The wrestling web went back and forth on Austin Aries’ WWE status last week. Following his coming up short a third time in his quest to take the Cruiserweight title off Neville at Extreme Rules, Aries sent out a Tweet about pondering his future. That was followed by rumors he was hurt, and with a new book out to promote, a belief he’d be stepping away from Raw and 205 Live.
Then the man himself shot that talk down, with a few jabs at the dirt sheets thrown in. But on the latest episode of WWE Network’s cruiserweight showcase last night (June 13), Aries cut a promo which said he is unable to perform right now because of injuries.
The segment is embedded above, and here’s the relevant quote:
You see right now there’s a lot more questions than answers when it comes to the future of Austin Aries. People want to know, “Are you injured? Are you gonna be taking some time off from WWE?” So I want to come out here tonight so you can hear it straight from my mouth. After months of battling Neville, and TJP, I got a little leg stuff going on, I got a little neck stuff going on, and unfortunately, until the WWE gets some test results back, I’m not medically cleared to wrestle.
Now, this is a scene from 205 Live, so some or all of it being storyline is possible. But Aries didn’t get physical at all in the ensuing angle with Tony Nese and Jack Gallagher, which supports the idea he’s not an active competitor at the moment.
A-Double has spent some time as a manager before, noteably in Ring of Honor (ROH) coming off his second World title run. Another possibility being thrown around is a heel turn, especially with fan favorite Gallagher just hanging around waiting to be betrayed.
Time will tell. The only thing we can count on here is - we probably won’t get a straight answer from Aries.