Austin Aries Talks Leaving ROH, The Wrestling Audience, Being A Heel Commentator
Austin Aries was on the Busted Open radio show on to promote his appearances with Dragon Gate USA this weekend in New York City, Philadelphia, and Union City, NJ and touched on the topics below.
On leaving ROH: Anybody who knows me knows I can be a little outspoken. I'm not afraid to say whats on my mind and say what I see in front of me. I've been with that company for a long time and worked very hard?.and there were some things going on from a business end that weren't making me very happy. That being said, they made me felt that that wasn't the kind of energy they wanted in their locker room and I can understand that but I see a lot of guys going out there every night and busting their ass and putting their body on the line and not really getting fully rewarded to the full extent that they could be. So it was time for us to part ways. I really hope its successful because a lot of guys put their heart and soul into that promotion but you need everybody on board working to the same goal, and until that happens, its gonna be a difficult, uphill battle.
On defining the wrestling audience right now: I think it's part of the problem. This whole internet fan base as we see is only so large. And no matter how great of a product you put out, you're still pulling from that same group of people and they only have so much money to spend. So I really think that the ultimate business plan is to try to include some more of the mainstream wrestling fans and reach out to the local wrestling fans. There's a lot of local promotions that are running around without any name recognition on their card that draw 300 people consistently because they build strong ties in their communities. I know that's something Ring oi Honor dropped the ball with for years was not building strong ties within the communities. And you can only rely on the internet fan base so much because the dollar only stretches so much.
On potentially being a great heel color commentator like Matt Striker: I like Matt Striker, so I don't want to say that I'm looking for anybody's job?.I'm at a point in my career right now, I pretty much feel like I've done everything I can do at this level. Obviously, the last level to step up to would be the WWE. There's been some talks, initial talks, that haven't really gotten far at this point because they're a numbers promotion, they look at numbers. They look at more of the tangible things as opposed to the intangibles. I'd like to think that if I went there I could be successful whether it was in the broadcast booth, I was in the ring, whether it would be a manager, which is a lost art form in this business??I think theres different ways I can fill in in any promotion that I go to. I love wrestling, I've given a lot to it and gotten a lot out of it back, but yeah, I'm definitely looking to take that final step.
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