5 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (April 18)
3. Austin Aries Responds To WWE Crack By Smoking It
Austin Aries is a d*mn good pro wrestler, and his 205 Live commentary stint was a riot for the 205 or so folks watching. Any suggestion that Aries is a rare polymath figure, however, was recently quashed; Austin's attempts to fire back at WWE's "TNA is hiring" jibe proved that the Greatest Man That Ever Lived is Absolutely Sh*te At Public Relations.
He said that the "joke was outdated," which somewhat missed the point in that it no longer matters what moniker Impact Wrestling goes by these days. It is far removed from its position as the #2 promotion in North America. A Japanese pro wrestling company is bigger in North America than Impact. Aries continued on, it should be mentioned, during a media teleconference:
"It's cool, man. We are hiring. If you come here we won't test you, or take money out of your pocket for smoking marijuana."
This was... misjudged.
It's fairly obvious that there is no Wellness Policy in place - just look at Brian Cage - but publicising this as an incentive was moronic, given that WWE's Wellness Policy is the primary reason why the grim spate of wrestling deaths has waned in the last decade. This is a good thing. Bragging to the contrary is an edgelord take of which Aries should be embarrassed.
Perhaps he'll moan about Ronda Rousey stealing focus from the Women's division next.