Tommaso Ciampa Discusses the Importance of Presentation, AEW’s Passionate Fanbase

Speaking to VICE, AEW star and TNT Champion Tommaso Ciampa discussed his move to AEW, developing his list of potential opponents, facing Kyle Fletcher on tonight’s Dynamite, and more. Below are some highlights from VICE:

Tommaso Ciampa on the Importance of Character Presentation in Wrestling

“If you present someone as this guy is a contender, he’s going for the world title, he’s face-to-face with the world champ, the TNT champ or whatever it may be, a fan who might not be familiar is going to buy presentation alone, say, ‘Oh, well I’m interested. Oh, he must be worthy or she must be worthy. They must be awesome.’ You don’t have that control as a performer.”

On Wrestling’s Passionate Underground Fanbase

“There’s a really fun nuance to that underground passionate fan base. I compare it to ECW of the 90s, ROH of the early 2000s, black and gold NXT of the 2010s. Now it’s AEW of the 2020s. It’s a different dynamic. It’s a different crowd. It takes a different kind of performer, and one’s not better than the other, and one’s not worse than the other. A lot of it has to do with your strengths and weaknesses. Also, what do you enjoy? I really enjoy and connect with that passionate underground fanbase, where it almost feels like the company and the crowd as a whole has a chip on its shoulder, like that’s something I’ve just been drawn to my whole life. So it’s been refreshing, it’s been really fun.”

On Reaching Out to Adam Cole to Get Mikey Rukus To Do His New AEW Theme Music

“So, when I knew I was wrapping up at WWE, Adam’s one of the first people I reached out to and I just said, ‘Hey, who made your music? Is there a way to get in touch with them?’ I started to look up Mikey and see his style, see what else he’s put out without really reaching directly out to him because I was still under contract at the time. By the time Mikey and I got ahold of one another, we clicked instantly. I think our first conversation was about 20 to 30 minutes. It was just refreshing because he wasn’t judging anything. He was getting it, and if there was stuff I was stuck on, he was almost finishing my sentences for me. So, all of that was a 36-hour whirlwind of me just throwing it all on the table. He’s like, ‘Hey, I’m at the studio, and I’m gonna work it out.’ I don’t know if it was six hours, eight hours he came to me with a rough copy. It took us seven back-and-forth takes to get to the finished product.

“I’ve never had something so important as music collaboration that way, and it was so quick. I love the music so much. I think it’s so important in today’s day and age of wrestling. I feel like presentation kind of trumps in-ring and promos. Those are the two things I’ve keyed myself to for my entire career. Am I fundamentally sound? Can I go in the ring? Can I cut a promo? Can I tell a story? I never really focused a lot on presentation. While I wanted to, I wasn’t able to express myself that way.”

On Developing a List of Potential Opponents He Wants To Face in AEW

“I think one of the big things now settling into AEW, and it was one of the big things coming into it in general, is I started to develop the ‘list’. When I started, I was 20 plus deep and I was still on people that I have never even wrestled in a singles match which blew my mind. Some of them are people you definitely would think I have: Swerve [Strickland], Ricochet, Claudio [Castagnoli], Roddy. We’ve all crossed paths but never actually worked singles together. One of the goals for me is to check off the checklist.

“I’ve had this, not by choice of course, but this bad track record of not being able to check off those lists. For instance, when I was in Ring of Honor, Seth Rollins went through there, Generico went through there, Claudio, [Chris] Hero, Davey Richards. All these different people that during my time in ROH I never even crossed paths. Then I went to WWE. Randy Orton, AJ [Styles], we never did anything on television together, Seth again. There are so many there that I was like, ‘Oh, I never got to do stuff with them.’ So when I started to put the list together in AEW, I was like, ‘Okay, I got to check this list off. This can’t just be a list that sits there [and] I’m here for five, ten years [wondering] what could have been.’”

Tommaso Ciampa on Defending His TNT Title Against Kyle Fletcher

“Kyle is one I’m extremely keen on. I think he’s just an incredible worker, athlete, promo, and presentation. I’m excited to see what I do with a young guy who came from a whole different era than me. That feels like a TakeOver mentality I have going into that one. It’s hard for me to pick a TNT champion who made the title, and the title made him more so than Kyle Fletcher. I feel like that’s a guy who really resonates with it. He’s a big boy, he’s young, he’s athletic. He wants the title. Just [standing] face-to-face with him in the ring on Collision on Saturday, I saw it in his eyes… there’s no hesitation. He’s not nervous. He’s ready for the spotlight.”

Tommaso Ciampa faces off against former TNT Champion Kyle Fletcher, later tonight on AEW Dynamite, with the TNT Title on the line. Tonight’s AEW Dynamite is being held at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. The show will air live on TBS starting at 8:00 pm ET. It will also be simulcast on HBO Max.