Since bursting onto the “NXT” scene in 2021, Tony D’Angelo has truly been a “what you see is what you get” guy. That is to say, D’Angelo has truly been the gangster character he plays, to the point where he has even thrown some members of the D’Angelo family off a bridge at times. But recently, Bully Ray has seen things that suggest D’Angelo might be breaking away from the mafia life.
The biggest sign came last Tuesday on “NXT,” when D’Angelo was nowhere to be seen during Channing Lorenzo and Luca Crusifino’s loss to Brooks Jensen and Niko Vance, remaining backstage to chat with Izzy Dame. On “Open after dark”, Bully compared it a bit to Tony Soprano seeing a therapist in “The Sopranos,” and thinks the conversations D’Angelo had with Dame allowed him to come out of his gimmick more than usual.
“It kind of humanized him a little bit,” Bully said. “For example, when he talked to Izzy, he didn’t sound like a mobster. He didn’t sound like a family boss. He talked like a guy who seemed interested in this daughter. And then when he was confronted by the family, they were like, “Where the hell have you been, what’s going on?” And just from his tone, he sounded like he was happy that Izzy was biting his ear. And for a minute, he humanized himself, because he forgot about his family.
If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit “Busted Open After Dark” and provide ah/t to Wrestling Inc. for transcription.
