Austin Theory

Austin Tyler White (born August 2, 1997) is an American professional wrestler and bodybuilder.

He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Austin Theory. He is currently in a tag team with Grayson Waller as A-Town-Down Under.

Prior to joining WWE, he wrestled on the independent circuit, including several promotions under the World Wrestling Network umbrella, such as Full Impact Pro (FIP) and Evolve – along the way winning the WWN Championship, FIP World Heavyweight Championship and the Evolve Championship.

In WWE, he is a two-time United States Champion and the winner of the 2022 Men's Money in the Bank ladder match.

Austin Tyler White was born on August 2, 1997, in the Atlanta suburb of McDonough, Georgia.

His parents were divorced prior to his birth.

White has been a fan of professional wrestling since childhood, citing John Cena as a huge influence and having dreams of joining WWE since he was eight years old.

In 2015, he placed first in the NPC Georgia Bodybuilding Championship, Teen Men category when he was 17.

He made his professional wrestling debut on May 5, 2016, under the ring name Austin Theory, defeating A. R. Fox at a WWA4 event to win the WWA4 Heavyweight Championship.

During this time, he continued to work in events around the Georgia area.

On August 12, 2016, Theory made his World Wrestling Network debut at Full Impact Pro (FIP)'s Heatstroke.

Theory made his Progress Wrestling debut on April 1, 2017, at a Progress and Evolve joint show, losing to Keith Lee in a four way match involving Jason Kincaid and Blaster McMassive.

He made his Evolve debut at Evolve 78 on February 24, 2017, defeating Darby Allin.

Afterwards, Theory acquired Priscilla Kelly as a valet.

On December 18 at Evolve 97, he defeated Fred Yehi to win the FIP World Heavyweight Championship.

He retained the title against Yehi on January 13, 2018, in an "Anything Goes" match.

On February 17 at Evolve 100, Theory failed to win the Evolve Championship against Zack Sabre Jr..

At Evolve 103 on April 6, Theory defeated Keith Lee to win the WWN Championship, ending Lee's 175 day reign.

On May 19 at Evolve 104, he retained the title against DJ Z.

At Evolve 106 on June 23, Theory lost the WWN Championship to Joey Janela, but retained the FIP World Heavyweight Championship against Janela and DJ Z in a triple threat match the next day.

On September 30, he lost the FIP World Heavyweight Championship to Anthony Henry.

At Evolve 117 on December 15, Theory defeated Fabian Aichner and Roderick Strong in a triple threat match to win the Evolve Championship.

On June 16, 2018, Theory made his debut for Mexican promotion The Crash Lucha Libre, where he was defeated by Rey Horus.

Prior to his signing with the company, he participated in a WWE tryout in February 2018.

On April 8, during day 4 of WrestleMania Axxess, Theory retained his WWN Championship against Marcel Barthel.

On February 15, 2019, at Evolve 121, he retained the title against Darby Allin.

Over the next few months, Theory successfully defended the title against the likes of Anthony Henry, Kyle O'Reilly, Raul Mendoza, and Leon Ruff.

Following a backstage confrontation between the two, he and JD Drake fought in a Winner Takes All match for both the Evolve Championship and WWN Championship at Evolve 131 on July 13, which was won by Theory.

On August 25 at Evolve 134, he retained the Evolve Championship against Drake and Josh Briggs in a triple threat match, and against Briggs on September 21 at Evolve 136.

However, at Evolve 139 on November 9, he lost the title to Briggs in a rematch.

On March 2, 2019, Theory defeated Willie Mack, Bárbaro Cavernario and Sansón to win The Crash Heavyweight Championship.

On June 14, Theory made his Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre debut representing The Crash, teaming with Carístico and Volador Jr. to defeat Rush and La Peste Negra (Bárbaro Cavernario and Negro Casas).

On August 10, 2019, Theory was shown on-screen in the crowd at NXT TakeOver: Toronto.

Five days later, it was announced that he signed a contract with WWE and would report to the WWE Performance Center.

On the December 25 episode of NXT, Theory made his in-ring debut, accepting Roderick Strong's NXT North American Championship open challenge in a losing effort.

On the January 8, 2020 episode of NXT, he achieved his first victory by defeating Joaquin Wilde.

Theory, as a heel, appeared on the March 30 episode of Raw as an associate of Zelina Vega, teaming with Angel Garza and Seth Rollins in a losing effort to Kevin Owens and Raw Tag Team Champions The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford).

On Night 2 of WrestleMania 36 on April 5, Theory and Garza unsuccessfully challenged The Street Profits for the Raw Tag Team Championship.

The following night on Raw, Theory and Garza lost a title rematch to The Street Profits.

After defeating Akira Tozawa on the April 13 episode of Raw, Vega's other associates, Garza and Andrade joined him in beating down Tozawa as all three posed together, confirming their status as a faction.