Tommaso Ciampa: I have ‘not one bad word to say’ about WWE
Though he’s departed the company and found a new home in AEW, Tommaso Ciampa doesn’t have anything bad to say about WWE.
Ciampa was interviewed by CBS Sports following his AEW debut and opened up about his decision not to re-sign with WWE. There were conversations about a new deal, but Ciampa felt like he never got to truly maximize his potential as the “Psycho Killer” in WWE. He feels like, right now, he is the best version of himself that he’s ever been. Ciampa is determined to prove that in AEW.
“We chatted a handful of times in the last two or three months. I just needed to do what was right for my wife and me,” Ciampa said about his decision not to re-sign. “I have not one bad word to say about WWE. They gave me an incredible opportunity and platform. Over the last 10 years, I learned a ton. I evolved a ton. It’s time for me to take all that and really apply it. The biggest part was the leap.”
Ciampa noted that he’s been thinking about departing WWE for a while. Ultimately, the deciding factor was that he did not want to look back and regret his decision.
“My interest in doing this has been for at least two or three years. For the last six months, I’ve had a foot out the door,” Ciampa said. “It was one of those things: do you bet on yourself, see this through and see if you were right, or do you stay put and take the safe bet?
“I have a seven-year-old. I want her to know that you get one life. You get one career, you get one chance at this. You don’t want to leave it with ‘What if?’ That was the final determining factor.”
In his first AEW match, Ciampa has the chance to capture championship gold. He’s challenging Mark Briscoe for the TNT title on Collision this Saturday night.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.