Austin Theory Recalls What He Learned From NXT’s “The Way” Group
Austin Theory recalled his time in NXT’s group known as “The Way” and how it gave him a chance to grow as a performer.
Going into WrestleMania 39 Night 1 this Saturday, April 1st, the WWE United States Champion Austin Theory is preparing for the biggest match of his career. After all, it’s not just any title defense for Theory, but it’s a match against the “greatest of all time” John Cena.
Considering that John Cena has held the US Title five times and is a former 16-time WWE World Champion (tied for the most World Titles in WWE history), it is obviously a tough test for Theory.
Prior to his main roster call up to WWE Raw in October 2021, Austin Theory was part of an NXT group called “The Way” from late 2020 until July 2021.
The Way consisted of former NXT & North Champion Johnny Gargano, his wife Candice LeRae, Indi Hartwell and Austin Theory. The Way was featured heavily on NXT programming in that era often times doing comedic skits when they weren’t wrestling. Many times during those skits, Theory was in the role of a dumb jock kind of character that looked physically impressive, but he would say dumb things from time to time.
In an interview with Fightful’s Joel Pearl, Austin Theory spoke about his time with The Way.
“I would say, when you get to the WWE, you’re trying to figure everything out, trying to figure out how everything works and what you need to do right. It keeps you on edge a little bit.”
“But when I met Johnny and Candice and got to work with them in The Way, it almost let me relax a little bit and find that personality that I have and not just go through the motions or trying to figure out all this stuff. ‘Hey, just relax. Let’s do this.’ We just had fun.”
“Honestly, when we were filming stuff or giving advice on, ‘Hey, can we say this instead? Because it might work better.’ It just naturally all flowed. It was bringing that personality and turning it up a lot.”