Austin Aries On The WWE Letting Him Go While He Was Injured

During his interview with Chris Van Vliet, Austin Aries discussed the WWE letting him go while he was injured. Here’s what he had to say:

I didn’t ask for my release. I finished the Neville program up. I’d been dealing with a couple herniated discs in my neck. And listen, as anyone who’s been there, man. That schedule is no joke. Seth Rollins says a lot of the time, ‘Not everyone can handle this schedule,’ and he’s right. To be in his spot and to be the man, to be Roman Reigns, the John Cenas. To be those guys that are counted on night in and night out, and to do it five nights a week every f**king week? Like, not everyone can do that physically. That’s the reality, 100%. So you know, just for me personally, after going through this, the travel and whatever, I started having some neck issues. Not sure exactly if it was one bump, it was just I think maybe an accumulation of a couple of small things. I just kind of keep getting worse, and listen. The majority of us wrestlers probably have some type of herniation, or you know, bulge in our discs somewhere. It’s a part of what we do, right? So you manage it, and I was getting some cortisone shots to just kind of manage it, getting through the program.

And coming out of that, I talked to the doctor because I started to have some sensation loss and some numb[ness] in the hands. And the issues were kind of getting worse, you know. And so I just kind of said to him, ‘Hey man. This program’s kind of finished up. I don’t know if they really have any real plans for me. So you know, this could be a good time to give me a little time to get f**king healthy.’ And so on a Wednesday, I got a call from the doctor and he’s left a message saying ‘Hey, we’re moving you to Not Cleared for Contact. We’re gonna give you at least a month off, so rehabbing your neck, go from there. So go to the PC tomorrow and start rehab.’

So Thursday I went to the PC and started my rehab. And I was actually kind of relieved. It’s nice to get a break and still be able to make some money. But heal up some nagging injuries, maybe work on some things, get to be home, recharge, take care of some house s**t … so it was nice to be like, ‘Okay, cool.’ Like, I just had this awesome f**king stretch. And because 205 was on Tuesdays and we were on Raw and Smackdown, we were on the road an extra day than everybody else, because we were doing both TVs. Then we went home, and then me and Neville, because we were the 205 program, we were then on the road. So I get home Wednesday, and I was back out Friday morning. So like 36 at home, so it was nice to be like, ‘;Alright, I’m gonna have like, at least a month to kind of do this.’ So that was Thursday, and then Friday I got a call from Hunter. And just telling me I was being release.’

Triple H said he was really shocked. He was as shocked as I was, it was per Vince. And they didn’t have anything for me, and that was it. And I asked him some questions, if it was because of some contract things that we were negotiating. I literally was surprised, because there were no issues, I hadn’t had any issues with anybody. I know I can be a f**king handful, alright? I can be a f**king nightmare, I’m not going to skirt around that … but I’m just saying like, in this situation I certainly wasn’t going out of my way, I wasn’t expressing any frustrations. The only thing I really said as far as me creatively was, ‘Hey, I have no value left as a cruiserweight.’

On the exit call with Mark Carrano, head of talent relations, he was telling me like, ‘Hey, you can wrestle for Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore but not for Ring of Honor, not for..’ I said, ‘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.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, that’s not what I have here.’ [I said] ‘Okay, I don’t know what you have there, but I’m just telling you, doctor called me Wednesday, I started rehab yesterday.’ ‘Naw, man. Says here, you’re cleared with restrictions. If we need you to wrestle, you’re okay.’ And I just said, ‘Okay, but that’s not the situation bro.’ So we ended the call and again, I sent him a voicemail from the doctor…and I heard nothing back. And then about 2 or 3 hours later, I saw reports from Mr. Meltzer that I asked for my release. Strange, strange. Because I, never in my mind — if I’m injured and I’m going to get some time off and still make some money? I don’t even think even in my home, 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 of the timing of it.

You can listen to the interview below:

Credit: Chris Van Vliet. H/T 411Mania.