Tommaso Ciampa Was Supposed To Debut For AEW Even Earlier

Tommaso Ciampa unsurprisingly debuted in AEW on "AEW Dynamite," which was inevitable following his departure from WWE. But, his first AEW appearance could've happened earlier, if reports are to be believed.

Ciampa's AEW debut came on the January 28 edition of "Dynamite," when he answered Mark Briscoe's Open Challenge for the AEW TNT Championship. The former WWE star, though, was originally earmarked to appear on the January 24 edition of "AEW Collision," as per "Fightful Select." The "Collision" show, which was taped on January 21, was held in the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida and aired a few days later. Ciampa's debut was moved to the following week's "Dynamite" apparently due to bad weather. The report by "Fightful" claimed that the former NXT Champion was kept under wraps behind the scenes on "Dynamite" prior to his debut.

Ciampa had a dream start to his AEW career, as days after making his debut, he won the AEW TNT title in his very first match at his new home on the January 31 edition of "Collision," and successfully defended the title once in a triple threat match against two other former WWE stars, Claudio Castagnoli and Roderick Strong. But, his run with the title didn't last a long time as he lost it to Kyle Fletcher on the February 11 edition of "Dynamite."

Ciampa has detailed that his decision to leave WWE and search for pastures anew had been in the works for a long time, and that the move to AEW was something he had pondered about for the last two to three years. He added that AEW was the only place for him due to the impact that the promotion has had on pro wrestling in the 2020s. Now that he's in AEW, he may have more opportunities to showcase his talent, not just in AEW, but also in sister promotion ROH, where he's considered a legend.