On Monday’s go-home edition of Raw heading into this week’s WrestleMania 36, Zelina Vega‘s tag-team duo of WWE United States Champion Andrade and former NXT Cruiserweight Champion Angel Garza was slated to team with Seth Rollins to face off against Kevin Owens and The Street Profits. Prior to the match, Vega came out to announce that due to an injury, Andrade was not cleared to compete in the match. But she did say she had found a replacement and he was the “hottest free agent no more!” – unveiling one of NXT’s newest stars and former indie superstar Austin Theory.
ALL DAY.
An injury to @AndradeCienWWE means @Zelina_VegaWWE just brought in another 🔥🔥🔥 addition to her squad… @WWENXT's @austintheory1! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/ltSHIFr41Y
— WWE (@WWE) March 31, 2020
The Georgia native is a former student of EVOLVE Wrestling and Lucha Underground star AR Fox and made his professional wrestling debut in 2016. That year he made his debut for the World Wrestling Network (WWN) family when Austin Theory began wrestling for Florida’s Full Impact Pro (FIP). The following year, he would become a major player with EVOLVE Wrestling, and the entire WWN network – Austin Theory is a former 2x WWN Champion, EVOLVE Champion, and FIP World Heavyweight Champion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLZ6qn9mN2o
Theory signed with WWE in early 2019 and has since worked primarily on the NXT Live Event circuit, he made his NXT television debut when he faced NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong in December of last year. He’s appeared several more times in recent months as well, facing Joaquin Wilde (formerly DJ Z), Tommaso Ciampa, and Tyler Breeze. The ill-timed injury to Andrade has created a huge opportunity for Austin Theory, who was announced on Raw as officially making his Raw debut and the newest member of Zelina Vega’s talent roster.
Zelina Vega – formerly known as Thea Trinidad in TNA/IMPACT Wrestling and the indie circuit – joined WWE in June of 2017 and soon appeared on NXT television where she courted another new face in Andrade “Cien” Almas. She soon took over managerial duties for Andrade, leading him to a reign as NXT Champion that November. She’s continued to guide Andrade upon joining SmackDown in the 2018 Superstar Shake-Up and again when they moved to Raw in 2019. She led Andrade to the WWE United States Championship, defeating arch-rival Rey Mysterio at a WWE Live Event at Madison Square Garden in New York City at the end of 2019.
Angel Garza became the second “associate” in Zelina Vega’s portfolio when he joined her at the beginning of February during an absence from Andrade. She led him through a great feud against his cousin, Humberto Carillo, and following Andrade’s return, the two have begun teaming in tag matches as well as remaining singles competitors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9fp_sv-Ei0
Now with 22-year old Austin Theory in her stable, Zelina Vega has assembled a talented trio of young stars who can collect a lot of gold in the WWE Universe.
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