Austin Aries in WWE

The not-so-great run of the self-proclaimed “Greatest Man to ever live”

Austin Aries, real name Daniel Healy Solwold Jr, is one of the most prolific wrestlers of the 21^st century, his body of work speaks for itself becoming an indie favourite in the 2000s with some incredible matches against the likes of Samoa Joe, Tyler Black (Seth Rolins), etc is the stuff of legends. His stock would continue to rise with his TNA run in the early 2010s and in January of 2016, he would officially sign with WWE.

Unlike many wrestlers who came from the independent scene, there were high hopes that Aries would succeed in the company because of his undeniable charisma and promo ability. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the case as he would be gone from the company just 18 months later.

So, what happened? Well, a combination of multiple factors that went sideways throughout his tenure, we’ll get to that. Let’s start from the beginning.

He would make his debut in NXT on the January 22 tapings, being introduced by General Manager William Regal as one of the brands “greatest signings”, but he couldn’t even enter the ring as he would be attacked by Baron Corbin to set up a match for Takeover: Dallas, which would also serve as his in-ring debut. The match was to put generously, not good. The finish was the most egregious part with him getting the victory only via a rollup after 10 minutes.

This was in stark contrast to the debut of Shinsuke Nakamura right after this, where he would face Sami Zayn in what would be the undisputed match of the night. More importantly, unlike Aries he would win his match decisively. The choice of opponent is justifiable because the roster wasn’t exactly stacked like it would later become, but the decision to not have him get a decisive victory is still baffling ten years later.

Speaking of Nakamura

“…. Timing is everything. And at the time I walked in the door of NXT, there were other people grabbing all the attention”

As soon as those words left his mouth, the NXT crowd right on cue would start chanting for Nakamura to the vexation of Aries. Nakamura would come out soon after and both men staked their claim for a shot at the NXT Championship, which led to a match being booked for Takeover: The End. They shook hands but you could clearly see the frustrations bubbling up inside Aries.

There was an aura of a dream match surrounding it, after all it was “The King of Strong Style” vs “The Greatest Man that ever lived”. Dueling chants echoed throughout full sail in the beginning, the opening minutes was a lovely bit of technical wrestling on the ground with neither man able to fully take control.

Aries was the de facto heel for the match, and took control by targeting the legs of the Nakamura. The crowd was still lively during the control segments; the match kicked into another gear in its final stretch with both of them going all out. The former IWGP Heavyweight champion was able to close it out following an inverted exploder and Kinshasa. It was a well worked match, especially the last 5 minutes. But you do get the feeling that the pair had a better match in them.

Soon after, he would turn heel by attacking No Way Jose on an episode of NXT which culminated in a match at Takeover: Brooklyn II, which he would win. It was fine nothing to make note off, but the aftermath was certainly noteworthy with Hideo Itami (KENTA) coming to the aid of Jose after Aries kept attacking him post-match setting up a feud. Did not happen as both got injured soon after and Aries would move to 205 Live.

Just a sidenote, before his injury he did briefly reunite with his ‘Generation Next’ stablemate Roderick Strong from ROH for the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic which was quite cool.

He initially started at 205 Live as a color commentator as healed from the injury to his orbital socket. And a month before WrestleMania 33, he would start a program with the Cruiserweight champion Neville, by goading him when the Neville was saying “there was no one on his level”, he would then attack the champ reverting back to a face. Following a victory in a Fatal five-way elimination to crown a number one contender, the match was official for WrestleMania 33…. Kick off show.

Maybe this was a blessing in disguise because they had almost 20 minutes to work with, something that was definitely not happening in the main card. It was a very entertaining match that got the crowd invested fully, something which is a rarity for kick off matches. Neville would end up winning after gouging Aries eye when he was trapped in the last chancery and then hitting the Red Arrow for the victory. It was a nice bit of storytelling that he had to bring back the Red Arrow to overcome Aries after not needing it for the rest of the division, suggesting that he had met his match.

A rematch was booked for next month’s Payback. It was a shorter match compared to their bout from Mania and it ended in disqualification when Neville once again put in the last chancery pulled the referee as a last resort, resulting in a disqualification win for Aries.

The Story being told was simple, after months of dominating the Cruiserweight division and claiming no one was at his level, Neville had met his match in Austin Aries, and the last chancery is his kryptonite of sorts. As a result, a Submission match was booked for Extreme Rules. In the build up to this he would make Neville tap in a tag team match setting the stage perfectly for an Aries victory.

The match was quite decent as expected, and once again everything pointed to victory for the former TNA man with Neville once again trying to cause a disqualification and tapping out outside the ring. Surprisingly, Neville would get a clean victory after getting out the way of the heat seeking missile and making use of the Red Arrow to his opponents injured back before locking in the Rings of Saturn. It somewhat mirrored the match against Nakamura, where he too took advantage by getting out the way of the heat seeking missile which led to his victory.

Speaking on the “In this corner with Brian Campbell” podcast, he had nothing but praise for Neville

“I’m extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish over the course of the past few months.” Aries continued. “Me and Neville aren’t dissimilar cats at the end of the day. We both have a chip on our shoulders, we both have probably been counted out at times in our career by the same types of people and we both have a real love and passion for professional wrestling and the art form that it is.”

That would be the end of the road for Austin Aries in WWE as little over a month later, he would be released from the company. Now at the time it was reported by outlets such as PW Torch that he had asked for his release; feeling like he was pigeonholed as just a Cruiserweight. It also mentioned that he had a bad attitude, which is something that has followed Aries everywhere he went.

However, in 2020 while appearing on VOC Nation’s “In the Room” podcast, he would deny asking for his release as “It was nothing that I asked for”. He did acknowledge his attitude problems by mentioning that he can rub people the wrong way by saying “I’m sure I can be a pain in the ass because I have my own opinions.”

A combination of WWE’s booking, Injuries and the kind of person he is all contributed to why nothing going his way in the 18 months he was there. Looking back this run feels like a fever dream, but hey, we did get some good matches out of it.