{"id":144023,"date":"2025-10-15T06:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T10:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=144023"},"modified":"2025-10-20T19:33:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T23:33:43","slug":"can-wwe-still-make-a-star-out-of-austin-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/10\/15\/can-wwe-still-make-a-star-out-of-austin-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"Can WWE Still Make a Star Out of Austin Theory?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austin Theory was once positioned as one of the top upcoming wrestlers in WWE. His success in the company was almost inevitable as he was personally favored by Vince McMahon. The former WWE CEO took a major interest in him and personally worked with him on television for a while. He was often referred to as \u201cVince\u2019s chosen one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in 2023, Theory even faced John Cena in a WrestleMania match for the United States Championship, where he surprisingly won. This was an underwhelming match for most fans, and a lot of them felt Theory wasn\u2019t yet ready to defeat someone like The Cenation Leader. WWE did a lot of things with Theory when McMahon was still running the creatives, but none of them worked out for him in the end.<\/p>\n

Theory has been missing from WWE programming for three months. He\u2019s currently sidelined due to an undisclosed injury, but there have been talks of a big push coming for him once he returns. Is there still time for WWE to turn him into the prominent wrestler he was once poised to be?<\/p>\n

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Photo by Diego Serrano, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Austin Theory Received A Huge Push In WWE Under Vince McMahon<\/h2>\n

Austin Theory got his start in wrestling with the World Wrestling Alliance 4 promotion in 2016. He would then go on to work for many indie promotions before being offered a tryout by WWE in 2018. He officially signed with the company next year and worked in the developmental brand, with his first match being against Roderick Strong for the North American Championship.<\/p>\n

Many wrestlers work in NXT for years before they\u2019re called to the main roster. But with Theory, this wasn\u2019t the case. A few months after joining NXT, he made his main roster debut and joined Zelina Vega\u2019s stable. But this only lasted for a short time.<\/p>\n

Later, he started working as one of Seth Rollins\u2019 disciples. And it seemed like WWE finally had a vision for him. Unfortunately, he was kicked out of the group next month and was sent back to NXT.<\/p>\n

Fans realized that Theory needed to work more on his character before he could secure a position on the stacked main roster. In 2021, he returned to Raw with a new gimmick, one where he annoyed wrestlers by taking selfies during matches.<\/p>\n