Austin Aries On What Went Wrong In WWE
Austin Aries was recently on VOC Nation's "In the Room" podcast where he discussed his career. He talked about his exit from WWE and what might have gone wrong when he was there.
"I can give you six different answers depending on what talking point I want to use, but at the end of the day, it wasn't my decision there," Aries stated. "It was nothing that I asked for, and it was nothing that I was given a heads up that was coming.
"That question is probably better to ask Vince or to the people that were in charge. I'll be honest, I came in as a short, old white dude. I'm 5'8, 5'9 in my boots. I was 38 years old. I came in basically on secret, double probation that's what I was told."
Aries revealed that he would be told backstage to be on his best behavior. Aries admitted that he probably knew from the start that WWE was not the right fit for him.
"I came in being told that, not that I wasn't welcome, but that I had to be on my 'best behavior.' Despite all of that and them really not having a plan for me, I get my eye hole broken and I offer to do commentary and I spin that into the main roster run into a WrestleMania match. I did all of that in 18 months. I don't know what else I was supposed to do or what people were expecting.
"I don't think walking in there I felt like this was going to be a fit for the next 10 years of my career. I think we both went in there with some reservations, and I think we both proved each other right as far as what they thought of me and what I thought of the system. Ultimately it was their decision to move on and I can only go by what I'm told."
Aries also addressed on a potential fallout with the WWE writers. He talked about the different views that they had.
"I'm sure I can be a pain in the ass because I have my own opinions," Aries said. "Those aren't always welcome in a high pressure situation where they're just trying to dump out content. I've used the analogy, when you're hired there, they want you to be a line cook. I'm a gourmet chef. When I'm trying to add some of my own ideas on how the recipe can be improved, they say that they're McDonald's. We sell a billion."