Austin Aries Believes He Could’ve Added A Lot More Value During His WWE Run

Originally posted on Wrestlezone
By Jayakrishna Dasappan | Last updated 2/10/24

A wrestler who has been able to capture the top prize in almost every wrestling promotion he has been in is Austin Aries. But he had never captured a title in WWE. Recently, Aries mentioned that he could have been of more value in the Stamford-based promotion.

Recently, the former TNA Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion was a guest on the Developmentally Speaking podcast. During the interview, Austin Aries mentioned that he never got an opportunity to be a dastardly heel in WWE. He is convinced that he had the most value as a villain.

“I never got to be the heel Austin Aries that I think is where I have the most value. I was kind of pigeonholed because Neville was doing such an amazing job in his role that they needed a babyface against him. But I really felt if I had been given an opportunity to be what I had been all those years before I got there that there was a lot more value to be had with me in that.

“Ultimately, it’s always about the good guy persevering in the end, so the more dastardly I can be, the most I can make you believe that I’m a terrible human being, the higher I’m going to be able to take you when I finally get what I deserve,” Austin Aries said. [H/T Wrestling Inc.]

Austin Aries believes that he might be too controversial for AEW

The one place that the former WWE Superstar has never competed in is AEW. During an interview with Steve Fall of WrestlingNews.co, Austin Aries mentioned that the Jacksonville-based promotion would not want him there as he might be too controversial for them.

“I don’t know if that’s in the cards, to be honest,” Austin Aries admitted. “I wonder at least if maybe heard things behind the — and again, it’s everything you take with a grain of salt when you’re hearing things through backchannels, but I might be too controversial for them.

“Maybe they don’t want the backlash from their fan base on the internet. And it’s the juice isn’t worth the squeeze, so to speak. So that’s a decision I have to make. I certainly haven’t really reached out on my end. They haven’t reached out on their end.

“So it’s not one of those situations where I’ve been trying to get work there, and they’ve been passing on it or vice versa. They’ve been trying to bring me in, and I’ve been declining. We just haven’t really extended extended the hand either way.”