The biggest story coming out of last night’s (Jan. 28) episode of Dynamite is Tommaso Ciampa officially signing with AEW and making his debut appearance.
In a new interview with The Takedown on SI
, Ciampa said leaving WWE for AEW was a difficult decision that he came to after discussing it with his family. AEW’s current place in the wrestling landscape and its passionate fanbase is something that greatly appealed to him.“It’s something I’ve been leaning towards for quite some time. I don’t know that
I can say there’s one sole factor that led to it or caused it. I think it’s one of those things when your contract is coming to an end, you naturally have discussions…If I wrestled in the 90s, I’d wanna be a part of ECW… Early 2000s, you wanna be a part of Ring of Honor. I was lucky I got to do that a little bit. 2010s, I think for me at least, I wanted to be part of NXT Black and Gold. And when I looked at the landscape of professional wrestling in the 2020s… the answer was AEW, man. That’s what I want to be a part of.”
Ciampa now gets to bring his Psycho Killer gimmick to AEW, which he wasn’t allowed to do in WWE.
“There were a lot of times I tried… and for one reason or another [over the years in WWE], it just wasn’t something that I could do. But for Tony [Khan] and the whole crew to just collaborate the way they did and have open arms, and see the vision and just allow it to breathe and have a chance, I’m already thinking six months, 12 months ahead on the evolution of the Psycho Killer.”
Tommaso says people always tell him that 2018 was his peak as a pro wrestler, but the 40-year-old star is ready to prove the best is yet to come.
“I’m a hundred times better now than I was then. That was nothing. That was absolutely nothing. I’m physically better. I’m mentally sharper. My storytelling, my psychology is on a whole different level than it was back then… what people are about to see is going to blow their minds. It’s gonna shock the world, because I finally have a shot to find out if I’m as good as I think I am.”
Are you ready for Ciampa to blow your mind when he makes his AEW in-ring debut on this Saturday’s (Jan. 31) episode of Collision in a TNT championship match against Mark Briscoe? Let me know how you think the Sicilian Psychopath will fare in AEW in the comments below, Cagesiders.
