Theory Shares His Thoughts On Vince McMahon’s WWE Departure
Theory has had a lot of success since becoming a regular superstar on Raw in 2021 and now he’s talking about a man he took many selfies with, the former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
When the 25-year-old Theory was drafted to the Raw brand from NXT last October, he was quickly pushed as something of a “chosen one” of Vince McMahon. The duo were featured in backstage segments with Vince offering the young man some advice that might get him further in WWE like “expect the unexpected” among other things.
The mentorship of McMahon guiding Theory led to WrestleMania 38 with McMahon supporting Theory in his match against Pat McAfee. Theory lost that match at WrestleMania, but then Vince faced McAfee himself and Theory helped Vince get the win.
On the April 18th edition of Raw, Theory (who used to have Austin as his first name in WWE until it was removed) beat Finn Balor to become the youngest United States Champion. Theory has since lost that title to Bobby Lashley, but then Theory ended up winning the Men’s Money in the Bank briefcase in July even though he wasn’t originally advertised to be part of that match.
Theory is still the Men’s Money in the Bank holder meaning he can cash in that contract that’s inside the briefcase for a title shot against the WWE or Universal Champion (Roman Reigns holds both titles right now) any time he wants to do it.
When Vince McMahon retired from WWE on July 22nd, it led to questions about what might happen to Theory. Will he still be pushed heavily without Vince calling the shots? Time will tell on that, but we do know Triple H is the Head of Creative now and he featured Theory a lot in NXT, so everything could be okay for Theory even though there’s no Vince around anymore.
Theory recently did an interview with Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture where he talked about WWE’s change in management and how there is “no better group” of people to lead WWE moving forward.
“I knew Triple H back when I was in NXT and had a great time. Came up to the main roster, still had a great time. Change can always scare people because it’s different and there’s not that comfort level of what you’re used to, but with change, and with somebody like Stephanie, Nick Khan, Triple H, and Bruce Prichard, there is so much creativity there that we haven’t seen. It’s time to have something fresher and newer. It’s a bunch of different minds now and I feel there is no better group of people to takeover this than them.”
As far as his interaction with Vince McMahon, the former US Champion Theory had a lot of praise for his old boss and talked about what he would want for WWE in the years ahead.
“I would say, the best thing I learned from Mr. McMahon, as funny as it was that we said it on TV, the mindset that he had and expect the unexpected. When he said that, it was like, ‘Wow, this is pretty much how it works.’ When we talk about my career, expect the unexpected. I wouldn’t have expected all of that to happen. With Mr. McMahon retiring, I think we all felt like we would never have seen that day.”
“John Cena recently said it, if there was a Mount Rushmore of sports entertainment, it would have one person on it and it would be Mr. McMahon. I believe in that as well because he’s an icon. There is nobody that has created something as huge as this and made it as successful as this as Mr. McMahon. Triple H even says it, those are hell of shoes to fill.”
“WWE never stops and it’s never going to stop and we all know the legacy Mr. McMahon held for this place and now it’s time to do what he wants and that’s to keep it going.”
The next major WWE show where Theory could cash in Money in the Bank is Clash at the Castle on September 3rd. Theory is not currently scheduled for a match at this point, but that could change over the next three weeks.