Austin Aries Talks Samoa Joe's TNA Departure, If He Saw It Coming, Backstage Atmosphere In TNA

Austin Aries was interviewed by Vaughn Johnson of Philly.com to talk about his upcoming appearance at Tommy Dreamer's House of Hardcore show, TNA, his plant-based diet and more. Below are some highlights:

Samoa Joe's TNA departure:

"That's part of the business, man. People come, people go and at the end of the day, everybody has to do what's right for them and their family and their situation. I've known Joe a long time and the guy is supremely intelligent, supremely talented so I'm sure the decision he made will work out because guys like that always seem to land on their feet."

If he had any idea that Joe could possibly be on his way out:

"Hey, man. It could possibly happen with any of us at any time. As far as guys contracts and their deals, I don't try to stick my nose in too much. Obviously, we all kind of have an idea of what's going on behind the scenes, but I always feel those things are best kept behind the scenes and not out there for general consumption unless that person decides to put it out there."

What the atmosphere is like in TNA in general:

"Things are good. I think there's a lot of excitement with our switch over to Destination America. The feeling is that we're with a station now that is behind us 100 percent. They know that as the TNA brand grows so does their station. They're relatively new as far as networks go. I think there's just a lot of excitement and optimism and we're going to take things as they come, put ourselves in a position to be successful and know that things don't happen overnight. As long as we're continuing to make those incremental movements forward, things should be good."

Aries also discussed his diet, if it hurts the TNA locker room to lose Samoa Joe, his overall thoughts on the wrestling business right now, how Tommy Dreamer runs House of Hardcore and more. You can check out the full article by clicking here.

Source: Philly.com