Austin Theory talks about the influence AR Fox had on his career and how meeting him at the age of 18 led to him having a match with Jeff Hardy during one WrestleMania weekend.
Austin Theory has had a unique journey in modern WWE. Having already competed in a championship match WrestleMania before ever having a “real” run on the NXT brand, Austin Theory was set up for success in a way that very few through the years in WWE have been.
Despite his seemingly fortunate rise in WWE, Austin Theory did go through the independent circuit. His first exposure on the WWE Network came during an EVOLVE event that was streamed on the network and now, he is reflecting on his first WrestleMania week series of events and how AR Fox helped him get his career to the next level.
Speaking on WWE After the Bell, Austin Theory candidly stated that he believes he owes so much of his career to Fox, who, in Theory’s eyes, was one of the first veterans to truly take him under their wing.
"I owe so much to that guy because of how much I didn't know and how much he taught me. I had no idea about the independent scene and didn't really understand it or know what it was. Where I lived in Georgia, it was a lot of parody wrestling, just older guys portraying Stone Cold. In Southern Georgia, the wrestling is a little more comedic and that's what I was seeing. I was watching and I wasn't really impressed, I was just like, 'Okay.' When I looked up the school, I was thinking that's what the independents were. When I met AR Fox, I was like, 'Woah.'"
Theory continued, "I had seen highlights of him and after I met him, I got to see who he is and I had never seen anybody do the things he could do. He took me under his wing and told me, I was 18, he asked, 'There's this thing called WrestleMania weekend and everything is ran around WrestleMania, but all the independent companies come down to where WrestleMania is and there are shows the whole weekend and they start at the beginning of the week. I have a match, it's a ladder match and Jeff Hardy is in it.' I was like, 'Jeff Hardy?' All I had to do was ask my mom and I could go. I was living at home with her and had to let her know I was leaving. He took me on the road and I got to experience that. There were times where we slept on the floor and those really long drives, not getting paid anything. He would ask me, 'there's this show here, you're not going to get anything,' but (I said), 'Yes, absolutely.' He offered that opportunity to other guys and they said no. I always thank him and he gets mad at me. 'Quit thanking me, you did everything you were supposed to do.' I still talk to him to this day. He's a huge influence on me."
From wrestling in Southern Georgia where all the wrestlers were portraying Steve Austin all the way to being a major part of Monday Night Raw alongside Vince McMahon, Austin Theory’s career has evolved a great deal and in large part, it is because of AR Fox.
Elsewhere in the interview, Austin Theory talks about being slapped by Vince McMahon on the most recent episode of Monday Night Raw. Learn more here.
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