Austin Aries

Explore about the Famous Wrestler Austin Aries, who was born in United States on April 15, 1978. Analyze Austin Aries’s net worth, age, bio, birthday, dating, height-weight, wiki. Investigate who is Austin Aries dating now? Look into this article to know how old is Austin Aries?

Austin Aries Biography

American wrestler who achieved World Championship titles with TNA and Ring of Honor. He joined NXT in 2016.

He signed his first contract with Ring of Honor wrestling in 2004.

Pro Wrestling Illustrated named him the #13 best singles wrestler of 2012.

He grew up with three younger siblings.

He held the TNA World Tag Team Championship title with Bobby Roode in 2013.

Daniel Healy Solwold Jr. (born April 15, 1978), better known by his ring name Austin Aries, is an American professional wrestler and voice actor, currently a free agent. He is best known for his time with Impact Wrestling, where he is a former three-time World Champion and a six time X Division Champion and Ring of Honor (ROH), where he was the first multi-time ROH World Champion. He is currently signed to Major League Wrestling (MLW) and also wrestles on the independent circuit. He is also known for his stint with WWE, where he competed primarily in the cruiserweight division as well as doing color commentary. Between Impact and ROH, Aries has held 14 total championships and has also held numerous international and U.S. independent championships.

Solwold began training under Eddie Sharkey and Terry Fox in 2000 and debuted on November 11, 2000, facing “Sheriff” Johnny Emerald. He wrestled in the midwest for several years before his east coast wrestling career was jumpstarted after he progressed to the finals of the 2004 ECWA Super 8 Tournament, where he was defeated by Christopher Daniels.

Aries captured the ROH World Championship at Final Battle 2004 on December 26, 2004, by defeating the longest reigning ROH World Champion Samoa Joe. On June 16, 2005, Ring of Honor named Aries the new head trainer at the ROH wrestling school, replacing the former head trainer, CM Punk, who had agreed to a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. After a six-month string of non-stop defenses, many of which were international, Aries lost the championship to CM Punk on June 18, 2005.

From there, he joined Ring of Honor. Aries made his ROH main show debut at ROH: Reborn Stage 2 on April 24, 2004. Aries was unsuccessful, however, losing a four corner survival match also involving Jimmy Rave, Rocky Romero, and the winner, Nigel McGuinness. Aries was scheduled to return at the show of May 22, Generation Next, to compete in a one night series which would showcase young, upcoming ROH talent. Alex Shelley, however, hand-picked Aries, along with Roderick Strong and Jack Evans, as members of a new stable (also meant to promote young, upcoming ROH talent) who, instead of earning their spots, would simply take them. The group took the name Generation Next as their own.

Aries began to work with ROH in 2004, joining the Generation Next faction. He won the ROH World Tag Team Champion with his teammate Roderick Strong and at Final Battle 2004, ROH’s biggest event, defeated Samoa Joe to win the ROH World Championship, ending his 654-day reign. He would regain the title on 2009, becoming the first multi-time champion. After moving on to Impact Wrestling, then known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Aries won the X Division Championship six times. His first reign is the longest of the title’s history at 301 days and created the “Option C” clause, trading the title for a TNA World Heavyweight title opportunity at Destination X, winning the title. He also won the TNA World Tag Team Championship and the Impact Grand Championship, making Aries a Grand Slam Champion in Impact Wrestling.

On September 22, 2005, Aries announced on his website that he had received a contract offer from TNA, and intended to sign it. He became a regular member of the TNA roster, and formed a stable with Roderick Strong and Alex Shelley. Many fans referred to this group as the second coming of Generation Next, which had contained Shelley, Strong, Aries, and Jack Evans in Ring of Honor.

In July 2005, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling held an Internet poll to select an opponent for the TNA X Division Champion Christopher Daniels at their August 14 pay-per-view, Sacrifice 2005. Billed as an “Internet dream match”, the poll offered voters the choice of Aries, Roderick Strong, Jay Lethal and Matt Sydal, none of whom were contracted to TNA or had even appeared with the company on a regular basis in the past. Aries won the poll by a landslide, and thus faced Daniels in a non-title match at Sacrifice, which he lost. Following the event, it was rumored that TNA officials had been impressed by Aries and were considering offering him a contract, and these rumors were seemingly substantiated when Aries faced and defeated Roderick Strong at Unbreakable on September 11 in a “showcase match”.

In February 2006, he and Strong were both suspended for two months for arriving four hours late for the pay-per-view Against All Odds. This occurred because of Aries and Strong’s decision to remain in Long Island for an ROH show, despite TNA’s last minute request to travel to Florida because of the potential of a snowstorm.

On December 17 at Final Battle 2005, Aries teamed with Strong to defeat Sal Rinauro and Tony Mamaluke for the ROH World Tag Team Championship. The two then disbanded Generation Next on June 3, 2006. In a first time ever match, Aries took on Pro Wrestling Noah wrestler KENTA on June 24, but was defeated following KENTA’s Go 2 Sleep.

One month after being granted his release from TNA, Aries made his return to Ring of Honor. At United We Stand on June 22, 2007, Aries was in attendance, but as a “fan”. During a match between the No Remorse Corps and The Resilience, he was verbally called out by Roderick Strong. Aries tried to climb over the guard rail, but was held back by security as he was no longer employed by the company. The following night, at Driven, Aries was again in attendance. Following a six-man tag team match between the No Remorse Corps and Delirious and The Resilience, Aries ran through the crowd and attacked the NRC. He then signed an ROH contract in the ring.

On April 18, 2007, Starr was suspended for ninety days. On May 7 it was reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the suspension stemmed from TNA asking Austin to tape promo vignettes on a day he believed to be his day off. Starr did ultimately agree to do the vignettes but TNA saw this as a bad attitude and was reason for his suspension. During the suspension, Aries requested, and was granted, his release from TNA.

On the following episode of Impact!, it was announced that Starr would work closely with Nash’s group Paparazzi Productions, much to the dismay of one of the group’s founders, Alex Shelley. Starr replaced Johnny Devine as a member of Paparazzi Productions and participated in the Paparazzi Championship Series along with Shelley, eventually losing to Shelley in the finals at Final Resolution 2007. Starr then went on to feud with Senshi.

On April 27, Aries unsuccessfully challenged Takeshi Morishima for the Ring of Honor World Championship. On May 4, 2007, Ring of Honor announced on their website that they had signed a pay-per-view deal with G-Funk Sports and Entertainment. Following the announcement, TNA pulled Aries and Homicide, both under contracts with TNA, from all Ring of Honor shows.

On September 16, he and his partner Strong lost the ROH World Tag Team Championship to The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli). Aries and Strong continued to team together for the rest of the year. At Battle of the Icons on January 27, 2007, Aries and Strong teamed up with Jack Evans to defeat Davey Richards, Delirious and SHINGO. This apparent Generation Next reunion was short lived when, at the following show on February 16, Strong attacked Aries after their tag team title match against Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal. Strong then formed the “No Remorse Corps” with Davey Richards. Jack Evans ran down and pulled Strong off Aries, but refused to side with either of them. The following night, Aries called out Strong twice, but was unable to get his hands on him. When Evans refused to side with him, Aries said he was going to form a new faction with members of the next generation of wrestling. With that, he formed “The Resilience” with Erick Stevens and Matt Cross.

Aries began to act frustrated due to losing matches and began refusing to shake hands after matches. Jimmy Jacobs displayed interest in adding Aries to The Age of the Fall (AotF). Tammy Sytch also offered Aries her managerial services. Aries was defeated by McGuinness a second time at Supercard of Honor III in March 2008. Afterwards, Aries left with Lacey, seemingly joining the AotF. Aries returned in April and revealed that Lacey had decided to leave the AotF and that he and Lacey had become a couple. This outraged Jacobs, who attacked Aries and started a feud with him. Shortly afterwards, Lacey was apparently attacked by Jacobs outside a gym.

On June 13, 2009, at Manhattan Mayhem III, Aries won a three-way elimination match against the ROH World Champion Jerry Lynn and Tyler Black, to become the first person to have held the ROH World Championship on more than one occasion. On December 19, 2009, at Final Battle 2009, ROH’s first live pay-per-view, he defended the title by wrestling Tyler Black to a 60-minute time limit draw. On February 13, 2010, at the main event of ROH’s 8th Anniversary Show, Aries lost the ROH World Championship to Tyler Black. During the following months he feuded with Delirious and Jerry Lynn, while also becoming the manager of Rhett Titus and Kenny King, the tag team known collectively as the All Night Express, dubbing himself the “Greatest Manager That Ever Lived”. In October 2010 Aries’ profile was removed from ROH’s official website, after reports had surfaced that the promotion was going to be cutting down the size of their roster. On October 6, 2010, competing promotion Evolve announced that Aries would make his debut for the promotion on November 20.

In early 2009, Aries also underwent a complete character transformation, cutting his long hair, donning new pink and black trunks, and coming to the ring in a bright pink fur jacket. He dropped his darker persona and adapted to a new ladies man gimmick, often referring to himself as “A Double” and “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived”, the latter after a song by Weezer, which also became his new entrance theme.

In addition to his work in ROH, Aries was announced as a member of Team Epic War for Chikara’s King of Trios 2009 tournament. On the first night, Aries, along with Ryan Drago and Tony Kozina, lost to the F1rst Family (Arik Cannon, Darin Corbin and Ryan Cruz) in the first round. On the second night, Aries lost to Player Dos in the Rey de Voladores opening four corners match. On the final night, Aries lost to Eddie Kingston in a singles match.

Aries continued his feud with Jimmy Jacobs throughout the fall. In the second Steel Cage Warfare Match at Glory by Honor VII, Aries’ team (Aries, Briscoe Brothers) defeated Jacobs’ team (Jacobs, Black, Delirious) and Necro’s team (himself only). The two had a best of three series to somewhat put an end to the feud. The first match took place at Ring of Homicide 2, where Jacobs (with help from Delirious and Brodie Lee) defeated Aries in a Falls Count Anywhere Match. The second match took place at Bound By Hate, and Aries defeated the bloody Jacobs in a Dog Collar Match. The deciding match was at Rising Above 2009 in a “I Quit” Match. Lacey returned to ROH in Aries’ corner, and Aries won the match. Aries continued his feud with the Age of the Fall this time against the heavily cheered Tyler Black. At Final Battle 2008, Black was defeated by Aries in a Number One Contender’s Match. After the match Jacobs attacked Black, and Aries ran in to make the save. Instead, however, Aries teamed up with Jacobs to attack Black. Aries later explained that the reason that he attacked Black was because the fans turned on him.

On October 12, 2010, Dragon Gate USA announced that Aries had signed a contract with the promotion. Aries made his debut for the promotion on October 29 at the Bushido: Code of the Warrior pay-per-view, where he was defeated by Open the Dream Gate Champion Masato Yoshino in a non–title match. After the match, Rich Swann, whom Aries had offered to adopt as his protégé, turned his offer down. On January 28, 2011, at United: NYC, Aries defeated Swann in a singles match. The following month Aries started a storyline, where he claimed to have lost the motivation to continue his professional wrestling career, after failing to make the cast of WWE Tough Enough, before offering to put his Dragon Gate USA career on the line in order to get one last shot at Yamato and the Open the Freedom Gate Championship. On April 2 at Mercury Rising 2011, Aries was unsuccessful in his challenge, thus seemingly bringing his Dragon Gate USA career to an end. The following day at Open the Ultimate Gate, Aries was defeated by Jimmy Jacobs in what was billed as his Dragon Gate USA farewell match. However, after the match Aries feigned passing the torch to Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano and Rich Swann, the trio known collectively as Ronin, before turning on them and joining the promotion’s top heel group, Blood Warriors, claiming to have found his purpose under the leadership of CIMA. Blood Warriors and Ronin faced each other in a six-man elimination tag team match on June 5 at Enter The Dragon 2011, which Ronin won after Johnny Gargano managed to submit the Gargano Escape on both CIMA and Aries.

Aries has been a vegan since 2011 and has appeared in PETA videos encouraging the lifestyle. Aries dated fellow professional wrestler Zelina Vega in the past, from 2012-2018. Aries is also a fan of the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Milwaukee Bucks and played both football and baseball growing up. Aries has the Chinese character Ram (羊) tattooed on his upper left arm to signify the Chinese translation for Aries, which is his ring name and his zodiac sign. As of early 2018 Aries was residing in Las Vegas, Nevada.

On June 13, 2011, at the tapings of the June 16 episode of Impact Wrestling, Aries made a return to TNA, defeating Jimmy Rave and Kid Kash in a first round match of the X Division Showcase tournament for a contract with the promotion. On July 10 at Destination X, Aries defeated Jack Evans, Low Ki and Zema Ion to win the tournament and earn a contract with TNA. In his first match on Impact since being officially re-signed, Aries defeated Shannon Moore in a singles match, after hitting him with a steel chain and then pinning him for the victory, thus returning to his A Double character and establishing himself as a heel. On the July 21 episode of Impact, Aries cost Alex Shelley, who had previously confronted him on his win over Shannon Moore, his shot at the X Division Championship. Two weeks later, Aries defeated Shelley in a singles match. On August 7 at Hardcore Justice, Aries and Shelley competed in a three-way match for the TNA X Division Championship, but were both unable to win the belt from the defending champion, Brian Kendrick.

On June 9, 2011, it was reported that Aries had left both Dragon Gate USA and Evolve to reportedly pursue a career outside of professional wrestling. Aries later revealed that he considered retiring from professional wrestling because he “didn’t want to be Randy the Ram in 10, 20 years.” However, he decided to continue wrestling after receiving an offer from Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, to be a part of the X-Division Showcase.

Following his win, Aries announced that he was not satisfied with being just the X Division Champion, which led to General Manager Hulk Hogan promising him a shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, but only if he first vacated the X Division Championship. The following week, Aries agreed to Hogan’s terms with the caveat that every year before the annual Destination X pay-per-view, future X Division Champions be given the same opportunity. Aries relinquished the X Division Championship two weeks later, ending his record-breaking reign at 301 days. On July 8, Aries defeated Bobby Roode in the main event of Destination X to become the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. On July 17, TNA president Dixie Carter announced that Aries had signed a new long-term deal with the promotion. Aries and Roode had a non-title rematch on the July 19 episode of Impact, which ended in a no contest, when both competitors were attacked by a group of masked assailants, known only as the “Aces & Eights”. On August 12 at Hardcore Justice, Aries successfully defended the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Roode, with a pre-match stipulation preventing Roode from getting another rematch for the title as long as Aries was champion. During the following weeks, Aries moved from Roode to defending TNA against the Aces & Eights. On the September 20 episode of Impact, after Jeff Hardy had won the 2012 Bound for Glory Series to become Aries’ next challenger for the World Heavyweight Championship, Aries began working as a tweener, claiming that he could match anything Hardy had ever done in his career. On October 11, during the final episode of Impact before Bound for Glory, Aries continued his turn into a villainous character, claiming that he worked best when people were against him, before crotching Hardy on the ring ropes and dropping him with a brainbuster. Three days later in the main event of Bound for Glory, TNA’s largest annual event, Aries lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Hardy, ending his reign at 98 days.

On the August 18 episode of Impact Aries won an eight-man gauntlet match to earn another shot at the X Division Championship. On September 11 at No Surrender, Aries defeated Kendrick to win the X Division Championship for the first time. On October 16 at Bound for Glory, Aries defeated Kendrick in a rematch to retain the title. On November 13 at Turning Point, Aries defeated Jesse Sorensen and Kid Kash in a three-way match to retain the X Division Championship. On December 11 at Final Resolution, Aries defeated Kash in a singles match to retain the X Division Championship. On January 8, 2012, at Genesis, Aries successfully defended the X Division Championship in a four-way elimination match against Jesse Sorensen, Kid Kash and Zema Ion. On February 12 at Against All Odds, Aries defeated Alex Shelley with his Last Chancery submission hold to retain the X Division Championship. On the March 8 episode of Impact, Aries was defeated by Ion via disqualification, after Aries was caught using Ion’s hair spray on him; as a result, Aries retained his title. On March 12, Aries became the longest reigning X Division Champion in history by breaking the previous record of 182 days, set by Christopher Daniels in 2005. On March 18 at Victory Road, Aries successfully defended the title against Zema Ion. On the following episode of Impact, Aries again retained the title after he wrestled Ion, Kid Kash and Anthony Neese to a no contest, following interference from Bully Ray. Aries finalized his face turn the following week, when he teamed with James Storm to defeat Ray and Bobby Roode in the main event. The rivalry between Aries and Ray continued on April 15 at Lockdown, where the two were on opposing teams in the annual Lethal Lockdown match. Aries’ team, led by Garett Bischoff, ended up defeating Ray’s team, led by Eric Bischoff. Aries continued his record-breaking title reign on the May 10 episode of Impact by successfully defending the X Division Championship against Zema Ion. Three days later at Sacrifice, Aries defeated Bully Ray in a singles match, submitting him with the Last Chancery. On May 19, Aries announced that he had signed a contract extension with TNA. On the live May 31 episode of Impact, Aries successfully defended the X Division Championship against Chris Sabin. Earlier in the episode, Aries had a run-in with Samoa Joe, which led to Joe costing Aries his match with Crimson the following week. On June 10 at Slammiversary, Aries defeated Joe to retain the X Division Championship. On the following episode of Impact, Aries competed in his first Ultimate X match, where he successfully defended the X Division Championship against Chris Sabin and Zema Ion.

On the June 13 episode of Impact, Aries defeated Eric Young to qualify for the 2013 Bound for Glory Series. The following week, Aries defeated Jay Bradley in his first BFG series match via pinfall to earn seven points in the tournament. On the June 27 episode of Impact, Aries disguised himself as Suicide and defeated Chris Sabin and Kenny King to win his second X Division Championship. Aries unmasked himself at the end of the show, after Hulk Hogan discovered the real Suicide and demanded the fake Suicide to unmask, and announced that he intended to trade in the X Division Championship for a World Heavyweight Championship match at Destination X. The following week, however, Aries lost the X Division Championship back to Sabin in a three-way match, which also included the real Suicide, now known as Manik. On the August 1 episode of Impact, Aries turned face after praising AJ Styles, before being interrupted by his former tag team partner Bobby Rhode. Aries also competed in the Bound for Glory Series before being eliminated by Styles on September 12 at the Impact Wrestling: No Surrender event.

On the June 13 episode of Impact, Aries defeated Eric Young to qualify for the 2013 Bound for Glory Series. The following week, Aries defeated Jay Bradley in his first BFG series match via pinfall to earn seven points in the tournament. On the June 27 episode of Impact, Aries disguised himself as Suicide and defeated Chris Sabin and Kenny King to win his second X Division Championship. Aries unmasked himself at the end of the show, after Hulk Hogan discovered the real Suicide and demanded the fake Suicide to unmask, and announced that he intended to trade in the X Division Championship for a World Heavyweight Championship match at Destination X. The following week, however, Aries lost the X Division Championship back to Sabin in a three-way match, which also included the real Suicide, now known as Manik. On the August 1 episode of Impact, Aries turned face after praising AJ Styles, before being interrupted by his former tag team partner Bobby Rhode. Aries also competed in the Bound for Glory Series before being eliminated by Styles on September 12 at the Impact Wrestling: No Surrender event.

Three weeks later, on the February 27 episode of Impact, served as the special guest referee in a match between Bobby Roode and MVP. Aries attacked MVP, allowing Roode to win the match, turning heel once again. On March 2, Aries lost the X Division Championship to Seiya Sanada at Wrestle-1’s Kaisen: Outbreak event in Tokyo, Japan. On the May 22 episode of Impact, Aries helped Eric Young against MVP, Lashley, and Kenny King but was attacked by the trio, turning face once again. On June 15, 2014, at Slammiversary, Aries defeated Kenny King in a match to determine which one would face TNA World Champion Eric Young in a title match. Later that night, Aries lost to Young.

On October 20 at the Bound for Glory pay-per-view, Aries competed in an Ultimate X match for the X-Division Championship but the match was won by Chris Sabin. On the December 12 episode of Impact, Aries defeated Sabin to win the X-Division Championship for a third time. On the January 2, 2014 episode of Impact, Aries drop the X Division Championship back to Sabin. Three weeks later, on the January 23 special episode of Impact Wrestling:Genesis, Aries once again defeated Sabin to win the TNA X Division Championship for the fourth time. On the February 6 episode of Impact, Aries successfully defended his X Division Championship against Zema Ion, who cashed in his Feast or Fired briefcase.

On July 6, 2015, Ring of Honor announced the return of Aries. Aries was then announced as the replacement for Roderick Strong in the Vegas Wild Card six-man tag match on July 17 alongside Moose and ROH World and Television Champion Jay Lethal against Jay Briscoe, Dalton Castle and Kyle O’Reilly.

What's Austin Aries Net Worth 2024

Austin Aries Family