Austin Aries is done with Impact Wrestling, according to what Petey Williams said on his “Wrestling Perspective Podcast.” Williams said he is an agent for Impact Wrestling and he was in the production truck during Bound For Glory. As we wrote about earlier, Johnny Impact and Austin Aries were working stiff during the Impact World Championship match. Aries hit the Starship Pain finisher and pinned Aries to become champion. Immediately after that, he got up and no-sold what just happened and looked up to the balcony and shouted some words at Don Callis and Ed Nordholm. Bryan Alvarez noted on Wrestling Observer Live that Aries flew home and would not be at this week’s Impact Wrestling tapings. Williams said on his podcast that Aries never expressed unhappiness earlier in the day after being told he was being booked to lose the title. Williams said this about the end of the match: “Austin Aries’ contract is done. That’s all I’ll say. That match was his last match under contract with Impact.” Aries’ contract situation was clear backstage after Bound For Glory when he told people that he would not be at the TV tapings. You can see a clip of what happened at the end of the match by clicking here. This is professional wrestling so anything is possible. This could be an elaborate work or a work that turned into a shoot. I guess we’ll find out in the coming weeks.<doc-sep>UPDATE: Check out Petey Williams’ full thoughts on Aries’ exit. It turns out that Austin Aries is no longer with IMPACT for the time being. His Bound for Glory match against Johnny Impact was actually his last contracted match and he’s now a free agent. The news comes from IMPACT Wrestling producer Petey Williams, who talked about the match on his podcast. “Austin Aries’ contract is done,” revealed Williams, who produced the title match between Aries and Impact. “That match was his last match under contract with IMPACT.” That certainly explains why Aries isn’t at the IMPACT Wrestling television tapings tonight!<doc-sep>ImpactWrestling.com At Sunday's Impact Wrestling Bound For Glory pay-per-view, something rather strange happened in the aftermath of the World Heavyweight Title clash between Austin Aries and Johnny Impact... ...something Vince Russo strange. After a worked match that masqueraded as a shoot, featuring moves one would never see in a real fight, Impact (the performer, probably not the promotion) secured the victory and the championship with that bar room staple: the Starship Pain. Aries climbed to his feet well before his opponent, leaving the ring almost immediately without selling the effects of the match. He spat at Johnny on his way out before gesturing furiously to Executive Vice President Don Callis. Advertisement Less facetiously, the (unique) match itself was very well-worked and well-received, not that that matters. This incident overshadowed everything. Impact, which has quietly removed its stigma as a joke league in 2018, leant heavily into the dreaded TNA shock tactics of old here. Or did it? Advertisement One of three things has happened here: 1) Austin Aries legitimately broke kayfabe in a sensational scene, presumably furious at having been booked to lose. Advertisement 2) Impact Wrestling, high on the mild buzz driven by the worked shoot programme, has indulged Aries and taken inspiration from, of all things, WCW Bash At The Beach 2000, thus ruining suspension of disbelief. 3) Vince Russo has his hand back on the pencil. Option three is not without precedent, incredibly enough; Russo once worked in a clandestine consultant role kept secret from then-TV partner Spike because they hated his work, felt it was objectively worthless, and wanted nothing to do with him. Dave Meltzer, on last night's Wrestling Observer Radio, neglected to even mention the post-match scene, much less speculate on its mendacity, from which we can infer that it was all, to quote another old TNA figure in Jeff Jarrett, a big work. But for what purpose? A temporary Twitter trend? Austin Aries Vs. Don Callis? ! In any event, the promotion rehabilitating itself as a serious concern has just brought back old, not particularly great memories.<doc-sep>
Last night Impact Wrestling ended their biggest PPV of the year, Bound For Glory, by crowning a new Impact Wrestling Champion in Johnny Impact. Johnny captured the title by defeating Austin Aries in a match that was the culmination of a controversial and heated feud. Including Aries taking personal shots at Johnny’s wife, Taya Valkyrie, on Twitter. Almost immediately after being pinned Aries leapt to his feet, stepped out of the ring, yelled a profanity at Don Callis and left while flipping off the crowd. It was a bizarre scene that left many at home, and in the ring, scratching their heads. Was this real? Or part of some outside the box story? Bryan Alvarez notes in the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Live that Aries has, “gone home,” and will not be attending the Impact Wrestling TV tapings today, or tomorrow. Since Impact tapes weeks, sometimes months, in advance this means that Aries will not be included on Impact Wrestling TV for as long as the tapings are set to run. To the best of Alvarez’s knowledge Aries has not been fired by Impact Wrestling. This led Alvarez to speculate that while aspects of the feud may have been real, Aries and Johnny are likely working together now. With that said, the press conference brawl that the two engaged in before BFG does appear to have gotten, “a little out of control.” Including one of the sponsors being pushed to the ground in the fracas. Apparently, Anthem and the sponsors had issues with how that press conference went down.