Tommaso Ciampa believes there were missed opportunities during his main roster run in WWE.
After six years in NXT, Tommaso Ciampa finally moved up to the main WWE roster in 2022. Despite a successful singles career in NXT, on Raw and SmackDown, Ciampa spent much of his time in the tag team division with Johnny Gargano.
When his contract expired in January 2026, the star opted not to renew and left WWE for AEW. Speaking to James Stewart on 98.5 Stick to Wrestling, Ciampa said his biggest goal in AEW is to “check off the checklist” of stars he wants to get in the ring with, something he wasn’t able to do in WWE.
“My biggest goal, and I said it to Tony early, early on, when we just chatted, is that I just want to check off the checklist.
“I feel like I spent the last ten years, specifically for when I was on the main roster WWE, where I had this checklist and I never felt like I checked it. I worked with AJ Styles on a couple of live events, once on television. Never worked with Sami Zayn outside of live events. Never did stuff with Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns. The list goes on and on with people I just never crossed paths with on TV. I was like, ‘these are just missed opportunities.’
“As a performer, you just want that, you just want to share the ring with people who are at that elite level. That’s just how you continuously progress. I felt like I didn’t get a lot of those for the last four years.”
Tommaso Ciampa Has Big Plan In AEW
In another recent interview, Tommaso Ciampa discussed his ‘Psycho Killer’ gimmick, which he believes is coming into a life of its own in AEW. The former TNT Champion says he has big plans for the character and is hoping that part of it will come to fruition on AEW’s biggest stage at All In London.
