AEW TNT Champion Tommaso Ciampa recently spoke with The Takedown On SI about various topics, including his first meeting with AEW President and CEO Tony Khan before his official debut for the company on last Wednesday’s Dynamite.
Ciampa said, “I’ve been eyeing it up for a long time and just kind of waiting for the right moment. Everything lined up really well. And I’m so excited to be there. I’ll tell you, last night’s the first time I met Tony Khan, first time I’ve been backstage and kind of mingled with a lot of the guys. But Tony in particular has a contagious passion for professional wrestling. I loved meeting with him, I loved the energy that he shared. He cares a lot about his locker room, he cares a lot about his fan base. And man, I just it felt right. Everything about last night just felt like, ‘Hey, this is the place you’re meant to be.”
On the presentation for his debut:
“That presentation, kudos to Mikey [Rukus] and Mike Mansury for the music and for the Tron, and all the effects and everything. Because that’s something that I was kind of working on on a vision board for quite some time. And it felt like somebody walked past me and looked at that vision board and just said ‘Yes to everything. Take it all.’ And that’s never happened in my career, ever. So to have that happen was just outrageous man. I still don’t think I’ve actually digested it all.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
