98.5 Kygo held a recent interview with Tommaso Ciampa. One of the topics discussed included Ciampa’s thoughts about his belief that presentation is the number one most important thing about a wrestler and this is what people mean in regards to a wrestler’s “aura.”
“Presentation man in wrestling is everything, you know, for a long time it wasn’t. It was your ring work and your promo work and presentation kind of fell somewhere behind that. I would argue presentation is number one now. It’s number one. All the kids like to call it aura and stuff and, and you don’t control that. You know what I mean? In All Elite Wrestling, AEW, we get a lot of collaborate, a lot of collaboration, a lot of control over how we want to present ourselves, and that is wonderful. It’s a breath of fresh air.”
Ciampa also gave his thouhgts about the crowd’s reaction to his official debut appearance in AEW and how he had a ‘”big burden” taken off his shoulders the moment the AEW crowd reacted to his entrance.
“That was a big burden taken off the shoulders the moment, not the music hit, because no one knew when the music hit, right? But the moment the name flashed and the lights came up, because you just don’t know, you know, as the performer. This wasn’t a I hope they remember me thing, because I had only left WWE four to six weeks before. This was just I hope they care thing, and to hear that reaction and to have it be with Mark Briscoe, who is a guy I go 15 years back with and love him to death. Everything about that night, that day, the whole week was just magical.”
Ciampa also gave his thoughts about his current feud with Kyle Fletcher in AEW and how he is here for the long haul to regain the TNT Championship.
“I’ll tell you, when I came here, there was all these different talents I never crossed paths with, and he was on that list for sure, being like, ‘oh, man, that’ll be a fun one,’ and he is a hell of a talent. I feel like in pro wrestling, just like sports, it’s any given Sunday, and he got the win that night. I’ll take nothing against that. Better man won that night. But I do feel like he’s staying a little bit extra in Australia. It’s almost like he’s wondering if I’m going to disappear or go away, but I ain’t going away. I ain’t going anywhere. I’m here for the long haul.”
Ciampa also gave his thoughts about AJ Styles’ decision to retire from his in-ring wrestling career in WWE.
“You can never do a best ever, it’s impossible, it’s all opinion, but he’s in the conversation, and that’s all you can hope to do as a performer, be in the conversation. I got to wrestle him a few times, a couple times on live events, I got to have one televised match with him to determine the US championship contender, and that was probably the most fun I’ve had, in a televised (match), but I didn’t get many of those good singles televised matches. So that was a ton of fun, and he’s just one of them guys who even behind the scenes, just a standup guy. You know what I mean? Like he’s not trying to backstab anyone. He does it right. He works hard. He lets his work speak for itself. He’s earned the right to do whatever he wants at this point, and if that means he hangs it up and does the family thing, good for him. If that means he just takes a break and then decides, hey, I’m gonna do one off here, one off here, good for him. Whatever he decides, man, he’s earned it. He’s proven to be the best everywhere he’s went. TNA, New Japan, Ring of Honor, WWE. If he ever does it at AEW, he’s immediately gonna be one of the best. There’s no hesitation in that, right? There’s a lot of dream matchups. So whatever he decides to do though, good for him, man. But kudos.”
In a separate recent interview with NBC 9News, Ciampa also gave his thoughts about his belief that there is nothing else on the planet that is like AEW, especially AEW live shows.
“All Elite Wrestling is like nothing else on this planet, especially live. Live pro wrestling is unparalleled, and what they’re doing right now, what we’re doing right now at All Elite is just incredible. The crowds, the atmosphere, it’s just there’s a little bit of something for everybody between Toni Storm and Willow Nightingale and Orange Cassidy. We get a good mix of every kind of genre of pro wrestling. It’s just been a blast so far.”
Ciampa also gave his thoughts about the beginnings of his pro wrestling career.
“The bug bit me real young, you know, since I was, you know, my earliest memories, four or five, playing with the figures. A lot of kids grow out of it, and I just kind of grew into it and just dug my heels in. Luckily too, I came from, I grew up in Boston. Killer Kowalski’s school was only about a half hour from my house. So I had the benefit of seeing independent wrestlers around and seeing them at the gym and stuff as I got into age 16, 17, 18. So I found a way to get my foot in the door, and then once I did, I just never got out.”
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