Ace Austin Explains Why He Joined AEW After TNA Exit

Ace Austin made his AEW debut against Ricochet last month and immediately signed with the company after that. Many assumed he’d go somewhere else after his TNA exit but now Austin has explained why he joined AEW.

While speaking on the Unrestricted podcast, Ace Austin explained that signing with AEW came together in a surprising but natural way. When he entered free agency earlier this year, he wasn’t sure what his next move would be and took a short break to catch his breath.

Having started training at 17 and debuting at 18, he’d spent a full decade wrestling nonstop, including during the COVID years, so the break gave him time to think about his future.

“The way that the whole thing actually kind of fell into place was pretty crazy. As far as considering AEW as an option, it was a top option—it was a no-brainer, exactly. When I went into free agency earlier this year, I really wasn’t sure what the next step would look like. I just took a little bit of time to catch my breath because I started wrestling when I was 17, debuted at 18, and it’s pretty much been 10 years nonstop. Even during COVID, I was still regularly taping. So it was 10 years nonstop and six years on TV, never slowing down.”

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During that break, Austin noticed that AEW was bringing a show to Cincinnati, just an hour from his home. The timing felt perfect, as if his career’s pattern of right place and right time was happening again. Around the same period, he had also been watching more AEW thanks to its easy access on HBO Max, where he often streams superhero content.

The presentation, energy and wrestling-first approach of AEW reminded him why he fell in love with the sport, giving him “the feeling” that wrestling was once again front and center.

“Coming into free agency, I took a quick breath and started to have some conversations to see what the next steps might look like. Then I saw AEW was coming to Cincinnati, and it was like—wow. My career has had so many instances of right place, right time, and this just started to fall into place. I really started tuning more into what AEW was doing recently, especially with the accessibility on HBO Max.

I love HBO Max—I’m always on there watching my superhero stuff—so I started checking AEW out a lot more, and I really got that feeling back. I loved the way the show was running, I loved the flow. It made me feel like I was watching the wrestling I loved. Wrestling feels so important at AEW first and foremost, and that’s why I fell in love with it in the first place.”

Austin contacted AEW to say he’d like to visit and see friends. The locker room welcomed Austin warmly, and he already knew many of the wrestlers. He planned to visit on Thursday, but on Wednesday he got a text asking if he was nearby.

Even though Austin wasn’t there yet, he drove over right away. That same day, he filmed a promo, and the next day he had a match, making his decision to sign with AEW clear and easy.

“So AEW comes to Cincinnati, and I hit them up and said, ‘Hey, that’s an hour from my house. I’d love to come hang out and say hello to my friends there and make some new ones.’ I wasn’t sure what the vibe would be like, but everyone was so warm and welcoming. Almost everyone there I’ve met or have some sort of relationship with. I was actually only planning on coming Thursday, and then on Wednesday I got a text: ‘Hey, are you here?’ The answer is yes, even if you aren’t. Not at that moment, but I was an hour away and could be there immediately. So they had me come down, do the promo, and then Thursday was the match.”

Ace Austin’s move to AEW shows how the right timing and real love for wrestling can shape a career. It’s clear he was tailor-made for AEW thanks to his epic in-ring skills, so we’ll have to see how his time in AEW will turn out, since he actually ended up losing his debut match.

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