Tommaso Ciampa says leaked WWE departure report was ‘the best thing that ever happened to me’
Earlier this year, Tommaso Ciampa parted ways with WWE to make his AEW debut.
Shortly after making his AEW debut, Ciampa became the TNT Champion. However, within a span of just 11 days, he lost the title to Kyle Fletcher. Despite the short singles title reign, Ciampa has remained a regular face on AEW television.
Recently speaking to James Stewart of Stick to Sports, Ciampa revealed how his leaked WWE departure report was the best thing that ever happened to him. Explaining his statement, Ciampa said, “The best thing to happen to me is that there was a leaked internet report when I had about two or three months left on my deal that said, ‘Ciampa is leaving WWE. We don’t know why, but when his deal is up, he’s leaving.’ I have no idea where that came from, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“It raised this interest, and I started to get a lot of inquiries. ‘Oh, look at these options I have.’ AEW wasn’t even part of that because, in Tony’s defense, he is very adamant that there is no tampering,” he further added.
Ciampa made his AEW debut on the January 31, 2026 edition of AEW Collision and won the TNT Championship in his very first match against Mark Briscoe.
Tommaso Ciampa reveals why he chose AEW over WWE
A few months ago, while speaking on Close Up with Renee Paquette, Ciampa revealed why he decided to join AEW and leave WWE.
“So it’s a lot of that going on right now for me, where it’s like, ‘oh man, I haven’t felt loved back for a bit.’ So that was big, but at home, you know, honestly, it was less about just like looking forward to, ‘oh, we’re doing this AEW thing’ because it was a ton of uncertainty. Like our decision to move on. We talked about that for months. I might even say a couple years, realistically. That’s a big thing, right? [Regularly checking his bank account and understanding his financial stability].”
Ciampa added that it was a financial decision to jump ships to AEW. “To be honest, that’s the biggest thing that you start to go is…we are getting a definitive income, it’s a salary. And you know what the independent scene’s like. You understand the travel if you start to go to different countries to do this and stuff, and what’s that impact on my wife?” Ciampa added.
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.