18 Ups & 15 Downs For WWE In 2023

5. Waste Of Space

There is a plethora of arguments one could make to illustrate how big of a waste Austin Theory has been, but one fact might stick out more than the others:

Theory held the United States Championship for more than seven months this year.

Got that? Theory was a secondary champ for the entire first half of the year, including four months on SmackDown at a time when Roman Reigns was all but invisible, making Austin the only men’s singles champion on the blue brand week in and week out.

His WrestleMania 39 win over John Cena should have been a career-defining moment, and instead it shone a spotlight on how inadequate he was, gaining absolutely nothing from it and coming out of Mania with even less momentum.

It wasn’t until he lost the title and partnered with the more talented and entertaining Grayson Waller that Theory became somewhat bearable, which in incongruous with how WWE presented him upon his call-up in 2021.