers as possible. Their goals primarily feature getting as many positive interactions as possible on social media, which makes Tommaso Ciampa so interesting as his goal is to do the opposite. Success for Ciampa is defined by getting as many negative reactions as possible through social media. This can be difficult to measure, as negative interactions with Ciampa’s tweets would rarely include likes and retweets. However, Ciampa has had interactions with professionals such as former WWE wrestlers Chris Jericho and Edge that would lead one to believe he is reaching his goals effectively.
In modern wrestling it is often more advantageous for villainous wrestlers to be portrayed as “cool heels”, a term that describes a wrestler who is a villain but is still likeable for reasons such as their attitude, moveset, or attire. This could benefit wrestlers by increasing their merchandise sales or developing a fanbase to lead to a heroic turn. Ciampa is the opposite. On his Twitter, @ProjectCiampa, Ciampa actively tries to be as genuinely despised as possible by harping on every trope that would make hardcore wrestling fans hate someone as talented as him.
Fans of the NXT wrestling show are generally consider some of the more hardcore wrestling fans around. These fans are the ones who find themselves wanting good old fashioned wrestling in a world more dominated by the goofier, more soap opera-like sports entertainment style of wrestling presented by the WWE. These are the fans that gravitated towards former WWE superstar CM Punk when he made a stand that he was a wrestler who was fed up with sports entertainment. Tommaso Ciampa has managed to push the buttons of those hardcore fans by rejecting the “wrestler” monicker and embracing the sports entertainer role that they despise so much.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>After some deep reflection, I have come to the conclusion that Tommaso Ciampa transcends the sport of professional wrestling. Truth be told, I am insulted when people define me as a “wrestler”<br><br>I am a Sports Entertainer. <br><br>I am Tommy Entertainment.<a href=”https://t.co/PaDBXVBpRH">pic.twitter.com/PaDBXVBpRH</a></p>— BLACKHEART (@ProjectCiampa) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ProjectCiampa/status/986723745388736512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Ciampa uses social media to develop his brand beyond what is seen on television. Through his attitude towards fans, other wrestlers, and life in general, he is able to promote his character to get his desired response. In a business such as wrestling, the most important thing that any wrestler needs to be able to promote is their character. Their character is what people are going to pay to see and it is what connects with a fan more than any other portion of the show they are watching. Ciampa is currently one of the only wrestlers using social media to its full potential in terms of character building.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Note to all podcasters (including atEdgeRatedR):<br><br>I have absolutely zero interest in "telling my story" or helping you draw listeners. <br><br>Strap your rocket to someone who needs it. <a href=”https://t.co/MyjB2rcJ9X">pic.twitter.com/MyjB2rcJ9X</a></p>— BLACKHEART (@ProjectCiampa) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ProjectCiampa/status/970759203467005952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Below is an example of the transformation Tommaso Ciampa’s social media personality has taken from his days as a hero:
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Amazing experience feeding turtles and penguins at Sea World today! 🐢🐧🐢🐧<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/NXTSanDiego?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NXTSanDiego</a> <a href=”https://t.co/gTpBx6Cz37">pic.twitter.com/gTpBx6Cz37</a></p>— BLACKHEART (@ProjectCiampa) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ProjectCiampa/status/860975468572401664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 6, 2017</a></blockquote>
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To his days as a villain following his attack on his former tag team partner Johnny Gargano on May 20th 2018:
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>OPEN CHALLENGE:<br><br>I will fight any grandma. Any day. Any time. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/GrandmasDontScareMe?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GrandmasDontScareMe</a> <a href=”https://t.co/yrCxdFBLkt">pic.twitter.com/yrCxdFBLkt</a></p>— BLACKHEART (@ProjectCiampa) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ProjectCiampa/status/976811275211755520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
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This goes to show that social media is more serious to Ciampa than simply a pass time or a way to be entertaining. He uses it to maximize his reach and connect to as many people as possible to try and get these same people to pay to see him get beaten by his opponents.
Ciampa uses his Twitter to market himself. As a wrestler the thing you are always trying to market to fans is yourself as a performer that they should pay to see. Even as a villain, it is important for Ciampa to market himself as there is always the need for an antagonist in any story being told. Without Darth Vader Star Wars would not exist, same goes for The Joker to Batman, Voldemort to Harry Potter, and Tommaso Ciampa to NXT and Johnny Gargano.
While Ciampa always promotes himself he also makes sure to promote the shows he will be appearing on as well.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>🖤Chicago: broke your heart <br><br>🖤Philly: crushed your spirit<br><br>🖤Atlanta: ended your career<br><br>🖤New Orleans: good f'n luck <a href=”https://t.co/1P1lSGiz3H">pic.twitter.com/1P1lSGiz3H</a></p>— BLACKHEART (@ProjectCiampa) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ProjectCiampa/status/979148028899708933?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Ciampa has to promote himself first to come across as a villain who only cares about himself. However, it is also vital that he always promotes the shows in which people can pay to see him lose. If Ciampa only promoted his character he would essentially be running on a treadmill with no real success being made. It is important that both are mixed together in order for the full effect of the audience reading his villainous tweets and being reminded of when they can see the villain of the story be beat.
In the earliest examples of pro wrestling, the goal was always to find a popular wrestler that fans want to see win and find a hated wrestler that fans want to see lose and book them in a match. This was the basis of the storytelling origins of the wrestling business and it worked for decades before the WWE took over the business and changed the way the industry ran. Running until the late 80s, wrestling territories existed across North America with hero vs. villain stories being their primary form of storytelling. From the late 80s onward the WWE has become a traveling circus of a wrestling promotion that draws crowds by being a show as opposed to providing enthralling stories with heroes and villains. As a result of this, less emphasis has been put on the behaviour of the wrestlers outside the ring. Whereas in the past it was expected that the heroes act as kind and respectful as possible and the villains act like jerks to fans during their daily life, in today’s wrestling it is not as important. This is due to the fact that if a villain is rude to a fan after a show the fan will not return to the show to see the villain get beaten until many months down the line, whereas in the 70s and 80s they would be able to return the following week.
Tommaso Ciampa is the exception to this. As this is technological age, Ciampa no longer needs to interact rudely with fans on the street or after the shows because he is able to fulfill his role on social media. This is significant to both Ciampa as a performer and the wrestling business as a whole because it goes to show that this type of promotion through social media can have a positive effect on the product that has been promoted. Ciampa was the most hated man at NXT’s largest show in their history, Takeover: New Orleans, on April 7th 2018. This was due in no small part to his great character work both on and off camera.
From strictly visual perspectives, a drastic shift occurred in the media content that was posted by Ciampa after his turn to the dark side last May. Since May 20th 2017, Ciampa has not posted a single photo or gif that features himself in a positive or joyous light. He has made sure to never display himself as happy or joyful because he is marketing himself as a villain and a villain like him can never truly be happy.
All of the reasons stated above cover why Tommaso Ciampa deserves to have his social media presence analyzed and deconstructed. Whether it be due to his unique goal of negative interactions with his tweets, his job of keeping up his character at all times on social media, or finding ways to enrage wrestling fans by pushing the exact buttons that fans hate having pushed, Tommaso Ciampa’s Twitter is a fascinating example of how you can use social media to your advantage in unique ways. Ciampa’s continued ability to innovate through social media is worth analyzing for any and all villainous pro wrestlers who wish to take their craft as seriously as possible.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”cy” dir=”ltr”>🖤JohnnyGargano🖤<br> <a href=”https://t.co/PKcdhrUDoh">pic.twitter.com/PKcdhrUDoh</a></p>— BLACKHEART (@ProjectCiampa) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ProjectCiampa/status/966493645602983936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
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