AEW’s Tommaso Ciampa reflects on his missed opportunities in WWE
Former AEW TNT Champion Tommaso Ciampa recently reflected on all the wrestling opportunities he missed out on during his time in WWE.
While wrestling Darby Allin for the AEW World Title was Ciampa’s love letter to pro wrestling, he has also been a part of several iconic matches in WWE, especially during NXT’s Black & Gold era. A part of the WWE roster for almost a decade, Ciampa’s last few years saw him remain an active name on the main roster.
Speaking to James Stewart on Stick To Sports, Ciampa reflected on his last few years in WWE and all the big names he missed out on wrestling there.
“My biggest goal, and I said it to Tony [Khan] early on, is that I just want to check off the checklist. I feel like I spent the last ten years, specifically when I was on the main roster, where I had this checklist, and I never felt like I checked it.
“I worked with AJ Styles on a couple of live events, once on television. Never worked with Sami Zayn outside of live events. Never did stuff with Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns. The list goes on with people that I never crossed paths with on TV. I was like, ‘These are just missed opportunities.’ As a performer, you want that and want to share the ring with people who at that elite level. That’s how you continuously progress. I felt like I didn’t get a lot of those the last four years,” Ciampa said.
He spent the majority of his four years on WWE’s main roster in a tag team with Johnny Gargano. However, since he arrived in AEW, Ciampa has already won and lost the TNT Championship, been in World title matches, and is now scheduled to face Chris Jericho at AEW Redemption.
Tommaso Ciampa names his wrestling soulmate
Just hours after wrestling Darby Allin on the April 22 episode of AEW Dynamite, Ciampa uploaded a status on social media, calling Allin his wrestling soulmate.
“Last night, I encountered my wrestling soulmate. I have a hunch we will be doing this many more times over the next decade,” wrote Ciampa.
“Thank you AEW. Thank you Portland. Thank you Darby [Allin]. Mark my words: it might not be this month… it might not be this year… hell, it might not even be 2027…. but there will come a time when I hold that AEW World Title.“
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
Shounak takes particular interest in soccer, closely following top clubs like Real Madrid and Arsenal. Beyond sports, he enjoys fiction writing, photography, gaming, and cinema.