Austin Theory was interviewed by Corey Graves this week on “After The Bell.”
Theory talked about what an inspiration John Cena was for him while growing up:
“It’s crazy with Cena and Randy, because for me growing up, that was my feud,” Theory said. “That was the feud I would watch. It was either Randy and Cena, or Cena and Edge. I just talked to Edge this past Monday. It’s one of those things where you just have to take a second and just breathe. I remember the first time I met Cena, there was like a little altercation on the internet. I remember I did a promo for Evolve where I called him out and said he should pass the torch. I think the next day or the next week, he posted my picture, and there was a lot of stuff going on. I was like wow, he knows who I am. When I got signed to WWE, we were at the Performance Center one day and we were leaving. We got told that we need to stay and there’s going to be a meeting. We’re sitting there, and then we were told John Cena is coming in. Cena came in and he talked to all of us for about an hour. Then he specifically said, ‘Hey, I have nothing going on today, so if anybody wants to talk individually and privately, we can.’ I thought that was really cool. I remember waiting. Each person he would talk to, and they were trying to keep it at a certain time, but he talked to everybody for a while. I remember waiting for like, I think it was three hours, just to talk to him. There were only a few of us. I remember a lot of people leaving. I noticed that, and I was like, ok, the one person who was the face of WWE for so long and you have nothing to ask him? I remember waiting there and I went in. I was so nervous. I really didn’t even know what to say at first. The first thing he said to me was, ‘How are you? What can I help you with?’ I remember I was like, I don’t even know what to ask him. I have to tell this dude that he was such a motivation for me in my life. I think when I say it, people say, ‘Oh, you were a John Cena fan’, but it’s a little deeper than that just because as a kid, I think when you watch anything, you’re super influenced by it. So whatever somebody’s attitude or personality is like, or the decisions they make, it’s very influential. For me, it helped me a lot because when I was in middle school, people would say, ‘I would never see that happening to you’, but I was picked on a lot. A lot of it was because I watched wrestling, but I knew that if I could make it to Monday or Friday, I would be good, and I could just escape. I think that’s why it goes back to when I see a ring, it gives me this calm feeling because it’s always been my getaway from everything, and just watching Cena was always that pull away from real life, like I can get away and I can escape. That’s the deep story of that.”
Theory on working on screen with Vince McMahon on Monday Night RAW:
“It’s like when you think wrestling, and you think wrestling god, it’s Vince McMahon. I think when I’m sitting there and I’m talking with him, it doesn’t get bigger than this, and already. I probably watched the video of getting slapped 100 times. I would just say, just don’t upset Vince McMahon because he has some hands.”
