The latest guest on Insight With Chris Van Vilet was Sabatino Piscitelli (Tino Sabbatelli in WWE), who spoke about his brief period in AEW, how he accidentally burned that bridge, and whether there is any truth to the rumors that he was leaking AEW spoilers. Highlights from the interview are below.
Would he return to AEW?
“So here’s the thing. I don’t know what happened or where it went wrong, this is the truth, that bridge was burned, and I don’t know how. Tony Khan knows me from football, and when WWE offered me that contract, I actually texted Billy Gunn about it. They [AEW] hadn’t offered me anything, Triple H was the one who offered me something. I sent a nice text to Billy Gunn to thank me for the opportunity and I thought it was all good. But when I got released again, someone reached out to AEW and said to Tony Khan ‘Tino is a free agent and he’s going to be a star.’ Tony said to him, and I am paraphrasing, but Tony is upset I went back to WWE. Then 3 months ago, Andrade approaches me and said that he wanted me to be in a group with him. Me and Andrade have always had a good relationship. But he texted me personally and we shot a vignette together. He wanted to bring a group like Evolution to AEW. We shot the video and spent the whole day in Miami. He texted me back and said ‘Tony Khan likes the idea but no Tino.’ I’m like what do you mean? I would love to sit and talk to Tony, he might have been upset that I had one match and then went back to WWE.”
On the rumors he was leaking AEW spoilers:
“Oh man I had to laugh. If anybody knows me, I don’t know where to begin with this. I am an internet dummy, I don’t know what a dirt sheet is, I am not on Twitter and I don’t use Instagram. So when someone tagged me and said ‘You hear what Chris Jericho said about you.’ What was it, NXT reject? At first I ignored it but people started to bring it up more and more, so I started to look into it. I’m like what is this dude talking about? For me to go on the internet and speak on something that I know nothing about? No disrespect, I don’t care about that much. When IMPACT called Terry Taylor asked me, I’m like I don’t know what a dirt sheet is. God honest truth, I don’t know what I would even say. Maybe that is why Tony Khan doesn’t like me that much. So then AEW comes into play, AEW calls me. Billy Gunn calls me and says ‘Sabby, show up to Jacksonville.’ They don’t tell me anything, I show up and I see my name on the board. I’m like wow, I have a match? I mean OK I will do it. So I had this match on AEW Dark, it was a tag team match, but they didn’t tell me anything. They didn’t offer me anything, it was a vague trip. But that same week coach Bloom texted me and said congratulations. I shot him a text back saying ‘Thank you but I didn’t sign anything.’ The next day Triple H reaches out to me. It’s funny, Canyon and coach Bloom was trying to set up the meeting with Triple H for 2 months, but because he is so busy, it would get pushed to the back burner. I was getting so offended, but I know they were pushing for it, but it was funny that he reached out when I appear on AEW. So he reaches out and we meet and he says ‘You know what? You’re the only person we are going to offer to bring back.’ I was honored and privileged, but I asked for one thing, an opportunity. Everybody was saying ‘Wait until Vince sees this.’ And ‘Wait until you get that push.’ But it never happened because of the surgeries and just bad timing. But here we go, they sign me and they bring me back. Triple H goes ‘Tino, come back to the PC, get the ring rust knocked off.’ So I come back to the PC late 2020 and I am in every main event of the house shows in the PC to rehearse. They had me against Ciampa, Thatcher, every skillset. I kept getting put off like ‘Oh next week…’ I started getting a bit upset because I came back for the opportunity. Then I hear ‘You are not right for NXT. We are going to put you on Raw or SmackDown. You don’t fit on this brand.’ I just want the opportunity. Again, this is the first time in my career I felt confident in the ring. I can call matches on the fly and wrestle anyone. Triple H told me I looked and talked like a million bucks, now I think I can wrestle anybody.”
(Thanks to Chris Van Vilet for sending us quotes)