Austin Aries was recently a guest on Chris Jericho’s podcast: Talk is Jericho. Aries spoke on a wide variety of topics about his career, including clearing up rumors about his departure from WWE. Aries also spoke about his time on commentary while he was out with an injury.
Before Aries made his in-ring debut on the WWE main roster, he started working commentary for the Cruiserweight matches on RAW and 205 Live.
Aries shared how his commentary job came about and the compliment that he received from Vince McMahon:
“When [the injury happened] happened, I was talking with Hunter and I said, ‘I don’t necessarily just want to disappear for whatever extent of time, so if there [are] things I can do, whether it’s commentary, managerial, anything, I’d like to stay, somehow, in the scenes.’ And this was at NXT, so when the 205 [Live] idea was brought to light, and they said, ‘going off of what you said, maybe this would be a fit for commentary’ and it provided an opportunity that honestly I am so thankful for and it [has] opened a lot of doors for me. I learned a lot working with Michael Cole and having Vince, literally, after my first night, [saying] ‘Goddammit, you’re a natural. Nobody [has] ever had a debut like that before.'”
Aries continued:
“I walked back to Gorilla [position] and he was standing there with a big smile on his face and ‘Goddammit, you’re a natural!’ I was looking at him like, ‘what are you saying?’ Literally, the greatest compliment you could probably get at that point in your career. Sure, and Vince has sat in that seat and heard everybody and I mean everybody, good and bad, so for him to come back and heap that kind of praise on me, I didn’t take that lightly.”
Let us know what you think in the comment section below. [h/t to WrestlingINC.com]
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