Austin Theory won’t let his detractors get to him despite his doomed MITB run and his recent U.S. Championship defeat to Rey Mysterio.
Theory’s second reign ended earlier this month when Mysterio substituted for U.S. Title Invitational winner Santos Escobar, whom Theory had attacked ahead of their match.
During a recent edition of the “After the Bell” podcast, Theory spoke about dealing with his detractors and reflected on last year’s tenure as Mr. Money in the Bank. He said,
“To me, it’s almost crazy being told that I don’t believe in myself. When clearly, let’s use John [Cena] for example, I saw John Cena, he was in the middle of the ring on ‘Raw,’ and look where I am? I got to ‘Monday Night Raw.’ I’m on ‘SmackDown’ now. How are you gonna tell me that I didn’t believe in myself? Who is 26 years old and has done the things that I’ve done in the WWE? And people always have something to say.
“I mean, let’s take it back to the Money in the Bank contract. When I lost that, my career was over, and then look what I did. I had the greatest United States Championship run of all time. And if I decide to go and grab that title again, then I will, but maybe I’m focused on the ‘Head of the Table’? Maybe the workhorse Seth Rollins? That’s a funny one too, calling him the workhorse, but look at how many times I defended the United States Championship. Look up how many matches Austin Theory has had in 2023. I’m sure it’s more than Seth Rollins. But those are the things that people don’t wanna realize because they know how great I am.”
Theory has competed 65 times so far in 2023, according to Cagematch, while Seth Rollins has competed a total of 63 times this year.
On last week’s episode of WWE SmackDown, Theory earned a rematch with Mysterio for the title by defeating LA Knight, albeit thanks to outside interference from The Miz.