Austin Aries Releases “Official Statement” on WWE Release

Austin Aries posted the following statement on Twitter:

My official statement on my @WWE departure. Thank you to my supporters and detractors. Exciting announcements soon. 🍌😎👍 pic.twitter.com/7Y4NkUMFVz

— Austin Healy Aries (@AustinAries) July 14, 2017

Aries was released by WWE last week. As previously reported:

WWE is claiming that it was their decision to release Austin Aries and Aries did not ask for his release, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. However, Aries was apparently happy that he was released. He signed a three year contract with WWE last year so was locked in until 2019.

Aries now has a 90 day no-compete clause and will be paid during that period. He’ll be able to work WWE-approved independent shows during that time, then is free to go wherever he wants.

According to Meltzer, a lot of people backstage at WWE apparently didn’t like Aries, including members of the writing team, and previous rumors claimed that he had a “bad attitude,” but obviously there are two sides to every story. It was previously reported that Aries wasn’t happy with being pigeonholed in the Cruiserweight division, or how WWE was handling the division in general.

Aries was apparently also upset that his Kickoff Show match with Neville at WrestleMania 33 was not included on the DVD release, which meant that neither wrestler would receive any royalties from the sales.