NXT Call-up Having Surgery + AJ Styles WrestleMania Plans?

-It was not all that long ago that NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa was among the suddenly called up group of NXT Superstars. He, along with Johnny Gargano, Aleister Black and Ricochet, have wowed the WWE Universe since arriving on the main roster.

Unfortunately, it appears that Ciampa will not be wowing anyone else for a while. Per multiple outlets, the NXT Champion suffered a neck injury which will require surgery. This surgery is slated to take place very soon. Unfortunately for Tommaso Ciampa, it is believed that the nature of the injury, coupled with the surgery and recovery time, will have him on the sideline for a very extended period of time.

For Ciampa, it obviously could not come at a worse time. He’s been NXT Champion since last Summer and is now finally on the main roster. With the prognosis indicating a long time on the shelf, it is not hard to imagine that we might not see Ciampa wrestle again until 2020.

With the injury, this will also change the NXT Championship plans for TakeOver. In addition, Gargano and Ciampa were participants in the Dusty Classic, though most of those matches have already been taped.

–Last night on SmackDown Live, we may have finally seen a glimpse of who AJ Styles will work with at WrestleMania.

The Phenomenal One is currently not in an active program, but with WrestleMania rapidly approaching, that appears set to change and quickly.

During a backstage segment, AJ Styles was interviewed and discussed what happened last week to Kofi Kingston. Styles came out in support of Kingston, saying he deserved the shot.

Randy Orton walks into the shot and asked Styles if he was really advocating for someone else to have a World Championship opportunity, and quipped “No wonder why it took you 15 years to get here”.

While nothing has been announced yet, it does appear likely that this exchange was done to lay the foundation for a Styles/Orton WrestleMania clash.