Austin Aries On What's Left For Him To Accomplish In TNA, His Influences Growing Up, More

Austin Aries recently chatted with Brandon Baxter's radio show to discuss his TNA career. Here are some highlights from the interview.

What's left for him to accomplish in TNA: "I mean, I guess all that's left would be the Knockouts Championship [laughter]. There's the Television Championship, which I guess I could bring a little luster to that title. But right now, I got my hands full in the tag division. Obviously I still have my eye on being the World Heavyweight Champion once again. Basically, I would say I'm the common denominator of greatness. Wherever greatness is, Austin Aries is surely there as well."

How he got into wrestling: "I grew up a lifelong wrestling fan. I never really thought about doing it. I honestly, as a young kid, would have imagined how to go about that, but this was before the internet and all these things that have kind of opened the world to everybody. When I had that opportunity, I was in college and kind of decided that wasn't the direction I wanted to be going. A very good childhood friend of mine called me up and told me he was training to be a wrestler, I couldn't believe it. So I drove there and checked it out, moved on his couch a couple weeks later and never looked back."

His influences: "Man, you know what, it's weird. People always ask me those questions, and I've just been a guy whose never had a favorite or anything. I have a collection of things I liked. I grew up watching a lot of Crockett, NWA. So I grew up watching the Horsemen and things like that. So obviously I think the Horsemen were people who were pretty influential on me as a kid. Someone like Bobby Heenan, was just such a big personality, so smart with his humor, and witty and his timing, and I think that's something I was very drawn to."

He also discusses his vegan lifestyle and his oratory background. You can check out the whole interview above.