IMPACT star Ace Austin recently spoke with Sports Illustrated to hype this evening’s Sacrifice event, where the former X-Division champion discussed a number of different topics including his desire to one day clash with AEW’s Sammy Guevara. Highlights are below.
Says he thought he would be in the world title picture after his X-Division reign:
Right after Slammiversary, I jumped into the tag title picture with Madman Fulton. I was so confident the world title was going to be mine at Slammiversary. Coming off a run where I was so successful, on the independents and in Impact, that was difficult, but I want to make everything I do special.
Whether he believes he could carry the promotion as the top guy:
100%, and I was ready at Slammiversary. I was ready to become the youngest world champion in the history of this company, and that’s something I am still pursuing. But there was one good thing that came out of my loss at Slammiversary. I call myself “The Inevitable”, and that means it is only a matter of time before I am world champion. So it is inevitable that this eventually happens.
Loves his pairing with Madman Fulton:
I’m glad you said that. I have spent so much time working on this, and I refuse to do it in a cookie-cutter way. No matter what the directions say, I choose to do this in a way no one has ever done this before. At the beginning of my career, I didn’t know how to harness that. Now I’ve found way of exuding that. Viewers got to watch us become a team in real-time. Fulton had some tag experience, I had next to none, but the fact that we’ve thrived under pressure is a testament to our work. It’s all felt so natural to me, and we’ve continued to grow together. It was a situation we were both unsure about at first, so we focused on telling our story in as real a way as possible to connect with people.
On people comparing him to AJ Styles:
I’m constantly compared to AJ Styles, and I’m compared to the best because I am the best. But it’s like your earlier question. I’m compared to him, but I am not in his shadow. I’m creating something special my own way.
ON his goal to recapture the X-Division title:
I’m so, so glad you brought this up. My career coming full circle with this X Division title match. This is where I first made my stamp on the industry when I became X Division Champion in 2019. That was my launching point after the independents. Then when I first started with Impact, I was undefeated for months, until TJP returned. He beat me in two or three minutes, ended my undefeated streak, and then he tapped me out in the rematch. He was that first real obstacle for me. His work is so smooth and so great, so this is a monumental matchup for me at Sacrifice. It’s the culmination of my Impact career thus far, and it’s going to allow me to get my wheels back on track to becoming the face of this company.
How he wants to work with Sammy Guevara:
We never really know the full situation. All I know is that the public is excited to witness an encounter between myself and Sammy Guevara. That encounter is inevitable. I’m disappointed that it hasn’t happened yet, but that time will come.