Tommaso Ciampa Discusses Personal Impact Of Wrestling Chris Jericho In AEW

At AEW Redemption 2026, Tommaso Ciampa faced "The Painmaker" Chris Jericho in a No Holds Barred match after getting a win up on Jericho during "AEW Dynamite's" Beach Break special. Speaking to The Sportster, Ciampa shared his excitement at getting to go up against another side of a man he has long looked up to.

"When the Painmaker thing came up, that just felt like such a lay-up," he recalled. "I've been a Jericho fan since my childhood, and the only thing that we didn't get out of that feud was the Lionheart somewhere. Then I would have got every iteration [of Jericho]."

Ciampa fondly recalled how they put the story together, expressing that he and Jericho seemed to have a lot of in-ring chemistry based off of their match at Beach Break. He also stated that the two of them grew to trust each other after their limited time in the ring together. "So when the ideas started flowing for Montreal, before we even got into the building on that one, I had already, in my head, gone: 'Nah, this is gonna be like really, really good,'" he added.

Because of the stipulation, their match featured plenty of brutality, like Ciampa being driven through a barbed wire table, the use of hockey pucks with thumbtacks glued to them, and the moment that saw Jericho dropped through a glass mirror and table. Considering that Jericho is 55, Ciampa claims he was shocked to see his opponent keep up, and stated that he doesn't see himself doing anything similar when he hits that age. "He's inhuman! Like, I don't know how this guy does what he does," he said. "This takes a toll on me, and I'm 41, so I just can't fathom when you're in your 50s, how do you recover?"

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "TheSportster," and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.