Austin Aries On Being Undersized In WWE, CM Punk In UFC, Potential Opponents, Daniel Bryan's Future
Recently on The Ross Report, NXT's Austin Aries talked about a number of topics including who he is looking forward to facing in a WWE ring, being undersized in professional wrestling, how CM Punk will fare in UFC, and what the future holds for Daniel Bryan.
When asked who he is looking forward to wrestling in WWE, Aries named several performers including Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, Finn Bálor, Chris Jericho, and Seth Rollins.
"I have some history with some of the guys that are there. It would be fun to revisit some of that whether Sami Zayn, obviously just got called up [to WWE's main roster]. Me and Samoa Joe have had some real classic battles over the years. I've actually never really competed with Finn Bálor, so I think that right now, considering his position in NXT, I think that our skill sets match up and I think he's a guy who I haven't wrestled who I think would be fun to get in there with and give the fans some excitement." Aries added, "Chris Jericho is a guy who I grew up really appreciating what he did in the ring. Again, maybe it's a similar skill set to mine and he's still going strong, so that's a guy who would be fun to get in there with who I haven't had the opportunity to. Seth Rollins when he comes back [from injury]. We did some stuff back in the Ring Of Honor days, but he [has] grown so much as a performer. I'm in a lot different point in my career, so that might be fun to kind of revisit and see what kind of match up that would give us now."
'The Greatest Man That Ever Lived' claimed that he did not really see being well under six feet tall as a hinderance in his professional wrestling career until he worked tryouts for WWE.
"When I first started training, I guess the fact that I was undersized, it just didn't register initially. Obviously, I knew I wasn't huge and there were some bigger guys in the territories at the time, but I guess I never looked at it as a hinderance. I just took it as all different. I had a different skill set because I could do things those other guys couldn't do, just like they could do certain things I couldn't do. And to me, that was always the beauty of [professional] wrestling, match one guy's skill set against another guy's skill set and [see] how that meshes and how that gives you a different story. And so, I never looked at it as something that would be held against me. Obviously then, fast forward a few years when I had some dark matches with WWE. Basically, I found out in a roundabout way that I wasn't big enough. And that was really the first time that concept kind of hit me, like, 'oh wow! Like, I might not be big enough to get certain opportunities', but it really didn't deter me."
On the subject on CM Punk's move to MMA, 'A Double' said that Punk certainly has his work cut out for him, though he said if anyone can succeed in UFC, it is Punk.
"I know he [has] been a fan of Mixed Martial Arts for a long, long time. I remember going by his place back in our early Ring Of Honor days just to hang out a couple of times and he had a lot of books on jiu-jitsu and things like that, so I mean, it's something he [has] always had interest in. And what I do know about Punk is that he always marched to the beat of his own drum and he always likes a challenge and he wants to do things that people say he can't do, so I think when you put those things together, it probably led him to where he's at. Obviously, he has an uphill battle. I mean, he's not getting in the game at a young age. He's not a particularly high level athlete, but he is a smart guy and if anybody's going to find a way to succeed, I imagine he will."
As for Daniel Bryan's future, Aries stated that Bryan will be successful at whatever he chooses to do next.
"I've known Bryan long enough, and again, we're not super close outside of the [professional] wrestling world, but I know enough about him that anything he wants to do, he will accomplish and he [has] got such a unique outlook on life that he's always happy. He doesn't take things for granted. He doesn't let the fame and those types of things, that's not what drives that guy and anything he wants to do in life, he'll tackle and he'll be successful. [He is] just a unique person and a great all around guy."
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Source: The Ross Report