Austin Aries was interviewed by Live Audio Wrestling’s Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski last Sunday. Lovranski tried to get Aries to talk about TNA, but Aries didn’t want to. Here is a transcript of the interview:
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Please welcome Austin Aries. Austin, how are you tonight?
Austin Aries: Doing well, how are you? Hear me alright?
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Yeah, man, we can hear you. We’re doing good. Now because you’re one of those guys, Austin, who’s worked with both ROH and TNA I wanted to kinda get your thoughts on the two promotions and how they differ or how they’re similar to another?
Austin Aries: Well… obviously one is more based as a TV product and the other one is more of a DVD based product and obviously when you watch the products you see the philosophies on how they choose the entertainment is obviously different… and the other difference is I work for one company now and I don’t work for the other.
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Mhehehehehe! Well… how do you feel about your time in TNA because there certainly wasn’t an easy going ride.
Austin Aries: You know, honestly I look at it now as kinda old news, and now it’s so long ago I kinda just focus on the now and the future and I try not to look back too much.
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Uhh ahh, so… I have to ask you a couple of things though about TNA because I was always curious as to… ahh… especially when they gave you… you had the Austin Stars gimmick – was that a TNA production?
Austin Aries: No… No!
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: … Okay, so where did it come from?
Austin Aries: Ahh, you know the… I watched this tag team The Dixon Sexon Connection and this guy named Dan “Casual” Sexon, I was watching some of their tapes and it just kinda struck me as a great idea so I kinda ripped off his shtick a little bit and ran with it.
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: I see… so, ahh… that’s interesting ‘cause I thought it was something probably had come from TNA themselves, you know those kind of companies wanna own the character and such, right?
Austin Aries: Well they, you know, they approached about owning my name, Austin Aries, and I wasn’t really feeling that so… I came up with the idea of this character and I thought it was a little more TV friendly… at the time they were concerned that the X-Division guys weren’t standing out, they were a bunch of wrestlers but no one really had any characters, so you know I told them I was willing to roll the dice if they give me an opportunity so I held up my end of the bargain.
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: … And you feel that TNA didn’t hold up their end?
Austin Aries: I’m not saying that! I’m just saying that, you know, I wanted to try something different and, you know, it didn’t work out as well as I hoped.
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Right, right… Now, when you asked for your release from TNA and went back to ROH, you were just basically fed up with the promotion and felt you weren’t being used properly… is that what happened?
Austin Aries: Ahh… you know, I can’t really get into too much detail about it, but at the end of the day I had a choice between where I wanted to, you know, kinda make the next couple of years of my career and I decided I wanted to stick with ROH… obviously at the time at the time ROH was going on PPV so, you know, TNA didn’t want to have their talent… ahh, prevent my future with ROH at that point so I kinda had to make a decision as to where I wanted to make my bed for the next couple of years and I decided to stick with ROH.
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Right on… Now I’m assuming eventually though that you would like to make your way up into the WWE… I mean, that is probably every wrestler’s dream, right?
Austin Aries: Every wrestler’s dream is to make money, and obviously that’s the place where you can make money so obviously it’s the place I’d like to be if the situation presents itself… but at the end of the day I love wrestling and I like making money doing it, and if I can do those two things I’ll do that anywhere I can do that.
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Now what is it about ROH that that you that that works personally for Austin Aries, because I get the the impression that it’s it’s something about the promotion the way the work that keeps you there?
Austin Aries: Ahh, I like having some creative input into what I do, not only in the ring but as far as outside the ring as well… I think it’s a place where everyone’s opinion is valued and seeked out… you know, at the end of the day, you have the office make decisions but I feel like they take the input of the boys because they understand that we are not a bunch of idiots and we have some good ideas ourselves so… that works for everybody and that makes it fun because you have a lot more invested and staked in what you’re doing.
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Right, right. So it’s more of a… it’s more of a… a group working for the common goal rather than everybody battling to be on top?
Austin Aries: Exactly, you know, there’s no one there just cashing a paycheck – everyone’s there because they’re passionate about what they do, you know, it’s a place where they can go out and express their artistic freedom as they see fit.
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Right… So, ahh, you’ve already done the the one show here in Toronto back in July, ahh… you know huge sellout, big crowds, ahh… I expect we’re gonna see more of the same this next show here… have we got… do we know who you’re working with for the Toronto show, Austin, or no?
Austin Aries: Ahh… I’m not sure. Do you guys know…?
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Well, we have a couple of the matches here. We know that Nigel is supposed to defend the title again against Necro Butcher… Jerry Lynn is wrestling… but I haven’t seen anything written written or established for you yet.
Austin Aries: Hmmm… well I’m not exactly sure if it hasn’t been announced, but I have a feeling that Jimmy Jacobs is probably gonna have his hand in it or something with The Age Of The Fall, because I can’t seem to get them out of my hair and vice versa, so until we kinda settle that score I imagine that I’m gonna have my hands full with them.
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Right. Now, the last time you were here, because you worked the tag match with Jay, against Age of the Fall and… that match was absolutely, you know, crazy… all over the arena, ahh… is there anything, like when do you prefer the kinda crazy stunt filled matches like that or are you more of a one-on-one type – what’s your favorite?
Austin Aries: Ahh, you know, I appreciate all kinds of matches. Obviously I had a successful singles run in ROH and anytime focusing on the ROH titles is something I enjoy doing. Ahh, I enjoy tag wrestling., had a lengthy run now with Roderick Strong doing tag wrestling so I’ve always enjoyed that, ahh… and right now I just seem to be really caught up in a feud with Jimmy Jacobs and anytime there’s that kinda hatred and, you know, real intense bloodshed and violence… that’s what’s gonna happen, so…
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Ahh, so… hahahaha… so you don’t honestly… that’s more wrestling promo than anything else, I mean you two obviously don’t hate each other, right?
Austin Aries: Ahhh, have you seen the guy?
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Naah… well, yeah.
Austin Aries: You seen his haircuts?
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Yeah.
Austin Aries: You seen his eye make-up?
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: …. Uhh… yeah, I mean it’s ahh… tshehehehehe… Yeah, we’ve seen all that, we’ve seen all that stuff, ahh…
Austin Aries: Not a big fan…
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: I guess not… obviously not…. Well, ahh… have ahh… has ROH done… I’m I’m sorry I’m not sure… has ROH done a show in Montreal before, is this their first show in Montreal?
Austin Aries: For me it’s gonna be the first time in Montreal.
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: So what have you got planned for the fans in Montreal to kinda give… make the big bang, first impression?
Austin Aries: Well, you know, every time the people know they’re gonna get their monies worth because, you know, every guy that comes out there in their match is out there to entertain, you know, and no one is gonna leave anything in the ring, you know, as I said before noone’s there to collect a paycheck, ahh… so, you know, I’m not gonna give away any secrets or surprises, but every time we come to a new venue, to a new town, we like to put on a great show to make sure those people come back, we always like to throw in a surprise so I’m sure it’s gonna be more of the same and, ahh… too see it, you gotta buy a ticket to get there Live.
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Alright Austin, I wanna thank you so much for joining us tonight, ahh… November the 7th in Montreal, November the 8th here in Markham Fairgrounds, ROH returns to Canada. Thank you Austin, and continued success.
Austin Aries: Thanks guys. Take care.
Dan ”The Mouth Lovranski: Alright….
