NWA Star Aron Stevens, best known to WWE fans as Damien Sandow, has seemingly retired after giving an emotional speech at Alwayz Ready.
At NWA Alwayz Ready on June 11th, Aron Stevens fought Trevor Murdoch in a match billed as his “Swan Song”. Despite his best efforts to go out on top, the former Damien Sandow couldn’t overcome Murdoch and fell to a Diving Bulldog for the pinfall loss.
Later in the show, Stevens gave an emotional speech where he said that he had loved pro wrestling since he was 16 years old and began training at Killer Kowalski’s gym. He also spoke of his regret that, despite coming close on a number of occasions, he was never able to capture a World Championship and honour Kowalski by taking it to his grave.
He finished by saying that, although he still loves wrestling, it doesn’t love him back, so he will now think about his health and future. His first step will be to head to Brazil to refocus on the next chapter of his life.
Is this the end for Damien Sandow/Aron Stevens in #ProWrestling#NWA#NWAAlwayzReady#AlwayzReady#WWEpic.twitter.com/iYGlHlrn2t
— King 🏳️🌈 (@MrKingCoop) June 12, 2022
Aron Stevens is best known for his time in WWE where he debuted in 2011 and performed as Damien Sandow. During his time there, Stevens was popular for his “Intellectual Saviour” character, a condescending heel who wore a robe and insulted audiences everywhere for being inferior to him. He formed a tag team with Cody Rhodes known as The Rhodes Scholars but the duo saw little success.
Later, he became The Miz’s ‘Stunt Double’, tagging with him and duplicating his moves at ringside. The two went on to have a short Tag Team Championship reign before disbanding.
Stevens was released from WWE in 2016 and had a brief run in TNA before moving onto the NWA where he spent the last four years. There, he has been both a National Champion and Tag Team Champion with JR Kratos.