The wrestling world was shocked when it was announced that Austin Aries had been released from WWE this past Friday. Aries reportedly asked for his release and it was granted to him later that day. The superstar had impressed on the independent circuit for years, and he was an even bigger star once he wrestled for TNA a few years back. Aries had been working as a cruiserweight over on the 205 Live and Monday Night Raw shows, but that apparently was precisely the problem. It appears that Aries was not comfortable in his role as a cruiserweight, and he decided that he should be doing more than that if he were to stay with the company.
According to a new report from PWMania, Aries was not happy working strictly as a cruiserweight for WWE, and he decided that he would probably have better luck for himself if he were to go back on the independent circuit. The report also adds that Aries had a big problem with his attitude backstage as well, and that many officials in the company did not like how the man carried himself backstage. WrestleZone’s Justin LaBar claimed that Aries is “his own worst enemy” in this case, and that he was actually granted his release on Tuesday of this past week. Now we know that Austin Aries is done with WWE, so what will “The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived” be doing next?
It seems like he will be continuing his wrestling career despite reports that he was going to be healing from some injuries. He could easily go to either Ring of Honor or Impact (now Global Force Wrestling), both were promotions that crowned him as world champion. Aries was vocal on social media about how upset he was when his match against Neville was excluded from the Wrestlemania 33 DVD this year, so perhaps this news isn’t quite so shocking after all. The crusierweights have always been presented as below that of that other talents in the company, so maybe Aries just saw the writing on the wall. Aries’ final match was a loss to Neville at Extreme Rules this year, and his final appearnce was on the June 20th edition of 205 Live where he announced he would be taking time off due to various injuries.