5 wrestling rumors we hope are true and 5 we hope aren't: WWE officials 'desperate' for young star to succeed, Vince McMahon 'not sold' on top RAW heel?
Welcome to this week's edition of wrestling rumors we hope are true and those we hope aren't. It's been the most unfortunate week in wrestling in a long time, as two great names passed away in unfortunate and tragic circumstances.
We'd like to start by paying tribute to Shad Gaspard and Hana Kimura. Shad Gaspard passed away after drowning in the sea, but not before he ensured that his son's life was saved before his.
As for Hana Kimura, the 22-year old Japanese Stardom sensation tragically passed away. Stardom hasn't confirmed the exact cause of her death. She had posted a series of social media messages implying that she had been cyber-bullied. We would request anyone on social media to not misuse the platform and direct abuse at any human being, regardless of who they are.
With that said, the best we can do is offer a distraction in this tragic time and overall difficult year. Let's get into the rumors of the week and those which we hope are true and those we hope aren't.
#5. Hope is true: WWE's big plans for Austin Theory
Austin Theory was called up to the main roster from NXT after Andrade was forced to pull out of his WrestleMania 36 Tag Team title match. Replacing the United States Champion was the 22-year old, who effectively joined Zelina Vega's faction comprising of Andrade and Angel Garza.
He was kicked out of the group on the May 18th episode of RAW, with Seth Rollins taking the young star under his wing alongside Murphy. According to Tom Colohue on Dropkick DiSKussions, there's big backstage praise for Austin Theory:
Most wrestling fans and people who are listening to the podcast will be aware that Theory was going to be bounced straight back to NXT. That clearly was not the plan. We've called Theory lucky before but right now he's taken every opportunity and people backstage love this guy.
He said that backstage officials are 'desperate' for him to succeed and that he has many big names singing his praises:
They are desperate to see him succeed otherwise he wouldn't have even come up from NXT in the first place. It's not just Zelina Vega singing his praises, you've got Triple H and you've got Paul Heyman expecting great things. When you pair him with Seth Rollins, I think I do as well.
We hope this is true because Austin Theory is a Superstar with a lot of potential. The fact that he's on RAW in a prime spot before he even turned 23 means that he has many years to make it big. It's going to take a while, but hopefully, he goes in the right direction.