Austin Theory did not appear at Friday’s Raw-brand live event from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but wrestling fans can rest assured he’s not been bit by the injury bug.
Theory was set to defend the Unites States Championship against Seth Rollins in the Steel Cage main event. Finn Balor filled in for Theory, but Rollins got the victory. Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch both got involved in the match, which made for an interesting dynamic.
Shortly before the show, the building announced he would not be present. This is somewhat unusual, since typically it’s WWE that lets fans know about late changes like this (card subject to change).
A winter storm led to travel issues for a lot of WWE (and AEW) performers last week. Multiple stars were unable to make their scheduled dates, which led to rewrites and last-minute substations at TV and live events. It’s still unclear why Theory missed the Toronto Holiday Tour event, but we can thankfully rule out an injury.
Theory Says He’ll Be at Raw
Theory’s situation was addressed on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. According to Dave Meltzer, there’s no injury and there are no disciplinary ‘problems’ that would have prevented him from being there.
Ruling out those possibilities, Meltzer speculated there may have been a problem with Theory crossing the Canadian border, but that’s just a .. theory.
The good news is that Theory is healthy and says he’ll be at tonight’s WWE Raw from Nashville. He’s scheduled to defend the US title against Rollins and has a warning for The Architect. In a tweet sent out on Sunday, Theory says Rollins will truly know his place in the WWE when he puts him in the past.
