Impact Wrestling: Did Austin Aries Just Turn Heel?
At Impact Wrestling’s Redemption Pay Per View, Austin Aries suffered an unexpected loss in a Triple Threat match against Rey Fenix and Pentagon Jr., as the latter hit “The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived” with a Pentagon Driver to pull off a victory that sent shockwaves throughout the wrestling world.
Austin Aries always had the respect of the Impact Wrestling faithful, but there just seemed to be something missing when he joined the company as a babyface. There was a disconnect between his respectful, fiery, “chip on my shoulder” character and the fact that he was walking around with ALL the belts.
Furthermore, while Aries is a solid babyface, his best work has always come as an arrogant heel, partially because fans build this negative narrative around Aries’s real-life attitude, which may have been fueled even more by his exit from WWE.
Impact has shown that they are consistently ahead of the curve now, and it looks like they have made a recent change to Aries’s character that signifies their ability to put forward the best possible characters on their show.
On Impact’s first episode after Redemption, Aries came out and addressed the rest of the locker room after dropping the Impact World Championship to a wrestler outside the company. He appeared in a sling, having suffered a “dislocated elbow” during the match, and fittingly had a banana lodged in the sling.
More from Daily DDT
- It’s time for Adam Cole and MJF to drop the ROH tag team titles
- Tom Lawlor talks MLW return, AEW opportunity, CM Punk’s WWE return and more
- Eddie Kingston stands to gain the most from the AEW Continental Classic
- Trish Stratus on WWE NXT would help elevate that women’s division
- Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline
Aries said that he wasn’t there to make excuses for his loss. He proceeded to give a litany of them. Moose called him out for it, and it’s clear that the entire locker room lost respect for Aries (kayfabe of course) and his holier-than-thou pontificating.
The confrontation with Moose during this “Town Hall” segment was especially noteworthy, because Aries’s dismissiveness of Moose’s criticisms showcased a more egocentric version of his character in Impact.
He told Moose, “Mr. Impact? That’s what you call yourself? I appreciate your input, but just like the NFL, do the grunt work on the line, and just protect the star quarterback, OK bud?” M
Moose replied, “You know what, Austin? You can go screw yourself.”
After that act of defiance from one of the roster’s top babyfaces, the entire locker room cleared the bleachers.
To close the show, Aries had confrontations with both Pentagon Jr. and Eli Drake, somewhat muddying the waters regarding his alignment. But Pentagon Jr. is absolutely a babyface and is super over with the crowd (duh), and he and Aries had the final champion vs. champion face-off to close the show. So assuming Aries and Pentagon Jr. aren’t through, Aries is the heel here, making callous excuses for losing fair-and-square and antagonizing the rest of the roster as a result.
Next: Casting WWE Superstars In Avengers Infinity Wars
Plus, Aries now has beef with Moose after disrespecting “Mr. Impact”, and that pretty much seals him as a heel. This is all good for Impact Wrestling, because Aries’s most entertaining work comes when he is the bad guy. He has a swagger about him that becomes equal parts hilarious and grating when he’s the villain, and Aries could really help boost the statuses of the babyfaces in the company, including Moose, as a result.