Austin Aries Open Up About His WM33 Experience, Nakamura Busting His Eye Socket, Samoa Joe’s Upcoming Match w/ Brock Lesnar, More

Austin Aries recently spoke with Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard.

You can find some highlights from his interview below. The full article can be found HERE.

Related: Promo For Austin Aries’ Future

On his WrestleMania 33 experience:

WrestleMania is the pinnacle. My music was the very first thing that hit that night, and there was an energy when I walked out there that was unlike anything I’ve ever walked out in front of. The enormity hit me, and it was a very special moment.

On eye injury he received during match against Shinsuke Nakamura:

Nakamura didn’t kick me that hard, or at least not as hard as he kicked me other times. It just happened to catch me at the right spot, and I didn’t protect as I would have liked. We’ll just add it to the list of sacrifices that anyone who has done this for a length of time has made, physically, with our bodies. We accept that because we love what we do. In some ways, it may be a blessing in disguise. I don’t know where my path would have taken me had that not happened. I do know where it took me after it did – to go into commentary on 205 Live, then transition onto Raw, which led to my opportunity at WrestleMania and a great series of matches with Neville. If that came out of the broken eye hole, it’s a fair trade-off.

On Samoa Joe going up against Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship:

Joe is a man who doesn’t fear Brock Lesnar. He has been doing this a long time, and he’s been in the ring with legends, main eventers, and Hall of Famers. Joe is a cool cat and a cool customer. I’m sure he’s preparing, but I don’t think he’s sweating it. I think he’s looking forward to it as much as I’m looking forward to watching.