Before leaving the WWE in 2016, Aron Stevens, formerly Damien Sandow, was stuck and wondering what else he could do to take that next step in the WWE.
Stevens would discuss his departure and how it left a bad taste for him as he was the guest on this week's episode of Fightful’s Wrestling Perspective Podcast with Dennis Farrell and Lars Frederiksen. Stevens would explain to Farrell about the situation he was in.
“It's funny, that was an interesting time in my life. I really had no desire to [wrestle], but [IMPACT] reached out to me shortly after I had left WWE. I had gotten a fair amount of press, from leaving WWE, way more than I thought, which was very flattering. I was not necessarily in the best space, in terms of my relationship with the wrestling industry; not to sound like I'm bitter because I'm not, I'm truly not. But look creatively at what the WWE was doing with me and what I felt I should be getting as far as opportunities based solely on the response I was getting from fans.”
Aron mentioned the loud ovations he would receive from the WWE Universe and noted that there came a point when WWE officials did not want to hear his name mentioned in their reports. Stevens would realize he was far from getting any real opportunity within the WWE.
“I did an autograph signing a couple of weeks ago, and one of the guys putting the signing on said, hey, I have to let you know something; my friend works for WWE and worked for them when you were there.” Stevens said.
“I knew who he was talking about. They would get the house show reports back and it would list the biggest pops of the night; he said, “You were right there; it was [John] Cena and you.” Then it got to a point where they would bring that back to certain people in the office, who will remain nameless because I'm not that guy to name names and bury people. They said, don't even mention him anymore. So that's how far removed I was from any opportunity. They didn't want to hear my name, yet they kept me on the road for whatever. It's all good; that's the entertainment industry, it isn't ballet, it's not all fair, and that's life. But as a performer, I'm just thinking, what do I have to do? Because I was blowing the roof off the place. So I had a bitter taste in my mouth, and then I had the opportunity for IMPACT Wrestling, and many of my friends were there. So I got to go there and get creative and stuff. But then, ultimately, there was an administrative change, and I had to look in the mirror, and I left wrestling after that.” Said Stevens.
#OnThisDayInWWE 10 years ago on #SmackDown:@TheRock turns the tables on Damien Sandow and asks him a question
— On This Day in WWE (@OTD_in_WWE) January 11, 2023
Sandow regrets getting it right, though…@AronsThoughts @CodyRhodes @bfg728 pic.twitter.com/3kXuCXoDQL
Aron Stevens will be at NWA 75 in St. Louis, Missouri, on August 26th; he will manage Blunt Force Trauma as they challenge the NWA World Tag Team Champions La Rebelión. Fightful will have results for the event, which can be seen on our results page at this link.
