Austin Aries: “AEW is the place that everyone wants to be right now”
During his recent interview with Straight Talk Wrestling former IMPACT world champion Austin Aries spoke about making his return to the pro-wrestling circuit, and how he hopes to patch up any burned bridges he had in the past. Highlights can be found below.
Says he is interested in making a return to the wrestling scene at a major organization:
Absolutely, absolutely [I would be open to returning to or debuting in a major organization]. I think it really comes down to each of these different companies, whether you’re talking — we can name ‘em. We can start from MLW where I’ve been before, Ring of Honor which I said has a long history, IMPACT Wrestling, where I left a little controversially and I’d probably like to go back and maybe remedy that in some people’s eyes. New Japan is a place I’ve never actually wrestled so there’s some interest there, some fresh matchups that maybe fans would be intrigued with. Obviously, AEW is the place that everyone wants to be right now. You know, and then WWE, a place I’ve been before. All these different places, they bring positives and they bring potential — I don’t wanna say negatives but there’s plus and minuses to all of ‘em, from scheduling to financial, maybe what’s in their protocols right now. That’s something that’s important to me as we’re in this world so, but yeah, I’m definitely interested because one thing I think that time away also let me do is it let me appreciate this again and realizes that-that window closes for all of us at some point physically.
Says he understands why he was cut by WWE:
You can’t get upset, business is business. They [WWE] make business decisions. You know, I had to take my personal feelings out of it and look [at it] from a business decision. I mean at the time, listen, I was what? 38 years old, I’m under 5’10, I’ve been injured, I had a orbital bone fracture, herniated disc. If you’re just looking at dollars and cents, it’s probably not a guy you wanna continue investing [in]. If I’m doing my Madden Franchise mode, that’s a guy that might get cut, let’s be honest. If I got a 23 year old on the bench that’s healthy and willing to do whatever, this guy over here that’s probably taking up a little bit more of my salary cap. That’s for me what — I think because I’ve grown [to be] such a fan of sports and that side of sports, the general manager side, it allows me to detach and go, ‘Well, looking at it from this standpoint, it makes sense.’ I might not like it, but that makes sense.
