Johnny Gargano To Get His Hands On Austin Theory On WWE Raw Next Week

Theory fires shot, declares war against former mentor.

by Scott Carlson
Johnny Gargano WWE 2022
WWE

Ever since returning to WWE earlier this summer, Johnny Gargano has repeatedly crossed paths and run afoul of former protégé Austin Theory.

Their confrontations clearly indicated that they were on a collision course, and now we know when they're going to meet in battle. Theory challenged Gargano to a match on next week's episode of Raw, marking the first time they've faced each other in a one-on-one match in WWE or NXT.

Gargano had taken Theory under his wing in NXT as part of The Way, but Austin was promoted to Raw about a year ago. When Johnny Wrestling re-signed with WWE and showed up on Raw, he reunited with his old stablemate, but Theory immediately proclaimed himself far better than his former mentor. The two have butted heads several times since then.

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Monday, Theory used his Money in the Bank briefcase to cost Gargano a match against Otis, then issued his challenge for next week.

Given how Theory has been booked of late, it wouldn't be all that shocking for this rivalry to eventually involve Austin putting his MITB briefcase on the line. For now, though, we'll take the one-on-one match between the former partners.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.