Wrestling fans were a bit surprised when WWE announced that Austin Aries had been released from his WWE contract. Aries had been working as part of the cruiserweight division, and he has recently started taking independent bookings once again. Aries did an interview with Chris Jericho on his Talk is Jericho podcast, and he revealed that he did not ask for his release from the company, which would disprove some rumors that he had done just that. Aries said that his match with Neville being excluded from the Wrestlemania DVD had nothing to do with him being released, and he simply received a call informing him that they were letting him go. Aries stated the following: “Long story short, and I can’t speak to stuff that I’ve read, or people have read because those things weren’t brought to me personally and I don’t like to deal with speculation. So just, plain and simple, I was told that they had nothing for me creatively.”
Fans may remember the buildup to the Raw vs. Smackdown 5-on-5 elimination matches kicking off with Shane McMahon and some members of the Smackdown roster invading Raw. It has been several weeks now and Raw still has yet to get retribution for their invasion. Cageside Seats reports that Smackdown will likely invade Raw again next Monday night. Then, at the very end of the Smackdown show the following day, superstars from Raw are set to finally invade Smackdown and get their revenge before the pay-per-view. The team members for both male teams have been announced, and the Raw women’s team has one more participant left to name.
On the subject of the teams at Survivor Series, one match will see Jason Jordan and Kurt Angle team up for the first time ever (along with Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, and Samoa Joe) to compete against Team Smackdown. According to the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE could be planning for a heel turn to take place during the match. Dave Meltzer believes that plans are in place to have Jason Jordan turn on Kurt Angle and cost Raw the match. This would mean that Angle would be fired as Raw General Manager, perhaps leading to Stephanie McMahon and Triple H returning to Raw in his place.