For a few weeks now, Aron Stevens – best remembered for his role with WWE as Damian Sandow – has been teasing a return on July 13, 2019. And while many speculated he was making his return at All Elite Wrestling (AEW)‘s Fight for the Fallen event that same day, it’s now become apparent that was never the destination. On Friday night, he was a guest of another former WWE Superstar in Santino Marella, running the BattleArts Rising Stars showcase in Mississauga, Ontario (just outside Toronto) while Marella was in Montreal for the inaugural Montreal Grand Prix, a new international judo competition. BattleArts Academy is the wrestling school run by Santino. But during one of the matches, Stevens turned on one of the students, Timothy O’Connor.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzmermigSVn/
Following the event, Stevens took to Social Media to announce that he was finally making a return to professional wrestling after over two years away from the business. “Well, you might as well hear it from me first,” he said in the video. “I am here in Toronto at Battle Arts Academy. I attended a wrestling show and I had an epiphany. I’ve been gone for two-and-a-half years, look what’s happened to the world, look what’s happened to the business. The world needs me and the business needs me, so tonight the ‘Millennial Slayer’ was born. Stay tuned.”
Well, here you go… pic.twitter.com/KhfKlJnwP7
— Aron (@AronsThoughts) July 7, 2019
In the comments of the rough video of Stevens attacking O’Connor, he decreed he would be facing Timothy O’Connor at BattleArts first-ever public show on July 13 at the Don Kolov Arena, the same arena that Destiny World Wrestling also uses for their events. “(Timothy O’Connor) nothing against you as an individual,” Stevens wrote. “Just your generation as a whole.#milenialslayer see you in the 13th at the Don Kolov Arena if you are not still nursing your wounds & and if you can put your cell phone down long enough to actually show up. #truth#someonehadtosayit.”
Aron Stevens’ last match was in January of 2017, at IMPACT Wrestling Tapings in Orlando, Florida. Stevens had only recently debuted his new Aron Rex character that was reminiscent of Gorgeous George, complete with a manservant/valet in the form of Rockstar Spud (now the current WWE 24/7 Champion, Drake Maverick). Since then, he’s been pursuing acting opportunities away from the wrestling world. He competed for five months with IMPACT following his departure from WWE in 2015, where he captured the (now defunct) IMPACT Grand Championship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRVgwwgJ04c
Aron Stevens had a six year run with WWE prior as Damian Sandow, who became one of the company’s most popular Superstars when he was paired alongside The Miz as his stunt double, Damian Mizdow. Prior to that, he was an underutilized heel, with his “Savior of the Masses” character, who briefly paired with Cody Rhodes in The Rhodes Scholars.
Aron Stevens had spoken previously to Chris Van Vliet this past February, where he discussed various topics, including how he didn’t feel he was safe enough to make a return at that time. “I haven’t been in a ring in almost two years,” he told Van Vliet at the time. “So…do I like to think I could get in there and be just like I was, yes. Not to sound braggadocious, could I probably do that if I was in front of a live crowd? Yes. At practice, NO…I would want to be at my best, I would want to get in a ring, kinda move around, just to make sure that I’m okay. More importantly, I could protect anyone I was in there with. That I still had that. It’s not me I’m worried about, it’s always the other person, it’s always protecting everyone you’re in there with. I would just owe that to anybody that I’m gonna step in with, that I trust they can be protected.”
Considering BattleArts is a world-class wrestling school, it’s possible Stevens has been training alongside his former WWE workmate Santino Marella in polishing up his skills as he makes his return. Working with BattleArts out of the gate to continue to re-polish his skills back to where they were, it will be interesting to see when Aron Stevens takes his “Millenial Slayer” gimmick to bigger promotions by the end of 2019.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.
