We recently reported on the Twitter storm that was brewing between Austin Aries and Johnny Impact as the two took to social media to sling insults at one another.

In a series of Tweets that have since been deleted, Austin Aries spoke up against the “short shaming” by Johnny Impact. In turn, Aries directed his anger towards Impact’s wife, Taya Valkyrie, referring to her as “husky” amongst other unfavorable remarks.

Since then, Aries has spoken with WOL to defend his position.

He claimed that “when it comes to short things, it’s something I’ve dealt with my whole life. I’m used to it. It drives me.”

“If you want to make things personal, I can get personal and clap back,” he stated, before stressing that if you were to read his tweet and understand what he’s actually attempting to express he’s “not condoning any of those things. I’m saying if I were to make a joke on any of those things or mention these words or type them out in a derogatory way that people would be outraged.”

Further defending his stance, Aries believes “In this day and age, we’re outraged about making fun of people or telling them that they are less than for things that are out of their control. Yet, when it comes to people’s heights, it’s ok for people to continue to use that. I was simply pointing it out."

Austin went on to say that in the build-up to his Bound For Glory match with Johnny Impact, he has never taken “personal shots” or focused on “his real deficiencies.”

The Belt Collector continued, stating that he “never talked about the fact that you’ve never been the guy that you look like because your personality is non-existent. You’re kind of a dork.”

“You come out with this cool image but anyone in the back knows that you’re not cool. I didn’t say any of that. I didn’t take personal shots.”


Austin Aries will face Johnny Impact for the Impact World Championship in 4 days at Bound For Glory. The event takes place October 14th from the Melrose Ballroom in Astoria, New York.