Tommaso Ciampa Met Tony Khan For First Time Before AEW Debut, Says He’s Still Digesting It All

Tomasso Ciampa is All Elite, and he says that he met Tony Khan for the first time before his AEW debut on Wednesday. Ciampa made his debut for the company on Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite and signed with the company just 48 hours after his WWE contract expired. He competes against Mark Briscoe on tonight’s AEW Collision for the TNT Championship.

Ciampa spoke with The Takedown On SI about his first meeting with Khan on Wednesday and how blown away he was by the way his debut was presented. You can check out the highlights below:

On His First Meeting With Tony Khan

“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.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Takedown On SI with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.