Austin Aries Opens Up About WWE Release

Currently, Austin Aries is killing it on the independent circuit. But before returning to his roots, Aries was signed to WWE, where he mostly worked on 205 Live. When he left the company in 2017, rumors circulated on the reason behind his departure.

During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Aries opened up about his release from WWE and how he was starting rehab when he heard the news.

On being injured at the time of his WWE release: “I didn’t ask for my release. I finished the Neville program up. I’d been dealing with a couple herniated discs in my neck. And listen, as anyone who’s been there, man. That schedule is no joke. Seth Rollins says a lot of the time, ‘Not everyone can handle this schedule,’ and he’s right. To be in his spot and to be the man, to be Roman Reigns, the John Cenas. To be those guys that are counted on night in and night out, and to do it five nights a week every f**king week? Like, not everyone can do that physically. That’s the reality, 100%. So you know, just for me personally, after going through this, the travel and whatever, I started having some neck issues. Not sure exactly if it was one bump, it was just I think maybe an accumulation of a couple of small things. I just kind of keep getting worse, and listen. The majority of us wrestlers probably have some type of herniation, or you know, bulge in our discs somewhere. It’s a part of what we do, right? So you manage it, and I was getting some cortisone shots to just kind of manage it, getting through the program.

“And coming out of that, I talked to the doctor because I started to have some sensation loss and some numb[ness] in the hands. And the issues were kind of getting worse, you know. And so I just kind of said to him, ‘Hey man. This program’s kind of finished up. I don’t know if they really have any real plans for me. So you know, this could be a good time to give me a little time to get f**king healthy.’ And so on a Wednesday, I got a call from the doctor and he’s left a message saying ‘Hey, we’re moving you to Not Cleared for Contact. We’re gonna give you at least a month off, so rehabbing your neck, go from there. So go to the PC tomorrow and start rehab.'”

On starting rehab the day before he was released: “So Thursday I went to the PC and started my rehab. And I was actually kind of relieved. It’s nice to get a break and still be able to make some money. But heal up some nagging injuries, maybe work on some things, get to be home, recharge, take care of some house s**t … so it was nice to be like, ‘Okay, cool.’ Like, I just had this awesome f**king stretch. And because 205 was on Tuesdays and we were on Raw and Smackdown, we were on the road an extra day than everybody else, because we were doing both TVs. Then we went home, and then me and Neville, because we were the 205 program, we were then on the road. So I get home Wednesday, and I was back out Friday morning. So like 36 at home, so it was nice to be like, ‘;Alright, I’m gonna have like, at least a month to kind of do this.’ So that was Thursday, and then Friday I got a call from Hunter. And just telling me I was being release.’