Austin Aries Apparently Done With Impact Wrestling

Austin Aries’ contract with Impact Wrestling is done and he is no longer with the company right now, according to Petey Williams on the Wrestling Perspective Podcast.

On the podcast, Williams, who is a booker and producer at Impact and was the producer for the Austin Aries vs. Johnny Impact match last night at Bound for Glory, said, “Austin Aries’ contract is done. That’s all I’ll say. That match was his last match under contract with Impact.”

Williams also added that Aries is not at the Impact TV tapings tonight (and presumably won’t be there tomorrow either), which means that he’ll be off of Impact TV for at least a few weeks (since Impact tapes weeks of shows in advance) if he even returns at all.

At last night’s Bound for Glory PPV, Aries stormed off after losing the Impact World Championship to Johnny Impact. From yesterday’s report:

After the match, just a couple of seconds after the ref counted to three, Austin Aries quickly stood up, no selling his loss, and started flipping off and yelling at someone at commentary (possibly Don Callis, who is one of the main people currently running Impact). Aries then walked backstage, flipping everyone off. Everyone in the ring and at ringside, including Johnny Impact and Moose looked confused.

Austin Aries “No Sold” Starship Pain and walked off giving Don Callis a fuck you as we Crown a new #ImpactWrestling World Champ #BoundForGlory pic.twitter.com/z6WijXZhLX

— JD (@JDfromNY206) October 15, 2018

Here’s a transcript of what Williams had to say on the podcast:

Host: So never once did Aries seem upset with the finish?

Petey Williams: Um… that day, no. I would say that day, no.

Williams (later): Austin Aries’ contract is done. That’s all I’ll say. That match was his last match under contract with Impact.

Williams (later): It is what it is. […] He’s no longer under contract with us. He’s not here now and we just gotta move forward. We have to write some new stuff and see the next direction we’re going and hopefully this just blows over. I understand that it’s a hot topic now. I get that, but right now, the focus is on the TV tapings and building towards the next PPV.

Host: Did you talk to Austin after the match?

Williams: I am a very professional person. I asked him if he was OK, if he was hurt, I said thank you. Went over and talked to Johnny, told him good match. I did talk to Aries a little bit. I’m not privy to his contract and stuff like that, so I said what’s next? And he said that’s the end of the contract. I said OK. He said I’m not gonna be at the TV tapings. And I left it at that and got him a ride to the hotel and I haven’t talked to him or heard from him since.