While being interviewed by Chris Van Vliet, Austin Aries discussed his release from WWE:
“[Triple H] said he was really shocked, as shocked as I was,” Aries said. “It was per Vince and they didn’t have anything for me and that was it. I asked him some questions if it was because of some contract things that we were negotiating. I was literally surprised because there were no issues, I hadn’t had any issues with anybody.”
“On the exit call with Mark Carrano, head of Talent Relations, he was telling me ‘hey, you can wrestle for Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore but not for Ring of Honor, not for..’ I said, ‘whoa whoa whoa Mark, I’m not cleared to wrestle for anybody dude, I just started rehab yesterday, my neck’s f***ed, I’m not trying to go work,” Aries said.
“Then I heard nothing back. And then about 2 or 3 hours later, I saw reports from [Dave] Meltzer that I asked for my release. Strange. If I’m injured and I’m going to get some time off and still make some money… It wasn’t something I’d talked about or wasn’t even on my mind. For that story to come out I found curious and also the timing of it.”
Aries also commented on the ending to Bound For Glory 2018 and if it was a work or a shoot:
“A lot of people were hitting me up afterward going ‘was it a work or a shoot?’ and I was like ‘yes.’ Which part? The best parts of wrestling are when you pull from realism. The part where I got up and walked off and f***ked everyone off and s**t, I didn’t go into business for myself, there were other people that were aware that was going to happen. There was a plan for me to return, it was my idea. It was an idea I pitched for a reason.”
