If you were a fan of TNA (now IMPACT Wrestling) back in 2013, chances are you will have seen or at least heard about an incident involving Austin Aries and ring announcer Christy Hemme.
As Aries and his partner Bobby Roode were making their way to the ring, Hemme mistakenly announced them as their opponents Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian. Aries, who was becoming one of the company's top heels at the time, backed her into the corner before climbing up on the turnbuckle with his crotch level with her face.
Aries has apologized since (kinda), and claims not to have meant any offence, but the incident did not go over very well at all, and A-Double was labelled as a "sexual harasser."
"That on-air interaction between me and [Christy Hemme], I got classified as a sexual harasser," Aries said while appearing on The Ryback Show. "And that, for me, was really difficult. It turned me very dark and I really leaned into it. ‘If this is what you think of me and who I am, well then, I’ll give you that,’ because as we know as wrestlers, the most important thing is to listen to the reaction. I don’t care if it’s good or bad, so I leaned into the bad because it was easy. But that slow and steady rode me personally; it takes a toll.”
More allegations of misconduct have come Austin's way because of the recent #SpeakingOut movement, but he's always denied them. The former TNA Champion addresses the accusations in more detail on his podcast if you're interested in what he has to say.
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