WWE star plans to become 3-time champion soon, ending legend's title reign
On the August 18 episode of WWE SmackDown, Austin Theory defeated LA Knight to become the number one contender for Rey Mysterio's United States Championship. Following the show, Theory guaranteed fans he will recapture the title soon to become a three-time champion.
Theory's match with Knight took place moments after LWO members Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar appeared on The Grayson Waller Effect talk show. In a chaotic finish to the match, The Miz distracted his new rival Knight to help Theory record the win.
On WWE show The SmackDown LowDown, the 26-year-old sounded confident when asked about his title opportunity against Mysterio:
"You know what's gonna happen now?" Theory said. "I'm gonna become the United States Champion for a third time, just like you, Rey Mysterio. Only thing is, I'm not gonna be stopped, and what I do next, well, you'll just have to wait and see."
Theory held the United States Championship for 257 days before losing the title to Mysterio on August 11. Escobar was originally supposed to challenge for the gold. However, he was unable to compete after Theory attacked his knee multiple times ahead of the match.
Austin Theory claims WWE official disrespected him
After attacking Santos Escobar last week, Austin Theory planned to go home without defending his title. In an unexpected twist, on-screen WWE authority figure Adam Pearce announced Rey Mysterio as Escobar's replacement.
Speaking in character, Theory claimed Pearce was partly to blame for causing his three-minute title loss to Mysterio:
"I was disrespected last week. Not only by Santos Escobar and Rey Mysterio, by Adam Pearce. That's the guy that's running this place, right? How disrespectful, not only to a United States Champion, but the greatest United States Champion. And that's not just something that I say, that's something that I live every single day."
The highlight of Theory's most recent United States Championship reign came at WrestleMania 39 when he retained the title against his childhood hero John Cena.
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Please credit The SmackDown LowDown and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.