For years fans were hoping to see Austin Aries join WWE, and it finally happened when he made his NXT debut in 2016. Aries worked in WWE’s developmental brand for most of the year before he suffered a large orbital socket injury during a match with Shinsuke Nakamura in October of 2016.
Rather than let Austin Aries sit on the sidelines, WWE decided to call him up to the main roster and he started doing commentary for cruiserweight matches. As soon as Austin was cleared to return to the ring, he joined the cruiserweight division and battled Neville for the title in a feud that lasted several months.
On Friday WWE announced that Austin Aries had been released from his contract, and the release surprised many wrestling fans around the world.
It was originally reported that Austin Aries requested to be released from his contract, but it appears that is not the case.
Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that he was told although Austin Aries did not request to be released from his contract, he was thrilled about the release. Aries signed a three year deal with WWE in 2016, so if Aries had quit on his own then WWE could have held him to his contract and made his life difficult by preventing him from wrestling elsewhere until 2019.
Aries was reportedly unhappy backstage, and it was noted that he was upset about the fact that his Cruiserweight Title match with Neville was cut from the WrestleMania 33 DVD, therefore neither man received any royalties from the match.
Meltzer added that Aries had heat backstage, and a lot of people in the company, including the writing staff, did not like him.
Austin Aries will now have to wait out the 90 day no compete clause on his contract, but he will reportedly be allowed to wrestle at WWE approved independent events in the meantime, and he will be free to wrestle anywhere in October.
On this week’s episode of Still Real Radio we’re running down our predictions for the Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view and more. We’re also talking about the return of John Cena, his flag match with Rusev, and whether or not Bray Wyatt’s run on Raw is losing steam. You can subscribe to Still Real Radio on iTunes, and you can also check out the latest episode below.
