{"id":211568,"date":"2026-02-04T13:47:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T19:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=211568"},"modified":"2026-02-04T13:47:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T19:47:40","slug":"aew-rising-and-fading-stars-of-the-week-of-course-tommaso-ciampa-is-the-rising-star-with-great-new-entrance-and-strong-debut-match-but-what-is-his-ultimate-role-in-aew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/02\/04\/aew-rising-and-fading-stars-of-the-week-of-course-tommaso-ciampa-is-the-rising-star-with-great-new-entrance-and-strong-debut-match-but-what-is-his-ultimate-role-in-aew\/","title":{"rendered":"AEW RISING AND FADING STARS OF THE WEEK: Of course, Tommaso Ciampa is the rising star with great new entrance and strong debut match, but what is his ultimate role in AEW?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2617402542\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>Welcome everyone!<\/p>\n<p>It was, apparently, championship week on AEW television. Between Dynamite and Collision we were treated to six title matches. All but one ended with the champions retaining, more on the title change later.<\/p>\n<p>The most disappointing match was Thekla losing to Kris Statlander because you all know I feel the Statlander title reign has been a bust.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s get to my list!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>RISING STAR OF THE WEEK<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Tommaso Ciampa<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Wow, I was legitimately surprised by Ciampa\u2019s debut. Then he debuted with a, dare I say, great entrance song. After that Ciampa had the encore of his debut being a TNT title win.<\/p>\n<p>You can\u2019t do this type of push with everyone that comes in but I think it can and will work for Ciampa. Why? Because he is a guy that would have been a \u201cDay 1\u201d guy in AEW had Ciampa not worked for WWE. He just feels more like an AEW guy and maybe it\u2019s because, and it pains me to say this, NXT Black and Gold is as a really good blueprint for how AEW should be.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless it does not matter because Ciampa was in NXT\/WWE for the first 6 years of AEW. The question now is what is Ciampa\u2019s ceiling in AEW.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2324969840\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Personally right where he is happens to be perfect. Ciampa, like Mark Briscoe, can be the ultimate gate keeper to the main event scene. Any young heels on the rise would have gone through Briscoe these last few years and now it can be Ciampa.<\/p>\n<p>In a crazy stat I believe Ciampa makes 16 new AEW signings since the calendar turned to 2026 and oh how sweet 16 was for all of the fans. Here\u2019s to Ciampa continuing to grow this Psycho Killer persona.<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/aew-dynamite-post-show-1-28-keller-kuester-talk-ciampa-s-debut-andrade-s-big-win-mjf-brody-king-young-bucks-go-retro-omega-s-push--69660003\">CLICK HERE<\/a> (or search \u201cwade Keller\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AEW DYNAMITE POST-SHOW (1\/28): Keller &amp; Kuester talk Ciampa's debut, Andrade's big win, MJF-Brody King, Young Bucks go retro, Omega's push\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=69660003&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>FADING STAR OF THE WEEK<\/h3>\n<p><strong>THEKLA<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So where does she go from here? Thekla has just 1 singles match win on Dynamite since her debut last year. All of her singles wins have been on Collision. And honestly, that\u2019s just been 3threewins over the last year. Beating Willow Nightengale, Mina Shirakawa, and Tay Melo, in that order so each win had less meaning. Not the way to build up your women\u2019s division.<\/p>\n<p>So her losing makes sense knowing the background of her wins. That said, Kris Statlandar is not doing a good job as champion. It feels like she has regressed as a character, somehow, so I was just ready for a change.<\/p>\n<p>I just don\u2019t know what AEW can do with Thekla now that won\u2019t feel like a step backwards. She has a singles win over Willlow, so she could try to use that to get a shot at the TBS Title, but that\u2019s an obvious step down. She and one of her \u201csisters\u201d could go after the tag titles but the group just lost a tag title match.<\/p>\n<p>Honestly, this just shows a lack of the true depth in the AEW Women\u2019s Singles Division since the tag titles were introduced. The tag division has depleted the singles division.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3540752325\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>That said, with the women they have, it can be rebuilt kind of quickly. Meghan Bayne is the one, for me, that should be built up again and win the AEW World title from Statlander. As I\u2019ve said before the Statlander experiment has not worked and I feel it\u2019s time to move on. A heel Bayne swatting off baby face challengers sounds better than what\u2019s going on with Stat.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (1\/28) - AEW Dynamite w\/Keller &amp; Kuester\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ubVkIBhJhlo?start=3&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1777134041\"><div id=\"pwtor-2571746283\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Welcome everyone! It was, apparently, championship week on AEW television. Between Dynamite and Collision we were treated to six title matches. All but one ended with the champions retaining, more on the title change later. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/02\/04\/aew-rising-and-fading-stars-of-the-week-of-course-tommaso-ciampa-is-the-rising-star-with-great-new-entrance-and-strong-debut-match-but-what-is-his-ultimate-role-in-aew\/\" title=\"AEW RISING AND FADING STARS OF THE WEEK: Of course, Tommaso Ciampa is the rising star with great new entrance and strong debut match, but what is his ultimate role in AEW?\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":211569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,4309,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-rising-star-fading-star","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-04-at-1.46.45-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211570,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211568\/revisions\/211570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}