Well, for starters,
Austin Theory was a bodybuilding champion at the age of 17. Here's an image of him in that bodybuilding competition. Keep in mind he was only 17 at the time. Now that he’s a full time professional wrestler at the age of 25, there’s no doubt in my mind that Theory is in full peak condition, making him physically superior to a lot of the wrestlers in the roster, as well as one of the most athletically gifted.
Theory was stated by commentary to have been blessed with all of the tools an athlete can hope for, and is a true prodigy in the world of professional wrestling. This already shows the massive amounts of potential/skill Theory has.
To start things off with a bang, there’s this new wrestler called Axiom. In
this promo, he’s billed as someone who can quickly analyze and react to anything thanks to his gift for mathematics, which he uses to defeat wrestlers in the ring. Yes, this guy uses mathematical formulas while in the middle of a match to defeat his opponents. Keep in mind, this guy
struggles with NXT wrestlers, while Austin Theory has fought on par with and defeated some of the best wrestlers in the business, so Theory is likely far superior to the likes of Axiom, which is already extremely impressive in itself.
Theory on his debut NXT match was able to fight on par with
Roderick Strong.
Strong has over 20 years of experience as a wrestler, and was nicknamed The Master of the Backbreaker, due to his ability to constantly target the opponent's back in wrestling matchups.
Theory was also able to hold his own against the likes of
Aleister Black, who was trained in
Pencak Silat and
Kickboxing from the
ages 9 to 15.
Austin Theory defeated Ricochet
in only a couple of minutes. Ricochet is notorious for using his
absurd levels of acrobatics and quick reflexes to blitz, overwhelm, and defeat his opponents.
Austin Theory has also
fought on par with the likes of Dexter Lumis, who has shown to have a "Sixth Sense" that
allows him to fight while blindfolded.
Theory was able to give
Bobby Lashley a good run for his money. Bobby Lashley has a very good
mixed martial arts background, having a record of
15-2, defeating the likes of Joshua Franklin in 41 seconds (TKO), and Mike Cook in 24 seconds (Submission). He even defeated
James Thompson, who at that point, had over a decade of experience in mixed martial arts. Lashley defeated him in 54 seconds via TKO.
Theory was also able to give
AJ Styles a good run for his money. AJ Styles is the same guy who was able to beat
John Cena clean. Cena is the same guy
who looked like was about to beat Brock Lesnar before getting interrupted. Brock Lesnar was an
Amateur Wrestler, and a
Mixed Martial Artist career, which he uses, along with his Amateur Wrestling background to decimate his opponents. Lesnar had a record of
106-5 in his 4 years of college wrestling at the NCAA, as well as winning the NCAA Division I Heavyweight Championship. Lesnar also ended the
iconic 21-year Wrestlemania win streak of The Undertaker.
After a hard-hitting, physical match,
Theory was able to defeat Dolph Ziggler clean. Ziggler has a great amateur wrestling background. Ziggler set the record for most pins in St. Edward High School with
82 pins. When he was a wrestler at Kent State University, he at one point, held the record for most career wins in the team's history, earning
121 wins (the record was soon broken, but this still says a lot for how skilled Theory is).
To add on,
a rookie Dolph Ziggler was able to fight on par with John Morrison, albeit losing in the end. Morrison was described by WWE as having "lightning-fast offense", "high-risk aerial expertise", and "incredible agility". He is known to utilize a
split-legged corkscrew moonsault, dubbed
Starship Pain, as a finishing maneuver. During his singles run as Johnny Nitro, he used a standing shooting star press as his finisher. Morrison soon began using a corkscrew neckbreaker dubbed
Moonlight Drive, in reference to the song of the same name written by Jim Morrison. He also prominently used a superkick as a finisher in 2008 during a feud with D-Generation X, as a way to mock Shawn Michaels's
Sweet Chin Music maneuver. Morrison is a practitioner of
parkour and often incorporates it into his wrestling style, giving him the nickname "The Prince of Parkour". He also has a background in
amateur wrestling,
breakdancing,
gymnastics, and
martial arts. Regarding his unique wrestling style, Morrison stated in a 2021 interview with
Sports Illustrated (despite this being an interview, whatever Morrison says here should be taken 100% legitimately, as he applies all of these forms of martial arts in his fights).
"My movement background is different from everyone on the roster. I was an amateur
collegiate wrestler at
UC Davis. I also did gymnastics at UC Davis. I've studied
kung fu,
boxing,
capoeira,
stunt fighting, parkour—I am a master at all those disciplines. Applying those movement patterns is what I do in the ring."
Theory was able to
trade blows with the likes of Drew McIntyre. McIntyre is the same guy
who had wars with the likes
of Sheamus. In fact, while participating in a grueling ‘Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook’ match, McIntyre was even capable of kicking out of
The Brogue Kick. The Brogue Kick is one of the most dangerous moves in all of Pro Wrestling. A referee
suffered chronic neck pain when hit with the move. The Brogue Kick was stated to cause
extreme nerve damage and tingling in the extremities of the victim. A move this dangerous was something that Drew McIntyre kicked out of, and Theory traded blows with McIntyre.
Theory also has Accelerated Development. He Went from
having severe skill disadvantages against Johnny Gargano to the point where he was called
"predictable" to slowly finding ways to adapt throughout the fight,
even finding ways to quickly counter moves that originally caught him off guard. The commentary team states that Theory was
"learning on the go" throughout the match. Johnny Gargano's fighting style revolves around combining
British Chain Wrestling,
Lucha Libre, and
Puroresu into a fighting style he likes to call "Lucharesu".
Theory was able to defeat Finn Balor for the United States Championship, becoming the youngest US Champion in WWE history. Now here's where I go talking about Finn Balor's skill.
Finn Balor defeated
Pete Dunne, who's fighting style revolves around brawling, stiff strikes, submission grappling, and bending of his opponents fingers (
Small Joint Manipulation), which will leave someone extremely handicapped in a fight, especially since wrestling is all about striking, grappling and holding, and you can't do that without functioning fingers. Pete Dunne was also the same guy who
was able to solo the entire Undisputed Era by himself, and the group has been regarded as one of the most dominant factions in WWE history.
The group ended up winning all of the gold in NXT at one point.
Balor was also able to give
Roman Reigns a good run for his money. Roman Reigns became the 2nd man to
defeat The Undertaker at Wrestlemania.
The Undertaker is considered
the greatest pure striker in Sports Entertainment history. Even the likes of Kurt Angle was scared to take a punch from him.
If ya don't know Kurt Angle, he's notorious for winning a gold medal with a broken neck, who
is this skilled, and was named the
greatest shoot wrestler ever.
