7 Worst Wrestling Moments Of The Week (July 9)

2. So Long Austin

Neville Austin Aries Payback
WWE.com

"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" sadly lived a pretty forgettable life in WWE.

After all those years of stellar performances in Ring of Honor and TNA, and after being overlooked for freaking Tough Enough, he finally showed up in the company in Jan. of 2016. Now he's gone.

Much like Nakamura and Samoa Joe, Aries was ready for the main roster the moment he stepped foot in the promotion. But he had to "pay his dues" in NXT and learn how to face a camera the right way. Important things that take a year or more!

Aries did make the main roster, he had some pretty good (though not great) matches with Neville and that was it. Besides always carrying around a banana he didn't do much else of note. But instead of moving him out of the dreadful cruiserweight division and giving him new opponents, they decided it would be better to let him walk.

The question is, did WWE think no one would buy him against people like Elias Samson or The Miz? Aries is an inch shorter than Daniel Bryan and he's a few inches taller than Rey Mysterio Jr. Not only would people have bought in, but mixing him and other cruiserweights in with the regular roster would break up the overall monotony of Raw.

Aries can wrestle, he can talk, and he has the love of the fanbase. The only thing he didn't have was a good platform to showcase his talent and a second opportunity.

Sometimes reaching for that mythical brass ring is an exercise in futility.

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As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at." Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week. Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com