10 Things We Learned From Austin Aries On Talk Is Jericho
7. Aries Was Supposed To Be Heel Against Neville
One regret Aries does have is that he ended up playing babyface during the Neville feud. When WWE realised the Englishman was catching fire as the 'King Of The Cruiserweights', creative put their full faith behind him and changed the story so that Austin would play face. That didn't suit him at all, not least because he had spent weeks on commentary being the villain.
The main problem came during the actual matches. Aries lost 4 times in a row to Neville, a troublesome losing streak for any babyface, and the writers couldn't take the story anywhere after that. Once the feud was over with, creative had nothing else for Austin, and he feels like he was painted into a corner.
He has a point. Far more comfortable as a bragging heel who gets his comeuppance, Aries should have been allowed to show what he could do in Neville's shoes. It's just a shame that the Newcastle man was doing so well as a heel himself.