Austin Theory’s WWE Aspirations Started Back When He Was 8 Years Old

Of course, Theory’s physique and discipline ultimately helped him in his pursuit of a WWE contract.  In the aforementioned interview following his victory at the Bodybuilding Championships, he explained that he would no longer put additional focus into bodybuilding and instead was going to become a WWE Superstar.

Theory would eventually train at the WWA4 wrestling school in Atlanta, GA, but growing up in the area, he was exposed to the indie wrestling scene early on in his life. Former WWE Champion Kofi Kingston of The New Day remembers Theory as a young kid, attending Deep South Wrestling shows to become familiar with the up-and-comers in the industry. “Theory’s from Atlanta, so he would come to the Deep South shows. So he would come and watch us, you know, try and make it to the main roster so he has pictures with a lot of people on the Deep South roster who used to hang around,” Kingston told WrestleRant on behalf of Bleacher Report. It’s also well documented how dedicated of a John Cena fan Theory was while he was watching the product over the years.

“Watching him as I was growing up, the whole “Never give up” [slogan.] As cheesy as people may think that sounds, that mentality, that never-give-up mentality is what really helped me through my life and really got me to this point,” Theory told The New York Post earlier this year.