Austin Aries successfully defended his Impact World Championship against Moose at Slammiversary. Not long after, Aries sat down for an interview with Impact Vice President, Don Callis.

Callis hosts “Killin the Town” on the Podcast One Network and had the Impact Champion on as his guest this week. They discussed the reaction to Slammiversary, scripted promos, and Aries made some surprising comments about his time in WWE.

Austin Aries On His “Perfect” WWE Run:

Aries mentioned that he hears from many fans who feel he was used poorly in WWE. He stated he doesn’t have the same opinion of his time in the company, however. According to him, it would have been unrealistic to expect his WWE run to have gone any different.

“Honestly, that was like the perfect run for me,” Aries said. “I don’t think anybody had any real plans for me, I came in on double-secret probation because of my attitude problems so everything was a test from day one, I don’t think they really saw me as anything much.”

While his time in the company was short, Aries did wrestle Neville for the Cruiserweight title at WrestleMania.

“I talked myself into WrestleMania on commentary because I got over with Vince doing that,” Aries continued. “He put me in WrestleMania. Then, you know, as things happen, sometimes you fall out of favor for different reasons…”

At this point, Callis chimed in to remind Aries he is aware of how these things sometimes work in WWE.

“I got in and got out and got exactly what I needed from it,” Aries said on his time in WWE. “It was a great experience, a great learning experience, I got those three letters on my resume which to some people means everything. I got my WrestleMania moment which cemented my legacy so to speak.”

Austin Aries and Don Callis on Slammiversary Reaction and Booking:

Callis and Aries addressed comments by some who suggested the 3 hardcore matches on Slammiversary created a difficult scenario for the two men working the main event. Aries, however, feels that creative wrestling can always win over a crowd, even when that crowd has seen several high-spot or hardcore moves earlier in the show.

“Part of why it worked last night was creatively you guys allowed us to go out there and build this match using our own voice and our own story,” Aries said to Callis.

Aries and Callis also debated the decision to give Aries the clean victory on Sunday over Moose.

“When Scott and I came in here in January,” Callis said. “One of the things that we both felt very strongly about was clean finishes.”

“He’s the best wrestler in the world, he beat the guy with his finish,” Callis continued. “It’s an athletic contest, there’s nothing wrong with that.”