AEW TNT Champion Tommaso Ciampa appeared on The Takedown on SI to discuss various topics, including how it all started to come together.
Ciampa said, “So this is a big part of of how it came together. My wife and I — I don’t know, a couple months ago or so when we started to realize we’re not going to stay with WWE, we’re going to kind of bet on ourself here. I said, ‘Well, my contract’s up at midnight January 26th. Nobody knows that, and I want to keep it that way. Where is AEW on that Wednesday?’ And they were in Texas. And my wife for I don’t know, five years, has been eyeing up Blue Hill Ranch which is in Texas. It’s a giraffe safari where you get to stay. And we looked at it, and Dynamite and Collision, Blue Hill Ranch is literally in the middle of the two. So I said, ‘Babe, why don’t we just book a family trip and if things work out and I can get to AEW that Wednesday, it’s a two-hour drive. And if it doesn’t, we have a family vacation.’”
On first talking with AEW:
“When I put the notice out that the contract was coming up, it didn’t take very long for some people to reach out and just, ‘Is this for real?’ ‘Yeah, it’s for real.’ ‘Are you retiring?’ ‘Absolutely not. I’m not retiring. I’m healthy, I’m happy, I’m motivated,’ et cetera. So Tuesday, I got on the phone with QT [Marshall] and RD, who was one of my managers at Embassy days in Ring of Honor. 13, whatever years ago. And it was a very quick discussion. ‘Hey, I’m really interested. Oh, you’re interested, too? Well, I just happen to be two hours away. I don’t know, can I pop in and have a conversation?’”
On talking with Mikey Rukus and Mike Mansury:
“Next thing I know, I’m talking to Mikey Rukus and, ‘Hey man, I got these four songs prepared that I really like. This is what I like about them.’ That dude is a wizard. I’ve never worked with somebody in the music department that has his passion and his creativity, and who can collab the way he can. It was — he had 36 hours to put this thing together, and he crushed it! Crushed it. Me and my wife are listening to it in the car with the radio turned way up and I’m just like, ‘If people don’t like this, I don’t know what they’re going to like because this thing is awesome.’ I get on the phone with Mike Mansury, who I worked with in NXT. So that was already a good relationship. And I said, ‘Hey, this is what I envision, and what do you think?’ And he’s adding elements and it’s just a quick riff. And I got to the venue that day, and they already had a thing ready to show me on a phone.”
On being snuck into the arena:
“They snuck me in and I’m flying into an airport two hours away. And you know, we’re really working hard to keep this thing secret. And it was just one of them days where I just kept thinking like, ‘Is this real? Did this happen?’ Like, ‘this 48 hours?’ But 48 hours, man. And what a whirlwind.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
