Tommaso Ciampa has built a lengthy and respected wrestling career, though he doubts he would have broken into the industry if he were starting out today.
A veteran with more than two decades in the business, Ciampa now competes for All Elite Wrestling.
In a recent conversation with SB Nation, Ciampa explained why he feels fortunate to have entered wrestling during an earlier era. He said,
“If I came up in today’s era with such heavy social media influence, I don’t know if I’d even know how to navigate it. I’m very lucky I came up during a time where you just went to class, put in the work, and put in the reps to get where you needed to go. If it relied on social media presence alone, I don’t think I would have done very well.”
Ciampa trained under Killer Kowalski, who also trained Triple H. During the interview, Ciampa reflected on working with the late legend. He said,
“Killer would always invite us out to lunch after class and chat with us for as long as we wanted to answer questions. He was a huge influence on my style and approach. ‘Make the people believe’ was his main quote that he would repeat, so I’ve taken that to heart.”
Ciampa isn’t the only talent to question how they’d fare as a rookie in the current landscape; Liv Morgan has also said she doubts she would have lasted if she were starting out today.
