Austin Aries

Austin Aries em entrevista ao The Post and Courier falou sobre nunca ter trabalhado na WWE:

"I don't worry about that. They've had opportunities to sign me, and for whatever reason or measuring stick they were using, they didn't see fit to give me an opportunity. I don't know all the ins and outs of those decisions, and I don't really dwell on it."
Aries falou ainda da saída de Hulk Hogan da TNA:

"Hogan is doing whatever's good for Hogan ... just like he's done his whole career and just like he should continue to do. And if that means staying with TNA, great. If that means going to some other venture, then I wish him all the luck."

WN escreveu:Austin Aries deu uma entrevista ao IN THE ROOM para promover o Lockdown. Eis os highlights:

TNA's health as a company: I think TNA's fine. I think people get a little wrapped up in the day-to-day operations, per se. They like to maybe read into things without really having the knowledge of everything that's going on behind the scenes. ... My paychecks are coming. I'm working consistently ... There's a lot of good things on the horizon. [TNA has] some fresh talent coming in that's going to inject some new excitement to the fans ... A lot of the US wrestling fans, especially the ones who make their money by creating controversy, they like to get wrapped up in the Nielsen ratings, and try to use that as a gauge to how good TNA is doing ... We are very strong globally ... Every company goes through ebbs and flows, as they say. Every company has to continually reassess their business plan. Continually keep things fresh and exciting so things don't get stagnant. This company is no different.

Promotions taking better care of their wrestlers: When you treat your employees with respect, you take care of them, and they're proud to come to work, they're going to work hard. They're not going to find ways to get back [what] they feel like they're being cheated out of. From that simple standpoint, I think if wrestlers came to work, not feeling like the [were] being taken advantage of, I think the output would increase. I think the morale would increase across the board, and I think the dog-eat-dog mentality would improve ... The wrestling business could greatly thrive. Would there be a financial component in the short run that might hurt [the industry's] bottom line? Sure. But, again, if you're thinking about long-term success of how you do in your business, it could be a great change in this industry ... I see both sides of it, but I think that there's a better medium than what we have right now.

Having one of TNA's more successful pushes: I'm going to give myself more credit and say that [I've] figured out ways to keep myself relevant, and take whatever opportunity, big or small, that they put in front of me, and go make it meaningful. I'm grateful for the platform, for the opportunities that they've given me. But at the end of the day it's my job to take those [opportunities] and hit home runs with them. That's what separates good talent from great talent. Some guys know how to take a good opportunity and turn it into something bigger. As you know, my opportunity to come back to TNA was for one match. No promises, for all intents and purposes one match, and then I was going to be gone. And I took that one opportunity and parlayed it into a pretty successful run I'd say. I want to give[TNA] some credit but I have to give myself some credit too for that ... There have been a lot of opportunities handed out in TNA. Some guys have made the most of them, and other guys weren't able to do it. And that's what kind of separates the guys who can carry the ball and those that can't.

If TNA originally planned to push him: I honestly don't know what was in the plans. I don't know how far, especially in this industry, how far plans are really made. I think any good creative team would always keep their options open and be able to change things if the circumstances dictate it ... My opinion, again [is] I walked in there for one match. So it isn't like when they brought me in for that X Division showcase match they said "In a year, we're going to put the heavyweight title on him and give him an opportunity to be the guy." So, in that regard, the answer would be no. I don't think that this is something that you plan out for two or three years ahead of time.

Foi reportado que a TNA tinha colocado Austin Aries de castigo depois de ele ter tido uma discussão nas gravações de TV.

Segundo a WON, a única razão para que a TNA tivesse tirado Aries do castigo foi porque Samoa Joe teve de sair dos shows devido a problemas familiares e Aries foi usado no lugar dele.

Moore escreveu:O Aries foi substituto do Ricochet (lol).