Another WWE Superstar Just Got Their Full Name Back

By Connor Casey

WWE, under Paul Levesque's leadership, has started reversing its decision on name changes for its various Superstars. Matt Riddle officially got his first name back during an interview segment on this week's Raw and now PWInsider is reporting that Austin Theory has been given his first name back as well. WWE.com's roster still has him listed as just "Theory" and he didn't acknowledge it during a pretaped promo with Johnny Gargano during the episode, but various house show advertisements have been spotted with "Austin" added back in. 

The current Money in the Bank briefcase holder made his pro wrestling debut as Austin Theory in 2016 and he still had that name when WWE signed him to a developmental deal in 2019. The name went unchanged in both of his NXT runs and his brief time on the Raw roster in 2020. But in April 2021, while he was working alongside Vince McMahon on Raw, Theory lost his first name. In 2022 alone, the young man has competed at WrestleMania, won the United States Championship (breaking the record for youngest US Champion) and won Money in the Bank thanks to McMahon adding him in as a last-minute entrant. 

Theory spoke with Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture earlier this month and was asked about McMahon's departure (h/t TJRWrestling) — "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."

WWE returns to pay-per-view this Saturday with the Clash at the Castle event in Cardiff, Wales. Check out the full card for the show below:

  • Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre
  • Intercontinental Championship: Gunther vs. Sheamus
  • SmackDown Women's Championship: Liv Morgan vs. Shayna Baszler 
  • Bianca Belair, Alez Bliss & Asuka vs. Bayley, Dakota Kai & Iyo Sky
  • Riddle vs. Seth Rollins
  • Edge & Rey Mysterio vs. Finn Balor & Damian Priest

h/t PWInsider

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