Tommaso Ciampa arrived in All Elite Wrestling on last night’s episode of Dynamite, answering Mark Briscoe’s open challenge for the TNT championship to set up a bout for Collision this weekend. This was just a few days after that the former NXT champion announced that he wasn’t renewing his WWE deal, with his profile moved to the alumni section on the WWE website.
In truth, at least at this point, this is much ado about nothing, not because of Ciampa’s skill set, but a combination of factors that are more or less outside of his control. In the early-2010s, Ciampa was one of the top names on the independent circuit, working a fast-paced, hard-hitting style that saw him spotlighted in such promotions as Ring Of Honor and Pro Wrestling Gorilla. He checked all the boxes for what you’d look for in an in-ring worker, and despite a smaller statue, seemed to have potential on the national stage so it wasn’t too surprising when he inked a WWE developmental contract in 2015, especially when Triple H was initially putting the brand together as basically the WWE version of either the previously mentioned ROH or PWG.
To sum up Tommaso Ciampa’s run in WWE, he was often successful as a big fish in a small pond before he got lost in the shuffle of the bigger platforms. He had an extensive and accomplished tenure in NXT, both as a singles and tag team star. When NXT as a brand was making waves for the WWE, Ciampa was one of the major reasons for that. He was one of the key names that added enough fuel to the brand that eventually allowed it to become a full-fledged show on the WWE line-up. He had a notable run as a tag team with Johnny Gargano and a few different stints as NXT champion so it was proven on that level.
He suffered a few different key injuries, including a serious neck injury that required surgery, throughout his time on the developmental show, and maybe that’s why the office didn’t fully invest in his character when he was eventually called up to the main roster?
In fact, when he was called up to Raw in mid-2022, he was sidelined with a hip injury less than six months into his tenure. He didn’t resurface until June the following year and by that point, he was eventually paired with Gargano to reform their tag team, which was probably an indication that management didn’t have faith in him as a singles star so they went back to what got over before, albeit on the smaller scale of NXT. In some ways, the reunion of DYI was successful as Gargano and Ciampa had two reigns as Smackdown tag team championships, even though the tag division was under the radar at the time.
They lost the belts in March of 2025 and the team had a relatively low profile for the majority of the year. Because of that, Ciampa’s star power has been minimal at best, which refers to the aspects that are beyond his control referenced earlier. He can only do so much with what he’s given, and quite simply, he wasn’t given the opportunity or put in the position to be a major difference maker among the WWE landscape. That’s not to say that he wasn’t capable of doing more or being a bigger star during his run on the main roster, but the fact of the matter is, he wasn’t given a storyline of importance. That being said, with only a few exceptions, anyone in the tag team division has a ceiling as to how far up the card they are realistically going to be pushed since even until the direction of Triple H, there’s a limited amount of spotlight put on tag teams.
Maybe Ciampa was labeled as injury prone? Maybe he was actual injury prone? Maybe his size prevented the office from investing in his persona on the main roster? Whatever the case, he was stagnant, and after being under contract for nearly a decade, there wasn’t much more for him to do in WWE. Assuming that he was offered a renewal and declined it, if he would’ve re-signed, chances are he would’ve continued to stay under the radar for the rest of his WWE career.
At 40, Tommaso Ciampa still has some prime years of his career left, but that’s no doubt that he’s at the latter stages of his run as an in-ring competitor. If he was going to make a move, now is the time to do it. That said, while I understand the logic behind the jump to All Elite Wrestling because it’s the second-largest organization in the industry, and Tony Khan offers major contracts, I’m not sure that Ciampa will have the opportunity to reignite his career there. The reality is, we’ve seen this story countless times before, someone arrives in AEW for the artificial debut pop, they get featured for a few weeks, and then they are so lost in the shuffle that sometimes you forget that they still have a job. Is Matt Sydal still on the payroll? It wouldn’t be surprising if Tommaso Ciampa is in the witness protection program of ROH within six months.
Taking into account that Tony Khan just added a slew of performers to the roster, including three of The Rascalz, what’s the case to be made that Ciampa won’t end up in pro wrestling purgatory within a few months? This is another aspect of the circumstances that are beyond his control mentioned early, he couldn’t do more than what he was given on Raw or Smackdown in terms of television time or angles, the same way that he won’t be able to stand out with the comical amount of talent on the ridiculously bloated AEW roster.
Keep in mind, this has zero to do with his in-ring skills, we’ve discussed that he’s a very solid performer. However, specifically for the potential for success in AEW, there’s already a full roster of wrestlers that work a very similar style so how can he avoid blending into the background? Is there really that much of a difference between Ciampa and Roderick Strong? I’m not trying to be too negative, but given the track record of the vast majority of new hires for AEW, the chances are that Tommaso Ciampa is going to end up being just another name on the roster.
It’s disappointing because as I’ve said, he’s a very talented guy that probably should’ve had a bigger role in the WWE, and could be a contributor to All Elite, but the chances of him moving up the card are slim. Again, assuming that he declined a WWE offer to sign a new contract, that would give the impression that he decided to sign with AEW for more of an opportunity. On the surface, that makes sense, as it’s the only logical option for a talent that wants to continue to work on the national stage, but as already discussed the opportunities in All Elite will probably be sparse.
Outside of trying to make a bigger impression to be a bigger star, Ciampa should probably just take the check, save his money, and consider it a win that he will continue to make a full-time living in the industry. He’s 40 with a bad neck and a history of other injuries. The entire point of the pro wrestling business is to make as much money as possible. There were much bigger stars than Ciampa that ended up completely broke by the time their careers were over so if he can eventually retire as an underutilized and underrated worker, but financially secure than he had a successful career.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
