"We have scorched the snake, not killed it." - How professional wrestling can channel Shakespeare

Macbeth stands before a banquet table. He has won. His enemies have been defeated and he is the King of Scotland. He raises his eyes and begins to speak, but all he sees is the ghost of his dead friend, murdered on his own command.

Tommaso Ciampa stands in the middle of a wrestling ring. He has won. His former best friend, turned hated rival, is gone forever. He raises his eyes and begins to speak, but all he sees is a sea of ghostly faces, each one a reminder of the friend he betrayed.

 

Shakespeare’s Macbeth is genuinely unsettling in its depiction of a man being torn apart by his own ambition. The banquet scene is, in many ways, the most disturbing moment of all. It's at this point that the full extent of Macbeth's consuming paranoia becomes apparent. 
By this point in the play, Macbeth is not only a successful general, but also, thanks to the cold-blooded regicide that his wife encouraged him to commit, the King of Scotland. By all rights this ought to be a night of celebration for him. And yet he is incapable of enjoying the fruits of his victory. His sanity is beginning to unravel. 

Enter Tommaso Ciampa. He’s only 32, but his wild beard shows large streaks of grey, making him seem older. His eyes are like flint, and full of bitterness. As he strides into the middle of the ring, he’s met with a deafening chorus of boos. The crowd, often divided in their opinion, are unanimous in their hatred. He lifts the microphone to his lips. The crowd's boos reach a fever pitch, preemptively drowning out anything he was going to say. He lowers the mic again without saying a word. It wasn't so long ago that the story was entirely different.

Reaching the Top
 
It's mid-2016. Ciampa is riding a wave of momentum alongside his tag team partner and best friend, Johnny Gargano, nicknamed 'Johnny Wrestling' for his seemingly limitless talent. Their genuine friendship and can-do spirit had captured the hearts of the fans. The sky was the limit for the duo. Their friendship looked in jeopardy when they were forced to fight each other in an epic clash in the first round of WWE's Cruiserweight Classic tournament, but far from driving a wedge between them, the fiercely competitive bout seemingly gave them new respect for each other. 

However, as with all great tragedies, if you look closely, the portents are there from the beginning, foreshadowing future disaster. At the start of the bout, Ciampa hesitates for a few seconds before shaking Johnny's hand. Then, at its emotional climax, he rolls down his kneepad to strike Gargano in the head with his exposed knee, a move which would surely have won him the match, but at the danger of causing serious and permanent damage to his friend. In the end, though, Ciampa can't do it. He bottles out and rolls his kneepad back up, which allows Gargano to recover and seize the win with a surprise pin. After the match, a victorious Johnny offers his hand to Ciampa in friendship, but Ciampa turns away and makes to leave the ring. Only after the crowd boos him does Ciampa stop, turn back, and sit down with his partner, before finally pulling him into an embrace. 

At the time, it seemed like touching show of comradeship and brotherly love, but in hindsight, the cracks were already beginning to show. The way in which the tragedy unfolds is almost Aristotelian in nature, following the rules set out in Poetics. It's at this point that we first see a flash of Ciampa's hamartia: the character flaw which will ultimately bring about the tragic events. The glimpse we get in this match of his crushing inferiority complex and jealousy is brief, but it is enough to see the foundation of the emotions which will drive him to betray his best friend. His reluctance to shake the hand of his friend both before and after the match suggests that, deep-down, he believes that Johnny is the better wrestler, but refuses to admit it, even to himself. The fact that his defeat was caused by his compassion for his friend must make things worse. Deep down, Ciampa sees himself as weak and inferior to his tag team partner, but he is unable to admit this to himself.

They soon formed an official tag team in NXT [1], calling themselves #DIY, which perfectly encapsulated their perpetual underdog status and willingness to take on any opponent. Soon, they had their sights set on the NXT tag-team championship.

Getting to the top of the mountain was a struggle. They received their first real opportunity in August 2016, at Takeover Brooklyn II, with a match for the tag titles. Their opponents were The Revival: a pair of southern brawlers who looked like villains from The Walking Dead, and use a combination of brute force and devious guile to overcome their opponents. For a time, it looked as though Ciampa and Gargano might do it, but they ultimately came up short thanks to the brutal teamwork of the Revival, who isolated Johnny and blew out his knee by jumping on it from the top rope. In the end, his face a picture of absolute agony, Gargano was forced to tap out. Post-match, the two sat side-by-side on the canvas in what would become a recurring image. Ciampa looks long and hard at Johnny, as though he wants to say something, but in the end, he helps his friend to his feet and supports him as he walks to the back. Halfway up the ramp, Johnny mouths the words "I'm sorry". Tommaso doesn't say anything, but he puts his arm around his friend and draws him in for a hug, as he did at the end of their Cruiserweight Classic match.  It seems that all is forgiven. But the final shot of the pair tells a different story. As Johnny walks ahead, Tommaso shoots him a quick, frustrated glance. It only flashes onto his face for a second, and perhaps no one noticed it at the time, but in hindsight, it's another crack in the perfect veneer. 

Success for the duo finally comes at NXT Takeover: Toronto, where they take on the Revival once again, this time in in a 2-out-of-3 falls match [2] which may well be one of the greatest tag matches in recent history, if not all time. Having fought each other before, both teams are able to anticipate each other's signature moves and counter them effectively. This allows the Revival to get the first fall, but when they try to repeat the kind of tricks which won them the last match, DIY are ready for them. Ciampa and Gargano score an equalising fall with their finisher, Meeting in the Middle, which involves crushing an opponent's head between a superkick from Gargano and a knee strike from Ciampa. Getting desperate, the Revival try to repeat the tactic which won them their last match: isolating Johnny and targeting his knee. But this time, Johnny is able to turn things around and eventually he and Tommaso make both members of the Revival tap out simultaneously. The day is theirs. The foe has been conquered. Ciampa and Gargano collapse into their familiar positions, seated side-by-side in the ring, but now clutching the NXT tag team titles. Ciampa holds Johnny's head and embraces him, but this time it's in celebration, not commiseration. They have done it. Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa have achieved their dreams.

Like Ciampa, fortune seems to be smiling on Macbeth at the start of the play. He's been victorious in battle, he has the favour of the king, and is granted the title of Thane of Cawdor. But he isn't satisfied. His ambition, fed by the witches' prophecy and his wife's goading, drives him to kill King Duncan and take the throne. But it's not the murder of the king which makes Macbeth and Ciampa so similar: it's Macbeth's the second murder, more shocking and black-hearted than the first. The witches told Macbeth that he would be king, but they also gave a prophecy to his close friend, Banquo. They told Banquo that he would be "less than Macbeth, yet happier, less successful, yet more" and that his descendants would be kings, not Macbeth's. Growing increasingly paranoid by this point, Macbeth believes that Banquo may be a threat to his throne. But more than that, he cannot handle the fact that his friend may ultimately be more successful than him. And so he does the unthinkable. He orders the murder of his brother-in-arms. 

Ciampa's reasons for his betrayal are similar. Like Macbeth, he isn't satisfied with his position. Like Macbeth, he constantly compares his own success to that of his friend, and is paranoid that he may be outshone. But in some ways, while the events of Macbeth are a close match for the shape of the narrative, the character of Tommaso Ciampa more closely resembles another of Shakespeare's villains: Iago, from Othello. Both are bitter, hollow shells of men who often seem to act out of nothing more than pure hatred for the world. But unlike Iago, whose misanthropy is fully formed by the start of the play, we get to see Ciampa's transformation from steely-eyed fan-favourite to implacable villain. 

 
The Betrayal


It all begins with DIY's inevitable fall from grace. They're defending their newly won titles at NXT Takeover: San Antonio against The Authors of Pain, a pair of colossal wrestlers who dress like mercenaries and speak only in guttural barks of a foreign language. Their manager, Paul Ellering, seems to have a quasi-mystical control over them.  The size difference works against DIY throughout the match, but they use teamwork effectively to chop the bigger men down to size. In the end, however, even the plucky determination of Ciampa and Gargano isn't enough to overcome the AoP, and they lose the match. It isn't anyone's fault. No one makes a crucial error. They simply aren't able to do enough to keep the two giants down.

They get a chance to reclaim their titles at NXT Takeover: Orlando in a match pitting them against both of their hated rivals -- the Revival and the AoP -- at once in an elimination match. Out of necessity, DIY form an uneasy alliance with the Revival and together they succeed in putting one of the Authors of Pain through a table. It's significant that one the members of the Revival even teams up with Johnny to hit Meeting in the Middle. But, inevitably, the temporary ceasefire soon collapses and, in the chaos, AoP pin DIY and eliminate them, before going on to win the match and retain their titles.

When they face AoP for one final time at NXT Takeover: Chicago, then, it really is the last chance for DIY to regain their titles. This time, it's a ladder match. Ciampa and Gargano put their bodies on the line for the championship. They hurl themselves out of the ring. They throw themselves off ladders, onto other ladders. They give the AoP everything that they've got. The emotional climax of the match comes when the AoP have Ciampa isolated, kneeling in the ring. They pick up a ladder and aim it at him end-on, looking to swing it directly into his head. At the last second, Gargano dives in front of his friend and takes the shot instead. The ladder catches him full-force on the jaw and sends him flying backwards. He sprawls on the mat, seemingly unconscious. From there on out, it's mostly academic. There are a few more glimmers of opportunity for DIY, but it is the AoP who climb the ladders and retrieve the belts.

After the match, the camera lingers on a despondent Gargano and Ciampa. They comfort each other in the now familar manner, Ciampa with his arm around Johnny's head in an embrace. It's a disappointment, but all is not lost. They are still loved. The crowd are chanting "DIY". The credits begin to roll.

Then it happens. Ciampa tightens his grip on Johnny's head, wheels round, and flings him into the electronic display board. A wave of shock rushes audibily through the crowd, followed by a chorus of pure vitriol as they realise what's going on. What follows is a cold, brutal, prolonged attack. Like Macbeth's assassination of Banquo, it is not a rage-filled massacre, it is a ruthless, dispassionate elimination of a friend. In a chilling throwback to their Cruiserweight Classic match, Ciampa rolls down his kneepad and hits Johnny with a brutal strike from his exposed knee. His eyes glazed, Johnny crawls weakly over to where Ciampa is sitting and rests his head in his lap, in a heartbreaking imitation of their customary post-match embrace. Ciampa turns his head away in disgust. "Fuck you, Ciampa", chant the crowd. He picks Johnny up and stands on the announce table, then hits the killing blow: a belly-to-back driver off the table and the stage, into the production area below. The final shot is Ciampa staring down at the seemingly lifeless body of Gargano below.

The next week, Ciampa comes out into the ring to explain himself. The crowd hurl abuse at him. He's on crutches. He explains that he's injured. He felt his knee pop during the ladder match and he knew that he wasn't going to be able to wrestle again for a while. And he knew that, while he recovered, he would be replaced. Johnny would find a new partner. Someone else would become the crowd's new favourite. So he decided to act. Like Macbeth, Ciampa couldn't handle the fact that his brother-in-arms might be more successful than him. He couldn't face the thought of irrelevancy, that he might be an insignificant part of something greater. It's clear that Ciampa has had these thoughts at the back of his mind ever since the Cruiserweight Classic, and that events have only exacerbated them. When Johnny teamed up with the Revival to thunderous applause, every time Johnny stole the limelight and every time the crowd cheered Johnny over him: Ciampa's jealousy and fear of irrelevancy grew. What Macbeth and Ciampa both fear most is being left as a footnote of history. It is this which drives them to do the unthinkable and betray their closest friends. 

But there is something about Ciampa's explanation which doesn't quite ring true, which doesn't quite justify the shocking extent of his brutal assault on Gargano. In some ways, Ciampa is more Iago than Macbeth. There's a possibility that the 'Psycho Killer' may always have had a black heart, hidden deep within his core. What if Ciampa wasn't twisted by jealousy? Perhaps he simply showed his true nature for the first time.


Downfall

Without his tag team partner, Johnny's success begins to run dry. Ciampa may be absent, but his ghost still haunts Johnny. He fights the smarmy-but-talented Mexican playboy, Andrade "Cien" Almas at Takeover: Brooklyn, but loses when Almas' manager, Zelina Vega, throws a DIY t-shirt into the ring. Johnny stares at it, and suddenly he is million miles away. He barely even notices as Almas hits him with a thunderous kick and picks up the win. He fights Almas, who is now NXT champion, again at Takeover Philadelphia, in a match for the title. During the match, he throws all of his offence at Almas, including his half of Meeting in the Middle, DIY's finishing move, but Almas kicks out of everything. Without his friend, Johnny just can't get it done, it seems. Johnny's wife, Candace leRae (herself an accomplished wrestler) deals with Zelina, to prevent a repeat of the incident from their last outing, but it isn't quite enough. The match is widely regarded as a modern classic, but again Johnny comes up short. 

After the match, Ciampa appears from the crowd and beats Johnny senseless with his crutch. His assassination of his friend may be longer than Macbeth's, but it is just as effective.

 A frustrated Johnny appears a few weeks later, and demands a rematch. Almas goads him, saying that he'll give him one if Johnny agrees to leave NXT if he loses. Johnny, determined to break the curse that Ciampa's betrayal seems to have put on him, accepts. The next week, the gravity of his wager sinks in. This is do or die. Their match is another nail-biting contest between two evenly matched opponents. Finally, it seems as though Johnny may have got the better of Almas as he locks in his submission finisher. Almas has nowhere to go. Candace has driven off Zelina. But the referee is out, knocked down accidentally by Almas. So he doesn't see Ciampa enter the ring, lift his crutch in the air, and bring it down hard across Johnny's back. But he's up in time to see Almas pinning Johnny, having taken advantage of Ciampa's attack and hit his trademark hammerlock-DDT. The bell sounds. Johnny must leave NXT.

Ciampa has killed Johnny Wrestling. 

 
A few weeks later, Ciampa comes out to gloat. Normally, the arrival of a wrestler on their way to the ring is heralded by their theme music, which gets the crowd fired up and in the right mood. Ciampa has no such music. Instead, he's accompanied to the ring by a constant torrent of boos from the crowd, united in their hatred of the man who betrayed their hero. "Asshole", some of them chant. At first, Ciampa seems unfazed. In fact, he almost seems to relish the destain of the audience.  As he reaches the the middle of the ring and raises the microphone to his lips, the crowd's boos drown him out, and he lowers it again. Soon, a new chant begins to emerge. "Johnny Wrestling", the fans begin to shout, in unison. "Johnny Wrestling, Johnny Wrestling."  Ciampa's demeanour shifts almost immediately. He was content to let the crowd despise him: at least he was the centre of attention, not his erstwhile best-friend. But now all the crowd will talk about his Johnny. All he sees in the crowd are signs bearing a winking face, Johnny Wrestling's symbol. Johnny is gone, but his presence is stronger than ever. In this moment, like Macbeth, Ciampa realises that he will never be free of his past. Here, it is the audience who play the part of Banquo's ghost, each voice and each sign a mocking reminder that he will never be as successful as his friend. He drops the microphone and leaves the ring. As he does, a fan thrusts a Johnny Gargano sign in his face. Ciampa snatches it away, ripping it up savagely, as though the monochrome face on it is Johnny himself. He walks backstage without ever saying a word, but his body language tells the whole story. This should be his hour of triumph, but he knows that he has lost. Even in defeat, Johnny has won. Johnny Wrestling is still very much alive.

1 NXT is officially the 'developmental' division of the WWE. That used to mean that it was purely a training ground for novice wrestlers. While that's still partly the case, the recent burgeoning of "independent wrestling" outside WWE's hegemony means that NXT has started to recruit a lot of veteran wrestlers who became famous on the independent scene. (If you're not a wrestling fan, think of it sort-of like internet-famous indie musicians signing with a big record label.) This new breed of veterans, of which both Gargano and Ciampa are a part, often spend some time in NXT alongside the real rookies. Not only does this allow them chance to adapt to WWE's particular style of wrestling, it also lets the trainees work with some real masters of the craft and hopefully learn a thing or two. 

2 In a normal wrestling matches, one pin or submission is enough to win the match; in a 2-out-3 falls, it's a best of three.