AEW TNT Champion Tommaso Ciampa discussed various topics with Yahoo! Uncrowned, including his decision to join the company.
Ciampa said, “Our characters, our personalities, our real life, who’s married, who’s not, who’s got family at home, who wants to be on the road — there’s just so many variables. For the last 10-plus years, I’ve been going, ‘What if? What if I had a platform? And what if I was able to see this thing through?’ It was very clear that wasn’t going to happen where I was. I tried and it just wasn’t in the cards. I just had to get to that point of going, ‘Let’s just bet on ourselves on this one. Let’s find out.’ Because I’m either right or I’m wrong. If I’m wrong and I fall on my face, at least I can look at my kid and go, ‘Hey, dad tried. Dad chased it. Dad didn’t say what if.’ If I’m right, then, boy, is this thing going to pay off for us in more ways than one — creatively, financially, that satisfaction.”
On AEW being the final stop of his career:
“All Elite Wrestling is still in [its] infancy, 6 years old, and it was built by a bunch of guys that I have the utmost respect for. And what it’s done for professional wrestling, I don’t think people give it the credit for. I think 20 years from now, people are going to look back and start to understand it. So for me to become a part of that team, I want that to become my family away from home. I want to wave that flag. I want to be a part of that movement, and I’m willing to work my way through that. I told them the first time we had a discussion [in late January], I ain’t here for a cup of coffee and I ain’t going anywhere. This is it, man. Final stop. We’ve got 10 years. Let’s see what we get out of it.”
