Austin Aries

Sometimes the best thing to do is to take a step back and get a little bit of a different perspective and re-evaluate things.

Right before I came back to TNA, I had made the decision to just sort of step away from wrestling. Therefore I really walked into TNA holding nothing back and let the chips fall where they fell.

What the general public doesn't always understand is that wrestlers often only have hours to put things together, not days or weeks, except in certain cases.

I don't have a lot of free time with the amount of traveling that I do, but most of pro wrestling isn't catered to me. I am not a kid. There are a lot of guys that complain to me about the product, but it's like, well, you are not a kid. It is catered to sell t-shirts and merchandise to kids and their parents.

I always mention Bobby Roode. We just click on a lot of different levels. We grew up appreciating the same type of wrestler and same type of wrestling. We are similar students to the game.

I'm not motivated by money and I never really have been.

A guy like AJ Styles is obviously a great talent and he's going to go out there and put on a performance that's befitting of a man who is the World Champion.

As I go around the country and I'm seeing all the fans in the WWE Universe, there's a lot of young kids and they're off to the wrong start, because they're being fed the wrong food.

Listen, things change, that's part of life. Part of what makes you great is being able to move when you need to move. Being limber, agile and roll with the punches so to speak.

Is it supposed to be a championship for a certain style of wrestlers? For wrestlers under a certain weight limit? I think over the years the one thing that has held the X-Division from being in a certain spot is that it doesn't have a definition.

I've always felt that wherever I go, I have to carry myself like I'm a main event guy and like I'm a star.

I was the X-Division champion and competing against guys mostly my size, and I dominated them.