REVEALED: Why Tommaso Ciampa Left WWE For AEW

Tommaso Ciampa became All Elite on Wednesday night, making his AEW debut on Dynamite to accept Mark Briscoe's open challenge for a TNT Title match on Collision.

Ciampa's AEW signing came together only a couple of days after his WWE contract officially expired at midnight on January 26, with Ciampa having announced one week earlier that he would be leaving WWE when his deal came to an end.

Speaking with The Takedown on SI, Ciampa revealed he had been considering leaving WWE for a little while.

"It's something I've been leaning towards for quite some time. I don't know that I can say there's one sole factor that led to it or caused it. I think it's one of those things when your contract is coming to an end, you naturally have discussions," Ciampa stated.

Ciampa's discussions involved him speaking with his wife and daughter and it ultimately led to the decision to exit WWE after beginning his second run with the company in 2015. One of the motivating factors behind jumping ship to AEW, though, was the underground spirit of the promotion and the AEW fanbase.

"If I wrestled in the 90s, I'd wanna be a part of ECW.... Early 2000s, you wanna be a part of Ring of Honor. I was lucky I got to do that a little bit. 2010s, I think for me at least, I wanted to be part of NXT Black and Gold. And when I looked at the landscape of professional wrestling in the 2020s… the answer was AEW, man. That's what I want to be a part of," Ciampa added.

The 40-year-old debuted in AEW as the Psycho Killer, and Ciampa already has plans for how the gimmick will evolve over the next year.

"There were a lot of times I tried… and for one reason or another [over the years in WWE], it just wasn't something that I could do. But for Tony [Khan] and the whole crew to just collaborate the way they did and have open arms, and see the vision and just allow it to breathe and have a chance, I'm already thinking six months, 12 months ahead on the evolution of the Psycho Killer."

Tommaso Ciampa ended his WWE run as a two-time NXT Champion, and two-time WWE Tag Team Champion & one-time NXT Tag Team Champion as part of #DIY with Johnny Gargano.