AUSTIN ARIES

HEIGHT : ? WEIGHT : ? LBS. HOMETOWN : ? FINISHING MOVE : 450 SPLASH ENTRANCE MUSIC : PERSONAL JESUS - MARILYN MANSON HIGHLIGHTS : ROH WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION

Did you ever think you would see the ROH World Heavyweight Title around anyone's waist but Samoa Joe? Neither did any other ROH fan. But on December 26, 2004 at Final Battle 2004 Austin Aries dethroned the 21 Month reigning champion by delivering a 450 splash and thus became only the 4th man in history to hold this prestigeous title.

Austin first made waves in Ring Of Honor by teaming up with Roderick Strong, Jack Evans, and Alex Shelley to form the formidable group known as Generation Next. A group of up-and-commers who believed they waited long enough for their shot, and were taking it by their means. In the months to follow, they took out everything in their path.

At Testing The Limit on August 7, 2004 Aries took on Bryan Danielson in a 2-out-of-3 falls match which lasted nearly an hour and a half. The match was quickly refered to as a match of the year candidate for 2004, as well as one of the best matches in ROH history. However now in retrospect, that match was only #2 in comparison to his World Title win. Will Austin Aries continue to raise the prestige of the ROH World Title, such as Joe did for almost 2 years before him? When/Where will his next break-out match take place? This is one saga, that is definatly worth following.