After a brief run on the WWE main roster, Austin Theory was sent back to NXT and he received help from Shawn Michaels to find his way.
In a recent interview, Theory noted that the WWE Hall Of Famer helped him understand some of the intricacies of performing in a WWE ring.
“We’d go back and watch matches, and I remember something specifically he said when I first got there, when I was 22,” Theory recalled in an interview with TalkSPORT. “This was the most confusing thing but I’m glad I figured it out.
“He told me, ‘Hey, when you go out there,’ he was like, ‘Are you having fun?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m having fun.’ And he said, ‘You know, like hearing the people and everything?’ And I was like, I don’t really know if I hear the people and everything because I’m so focused on what I’m trying to do in the ring.
“He said, ‘You’ve got to find who you are and be yourself,’ but at 22, I didn’t know who I was. So I’m like, ‘Wait, what? What do you mean?’ I would think about that a lot. I was still doing the same thing but I was trying to figure out his advice. Be yourself? Then I realized it was about letting a little loose. Have fun. Everybody knows being outside of the ring and being able to do promos and backstages, that’s what makes the character.
“That’s what gets people invested. It would be like watching a movie and it’s just action the whole time, you’re not really going to relate to anybody. That little piece of funny advice he gave me at the time went a long way. But I really tried to figure it out because I was like, Shawn Michaels isn’t just going to say this to me.”
Theory is slated to wrestle Pat McAfee in a singles match at WrestleMania 38 next week.
