Austin Aries is back in MLW.
Major League Wrestling held Battle RIOT VII and they had a couple of surprises in and outside of the ring. Arguably one of the biggest surprises was the return of Austin Aries. The former WWE star joined the commentary booth and it seems to be a permanent fixture for him going forward.
Saying that Austin Aries is a controversial figure is like saying that water is wet. The 46-year-old is a decorated athlete who’s a former TNA World Heavyweight Champion, but Aries’ name hasn’t been in a good light for the past several years.
Whether it’s reports about his difficult behavior, or the infamous Bound For Glory shoot that saw him upstage Johnny Impact’s big moment, or the abuse allegations that came out in 2020. Now Aries has denied the abuse rumors, but his reputation has notably taken a severe hit.
Before the allegations, Aries was apart of MLW in 2018 and 2019. He made his debut for Major League Wrestling a year following his release from WWE, beating ACH at a World’s Collide event. He would have four more matches with MLW in 2019 before exiting the company.
As of now, there’s no telling how long Aries is staying with MLW. But the former WWE star did address some negative reaction to his return as color commentator.
Aries was actually an excellent commentator during his time in WWE, so him joining the MLW booth is a natural fit. Though his name hasn’t been seen much in the pro wrestling world as of late, Aries has actually been quite busy. He’s competed in All-Star Wrestling, PCW UK Live, and Target Wrestling this year. The most notable thing he’s done since the abuse allegations was compete in NWA. There was a point where he was very interested in joining AEW, but the MLW commentator told Steve Fall of WrestlingNews.co that the promotion may be too controversial for them.
“I don’t know if that’s in the cards, to be honest,” Austin Aries admitted. “I wonder at least if maybe heard things behind the — and again, it’s everything you take with a grain of salt when you’re hearing things through backchannels, but I might be too controversial for them.
“Maybe they don’t want the backlash from their fan base on the internet. And it’s the juice isn’t worth the squeeze, so to speak. So that’s a decision I have to make. I certainly haven’t really reached out on my end. They haven’t reached out on their end.
It’s not clear if Aries plans on competing in MLW again. He’s still active so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he did.