Tommaso Ciampa Has Nothing Bad To Say About WWE, Hates People Saying He Peaked in 2018

While Tommaso Ciampa made the move from WWE to AEW, he says he has nothing bad to say about his time with his former company. As you likely know, Ciampa left WWE earlier this week when his contract expired and made his AEW debut on Dynamite. He is set to have his first match outside WWE in over 10 years on tomorrow’s AEW Collision when he faces Mark Briscoe for the AEW TNT Championship.

Ciampa is doing the media rounds talking about his joining AEW, and he spoke with Shakiel Mahjouri for CBS Sports about making the move. Ciampa talked about how he’s “sick to his stomach” of people saying that his 2018 run in NXT was his peak and how he is looking forward to bringing the Psycho Killer to AEW. He also talked about exiting WWE and noting that he has nothing bad to say about his time there. You can see the highlights below:

On People Saying He Peaked in 2018:

“I’ve heard for seven or eight years that 2018 was peak Ciampa. Lightning in a bottle. That makes me sick to my stomach because I’m better than that guy in every aspect. Every single measuring stick in the business, I blow 2018 Ciampa out of the water. For seven to eight years, I’ve had to hear that was the best version of me. It wasn’t. It was just the best opportunity I had at putting my vision forth.”

On Not Using His Psycho Killer Character In WWE:

“I’ve had six or seven years to think about, ‘What if I really rode out the ‘Psycho Killer’ gimmick?’ I was doing it on the indies, and it was hot. I signed with WWE, and it never hit its peak. I had to let it go. I had a lot of ideas for how to incorporate it, but it didn’t come to fruition and wouldn’t unless I went out and did it. I have a warranted chip [on my shoulder] because, for seven years, I’ve thought, ‘You have no idea.'”

On Turning Down an Offer To Re-Sign With WWE:

“We chatted a handful of times in the last two or three months. I just needed to do what was right for my wife and me. I have not one bad word to say about WWE. They gave me an incredible opportunity and platform. Over the last 10 years, I learned a ton. I evolved a ton. It’s time for me to take all that and really apply it. The biggest part was the leap.”

On Making the Move For His Family:

“My interest in doing this has been for at least two or three years. For the last six months, I’ve had a foot out the door. It was one of those things: do you bet on yourself, see this through and see if you were right, or do you stay put and take the safe bet? I have a seven-year-old. I want her to know that you get one life. You get one career, you get one chance at this. You don’t want to leave it with ‘What if?’ That was the final determining factor.”

On Being Nervous Before His AEW Dynamite Debut:

“The anxiety I had going into it was out of this world. I’ve had 30 or 45-minute matches, and I’ve never felt the anxiety that I felt last night. All I could think was, ‘I hope they care’…

“Man, am I happy that I made the decision… Last night was one of the best experiences of my entire career.”

On Being Drawn To AEW:

“I’m really drawn to underground, passionate fanbases who have an ‘us vs. the world’ mentality. It’s something I’ve always liked, especially in professional wrestling. For quite some time, I kept looking at AEW and thinking, ‘Wow, that looks cool. That was special.’ Last night was my first taste of it.”