Austin Theory on John Cena Wanted Him To Be A “Good Guy” After Their Match at WrestleMania 39, Advice He Got From Cena, Feeling He Was “Robbed” With Failed WWE Money in the Bank Cash-In, & His On-Screen Alliance with Vince McMahon

A recent episode of the ImPaulsive podcast featured Austin Theory as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Theory’s thoughts about his match against John Cena at WrestleMania 39 and how Cena wanted him to turn face and work as a “good guy” after their match.

“I just remember him telling me, ‘You’re not a bad guy. Like I want you to be you,’” Theory said. “I was like, ‘Man, I’m this obnoxious, over-the-top, cocky heel.’ And he’s like, ‘I feel like that’s not going to last too long. You got to be yourself.’

After the match, I remember Cena telling me he was like, ‘Hey, I went and talked to Vince [McMahon]. And I told him, You’re not a bad guy. So hopefully that helps you become a good guy.’”

Theory also gave his thoughts about the advice Cena shared with him.

“One of my favorite things was doing the match at [Wrestle]Mania, like I knew the finish and like me biting his ear and stuff. Cause I remember he asked me, ‘Do you know who Evander Holyfield is?’ I was like ‘Yeah’ he’s like, ‘We’ll do something like that tonight.’ I’m like, ‘All right, cool’ …

But the thing that stuck out to me the most was after he told me he said, ‘Just remember every show we do is a live event.’ This is the biggest show we have. We treated it like a live event.”

Theory also gave his thoughts about how he felt he was “robbed” with how his failed Money in the Bank cash-in on Seth Rollins for the WWE United States Championship in 2022 was treated.

“Yes. I’m gonna go run the play always if we really need it to be this way. I think for me I felt like, even with the moment I had with Roman, it was, I believe, at Barclays Center; he hit me with the ‘your daddy’s not here anymore’. In that moment I wanted to say the same thing to him, because in a way it’s like he’s a Vince guy as well. Not in a way he was

I felt like there could have been a moment; I knew I wasn’t gonna get the title off Roman, but even just building it to seem like ‘oh, here we go’. I can lose to him, whatever, but just give it more of a payoff, because it felt cool man; I did a lot of cool things with it.

It’s funny how I have it in my office hanging, and it’s real dented, and people see it and go ‘You murdered people with that huh?’ I’m like, ‘No, Brock Lesnar murdered me with it, and it sucked.’”

Theory also gave his thoughts about his journey from NXT to the main roster for his career in WWE and his time working together on-screen with former WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon.

“So I remember my time in NXT, it was kinda just, I feel like I was there. Then something started to work when I was in the group The Way; I started showing more of my humor, being more funny, showing that. I feel like that’s kind of the tip of it in NXT. Then when I got to the main roster, I didn’t even realise Vince [McMahon] was pushing me, and behind me, until I remember when I won the US Title and became the youngest US Champ, but at the end of that match, Vince wanted all the heels to come out, hold me up in the ring. Then, as I left the ring, he came out on the stage and held my arm, and I think in that moment I was like ‘Whoa, something’s going on here, we’re going places.‘”

Theory also gave his thoughts about how he always felt he would do great things in WWE.

“I feel like I always knew I would do great things here, just not the detail of them. It’s been a crazy ride, but I guess like anything in life you have the ups and downs, and coming down a little and just reflecting and figuring out where can I be better, what can I do, maybe I need to switch the character and do something else. But that time period specifically, that was the end of 2021 and 2023, but crazy.”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com 1, 2, & 3