During his on-screen push with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon in April 2022, WWE United States Champion Austin Theory dropped his first name because he and the boss decided that the name “Austin” didn’t suit him any longer due to how WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin hit McMahon and Theory with Stunners at WrestleMania 38 earlier in the month. WWE ended up giving the first name back to Theory that September at WWE Clash at The Castle.
Theory recently spoke with Chris Van Vliet on his “INSIGHT” podcast and told the story behind the name change.
“Yeah, so I remember walking into, this is the time you know, Mr. McMahon was head of creative. And I remember the writer bringing my promo and the promo said, you know, don’t call me Austin, it’s just Theory,” he recalled. “And I was like, what, like, the names gone? And, you know, I was wondering why. And I spoke with Mr. McMahon about it, and he felt that, you know, Theory could be a name that stood alone, he felt it had enough power behind it. And also, I think he just wanted to get away from that comparison of Stone Cold because we just did the WrestleMania stuff. So, I think maybe out of circumstance, that’s maybe why it happened.”
Theory continued and revealed how he was notified of the first name coming back.
“But the funny story about Austin Theory coming back, is I just got a text one day, or like that just pretty much said, like your Austin Theory,” he said. “And then I show up to the show and the, you know, the matches are on the wall, and there was my full name again. And I’m like, I guess I’m Austin Theory again, you know, so I thought it was kind of funny. Like, that’s how I find out, you know what I mean? But, uh, I never, I never felt like, I guess like negative about it. Because Theory just meant the most to me, because I’ll always have my first name, people are always going to know me as Austin. But Theory was just that name I came up with as a kid. And even as a kid I was searching for, you know, besides it being a cool name that I came up with, and nobody had it like how can I give it meaning. For the longest [time], Theory was supposed to mean, you know, a Theory is unproven. But to me when you’re unproven, that means you’re not proven so you can always get better. If you’re somebody that’s proven, that’s it for you. So, me being a Theory always being able to change to adapt to evolve. That’s what it’s all about. And I still feel like to this day, it still works for that.”
Theory is set to defend against John Cena at WrestleMania 39 next month.
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