Austin Aries Talks Alberto El Patron's Impact Wrestling Departure And Backstage Reaction
Wrestling Inc. President Raj Giri was recently on a media conference call week with Impact double-champion Austin Aries, who discussed the recent departure of Alberto El Patron from Impact Wrestling.
As noted, Impact released El Patron after he no-showed the Lucha Underground vs. Impact Twitch TV event in New Orleans earlier this month. One source claimed to PWInsider that El Patron said he was sick, but word going around the locker room was that he blew the show off. El Patron has since broken his silence, saying he missed the show due to a family situation he needed to attend to. Aries, the Impact World Champion and the Impact Grand Champion, said that Impact is moving on and this will now open up opportunities for other wrestlers.
"It's unfortunate but we're moving on. All things being equal, I thought the matchup I ended up having at the joint show ended up being more challenging and more exciting," Aries said. "So we're moving forward, we're looking forward to the 22nd and really trying to capitalize on some things that maybe a year or two ago we wouldn't have been talking about in the wrestling landscape. We're gonna have a couple of the top stars from Lucha Underground competing for the Impact World Championship, and that's pretty exciting."
Aries was expected to team with Rey Fenix in a tag match against El Patron and Pentagon Jr., but that was changed to a triple threat match which Aries lost. Aries was also scheduled to face El Patron in the main event at Redemption on April 22, which will no longer happen and instead it will be Aries vs. Fenix vs. Pentagon Jr. for the title. Giri asked Aries about the reaction backstage when El Patron no-showed the event last Friday. Aries said he didn't think El Patron would do something like that, but he didn't think it affected the match.
"With him being a professional such as he is and everybody else involved, I wasn't overly concerned, but as the event was going I did inquire if anybody had seen him or where his location was, and that's when we realized that he hadn't arrived yet," Aries said. "As far as it affected the match, I don't really think so. Both those guys are very talented and for me, it was just trying to change gears and it was the first time working with either of those guys and getting in the ring with them. But I don't really think it affected the match so much, I was really happy with what we were doing out there, other than obviously the outcome because I would've liked to have won, because then maybe I wouldn't find myself in this situation now."