Former WWE Superstar and pro wrestling veteran Aron Stevens (Damien Sandow) appeared on an episode of the Wrestling Perspective podcast, where he talked about a number of topics including how he really had no desire to wrestle following his exit from the WWE back in 2016.
Stevens said, “It’s funny, that was an interesting time in my life. I really had no desire to [wrestle], but [IMPACT] reached out to me shortly after I had left WWE. I had gotten a fair amount of press, from leaving WWE, way more than I thought, which was very flattering. I was not necessarily in the best space, in terms of my relationship with the wrestling industry; not to sound like I’m bitter because I’m not, I’m truly not. But look creatively at what the WWE was doing with me and what I felt I should be getting as far as opportunities based solely on the response I was getting from fans.”
Stevens also talked about how he would get one of the biggest crowd reactions during his time in the WWE, but his name was never mentioned in the reports of which WWE Superstars would get the biggest pops of the night.
“I did an autograph signing a couple of weeks ago, and one of the guys putting the signing on said, hey, I have to let you know something; my friend works for WWE and worked for them when you were there. I knew who he was talking about. They would get the house show reports back and it would list the biggest pops of the night; he said, “You were right there; it was [John] Cena and you.” Then it got to a point where they would bring that back to certain people in the office, who will remain nameless because I’m not that guy to name names and bury people. They said, don’t even mention him anymore. So that’s how far removed I was from any opportunity. They didn’t want to hear my name, yet they kept me on the road for whatever. It’s all good; that’s the entertainment industry, it isn’t ballet, it’s not all fair, and that’s life. But as a performer, I’m just thinking, what do I have to do? Because I was blowing the roof off the place. So I had a bitter taste in my mouth, and then I had the opportunity for IMPACT Wrestling, and many of my friends were there. So I got to go there and get creative and stuff. But then, ultimately, there was an administrative change, and I had to look in the mirror, and I left wrestling after that.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes)
