Austin Aries Talks Being Contacted By IMPACT Wrestling After WWE Departure

Former WWE Superstar Austin Aries recently joined former WWE European Champion Sean “X-Pac” Waltman’s podcast, X-Pac12360, to talk about a variety of professional wrestling topics. Aries discussed being contacted by IMPACT Wrestling after his WWE release, what kind of wrestling promotion he’d like to work with now, and the endless opportunities he now has away from WWE. Here are the highlights:



IMPACT Wrestling contacting him after leaving WWE:

“We had some talks but really for me, the only position I was interested in there was the position of being a decision maker. I told Dixie (Carter) when I left there I wouldn’t come back and work for anybody. But If I was going to come back there (Impact), that I had to be in a position to make a difference. I know they just went through a big régime change, I know we had some discussion about me coming in there and possibly being part of the team.

“But I know where I am right now in my career and all the possibilities and things I have in front of me, I really couldn’t invest myself emotionally into that because let’s be honest they’ve got a lot of work to do there. They’ve done a lot of bad business over the years and they’ve got a lot to overcome. And I think the guys there know that and I wish them luck.”

What kind of wrestling promotion he’d like to work with:

“I don’t wanna stamp my name of approval on places that aren’t doing it the right way or at least trying to do it the right way. It’s very important to me that if I show up somewhere, I’m going to believe in what you’re doing or trying to do. And if I feel at any point that that shifts, I have no problem walking away from that. I’m not gonna patch my name on places that are doing the old way of business. We want to move forward, we wanna have places where guys can make a good living.”

The endless opportunities he now has:

“I had to divide my time, had some restrictions and during that time, I had a herniated disc in my neck and I had to get right before I can get back in the ring. I’m really lucky and thankful that my opportunities were endless. I have seen people reaching out, booking me on their show. I really had the opportunity to pick and choose where I wanna go, make my own schedule, decide where I wanted to stamp my name.”