Austin Aries Opens Up On Adapting To Not Being A Wrestler Anymore

Austin Aries made an appearance on Refin’ It Up with Brian Hebner to discuss a wide range of topics. 

During it, the former WWE/Impact star spoke about adapting to not being a wrestler anymore. After he parted ways with Impact Wrestling, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Although he worked a few matches earlier this year, his last bout was in June. 

“I stepped away from wrestling after Bound for Glory and parted ways with Impact. Then we had the COVID situation which obviously shut down a lot of wrestling. I mentally checked out of wrestling for the first time in my adult life. I’ve lived firmly in the bubble of pro wrestling since I was 22 and lived it. It was everything, and so with that, you can lose your sense of self of like, well, who’s Daniel? You’re not Austin Aries, this wrestling figure you’ve created. All your accolades aren’t necessarily quote, unquote, real. The pro wrestling bubble is fiction. It’s made up. Most of the world is made up of fiction if you really think about it. It’s all man-made constructs.”

“So I had this opportunity, and it was at a point in my life where I decided to really just emotionally and mentally leave that bubble and figure out who I am outside of this world of pro wrestling. I went to Mexico for a year. I was on this spiritual journey. I did some plant medicine ceremonies just like my friend Aaron Rodgers. I did not get two MVP seasons after it, unfortunately.”

“This place I’m in now, I know I’m meant to transition into a new part of my life that maybe doesn’t have pro wrestling as a central part of it. But the struggle now is letting that go, so you’re still trying to be who you’ve been. You’re still trying to be this pro wrestler, Austin Aries, world champion, all these labels that we put on ourselves. That right now is causing a little bit of the internal struggle with really embracing who I feel like I’ve become and becoming, because I’m not sure that the person I’m becoming and the things that I’m interested in pursuing, are going to match with the person that I’ve been for the last 20 years.”

“So I’m at this place where wrestling is keeping me attached just enough, because I still love a lot of things about it. It still pays the bills, but I’m not sure it’s fulfilling me anymore. So sometimes, if you want to be able to fully embrace something new, you have to fully let go of what the old thing is that you’re holding on to.”

H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription