Following his sudden WWE departure, Austin Aries shocked wrestling fans by arriving in Impact Wrestling and almost immediately winning the world championship. Following so many departures, he's a big draw for the company, and Aries has now revealed what exactly led to his return there.
"We had some initial discussions shortly before I was a free agent. Really before the new team was put in place. I had a conversation with Sonjay and we were just kinda talking about some different things. At the time I wasn’t really interested in coming in as talent. I was really more interested in coming in and really just trying to help right the ship, if anything. I just realized at that point that that probably wasn’t a fit for me. It really wasn’t until late December when we talked and they had their team in place. I got to hear their philosophy and what they are trying to do trying to turn things around. Had a great talk with Scott D’Amore and decided that this was a place I could come in and lend a hand and really help rebuild Impact Wrestling back to some prominence."
As for the extent of his deal with the company, Aries confirmed that he's only working a certain number of dates with them, something which makes sense considering the fact that Impact has a spotty track record with its talent and isn't necessarily the most reliable of employers these days.
"I am not under any kind of long term contract with Impact Wrestling. We came to an agreement on a certain number of dates that would run a certain length of time but there are really no restrictions on me which is the beautiful thing of this opportunity. They want me to keep doing what I am doing which is basically just traveling around, and I say it tongue and cheek, but I’m “The Belt Collector”. I am going to all these promotions and trying to collect titles. That was the opportunity that was appealing to me."
Talk then turned to Aries' WWE departure and it probably won't surprise you to learn that his issues with the company's creative team played a big role in his decision to move on from 205 Live.
"Here’s an interesting thing with that, I’ll bet the writers didn’t probably like working with me very much. Understand that in that environment when I am given something that the writers hand me if I have anything that I think should be adjusted, or maybe things that I would not personally say, as someone who has done this for seventeen years and as a writer it isn’t always so easy to just change those things. They then have to go march back to the office and have those things changed for them. The process is a little tedious. To me, it takes a lot of the artistic and creative freedoms away from the wrestlers. I don’t know a writer who would know my voice better than myself. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ll say this, if there were ever any writers who had frustrations with me they certainly never expressed them to me. It was something that was never brought to my attention.”
Does Aries being in Impact make you more excited about the promotion? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section and be sure to stay tuned for updates on his role in the company.
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