Tommaso Ciampa’s decision to leave WWE after a decade with the company wasn’t solely about seeking a fresh start, but similarly about achieving financial stability, the professional wrestler revealed in a recent interview. The move, culminating in his AEW debut on January 28th and subsequent victory over Mark Briscoe for the TNT Championship, was years in the making, according to Ciampa.
Speaking on the “Close Up w/ Renee Paquette” podcast, Ciampa explained that a desire for reciprocal appreciation from the wrestling world played a role in his departure. “Every performer…you love the business. And the thing you really genuinely desire is for it to love you back,” he said. “I’m an optimist…I think it’s not going to love you back 100% of the time. But those moments when it does, like we thrive for that.”
However, the core of the decision, he stated, revolved around financial security. Ciampa and his family engaged in months – and potentially years – of deliberation before ultimately choosing to move forward with AEW. “That’s a big thing, right? [Regularly checking his bank account and understanding his financial stability],” he noted. He clarified that he wasn’t financially prepared to make the same move when he initially transitioned from NXT to WWE’s main roster.
“To be honest, that’s the biggest thing that you start to go is like we are getting a definitive income, it’s a salary,” Ciampa explained. He contrasted this with the uncertainties of the independent wrestling circuit, including travel expenses and their impact on his family. “You understand the travel if you start to go to different countries to do this and stuff, and what’s that impact on Willow, what’s the impact on my wife?”
When he left NXT for the main roster, Ciampa acknowledged, the family’s financial situation wasn’t conducive to taking a risk. “We got at that time a three-year-classic, now a seven-year-old. It just wasn’t in the cards,” he said. The current timing, however, felt right. “Yeah. But now I’m starting to go, yeah, I think we are at the point financially, let’s accept the risk.”
Prior to his AEW debut, Ciampa filed a trademark for “Psycho Killer,” a moniker he’s been associated with throughout his career, according to records. His first match in AEW saw him challenge Mark Briscoe for the TNT Championship, a title he secured on January 28th. Ciampa, born Tommaso Whitney on May 8, 1985, is currently 40 years old and hails from Boston, Massachusetts (according to his Wikipedia profile, last revised February 9, 2026).
Ciampa’s move to AEW comes after his WWE contract expired earlier this year, as reported by Power-Wrestling.de. In an interview with “Sports Illustrated,” Ciampa indicated that his desire to join AEW stemmed from a long-held ambition to be part of the promotion, comparing it to his previous aspirations to wrestle for ECW in the 1990s and Ring of Honor in the early 2000s.
