When last we saw Austin Theory, he was on Raw as part of Seth Rollins’ Greater Good stable. The then-22 year old seemed to be on WWE’s fast track, having worked WrestleMania 36 as a late replacement for Andrade in a Raw Tag title match.
But that was in June. Theory hasn’t been seen since. Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer reported he serving an “unannounced suspension” after he was accused of sexual misconduct in the #SpeakingOut movement. Rollins said in an interview with The Sporting News’ Andreas Hale that Theory “had some personal issues that came up, so he took some time off to sort through them for the past month or two.”
Whatever the reasons for his absence, Seth seemed to imply that Theory would be back with him and Murphy on Raw. But that’s not the direction WWE decided to go. The former Evolve champion showed back up on NXT tonight (Aug. 26), and seems set for a program with Bronson Reed.
.@bronsonreedwwe wants to personally welcome @austintheory1 back to #WWENXT. pic.twitter.com/PJ2kLmCFBR
— WWE (@WWE) August 27, 2020
WWE never commented on the allegation against Theory, and it never received as much attention as ones leveled against several members of NXT UK (some of whom were released) or Velveteen Dream (who was off television tonight after significant online backlash to his return and use over the past few weeks).
We’ll see how NXT intends to push the young prospect, and what the reaction is to that, in the coming weeks.