It’s bad news for the NXT brand and its champion Tommaso Ciampa as Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that he will be undergoing neck surgery that will keep him out of action for a very long time.

Ciampa did not appear on Raw this past Monday and the segment he was supposed to be involved in with Johnny Gargano and the Raw Tag Team titles had to be rewritten.

It is unclear what caused the need for the neck surgery but Ciampa is looking to be out for up to a year or even more depending how surgery and recovery goes. Ciampa was out for eight months after he tore his ACL in May 2017 and despite showing up on NXT TV, he only wrestled his first match since the injury in April 2018.

The NXT champion will have to vacate the title, something that will most likely happen during tomorrow’s NXT television tapings at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. Ciampa was rumored to be wrestling Gargano at NXT Takeover: New York but that is obviously out of the question now. The two are also part of the Dusty Rhodes Classic Tag Team tournament which now needs to be modified as well.