Austin Theory Reflects On Beating John Cena at WrestleMania: ‘My Childhood Dream’

The biggest win of Austin Theory’s career to date came at WrestleMania 39 against John Cena, a match that Theory recently looked back on in a new interview. Theory defeated Cena on night one of the 2023 iteration of WrestleMania to retain his WWE United States Championship.

Theory has been open about how Cena was his idol growing up, and he spoke about what it meant to battle Cena at the PLE in an interview with Enry Lazza. He noted that he considered that moment a “full circle” experience for someone who looked up to Cena. You can see highlights below:

On Beating His Childhood Hero:

“I’d have to say like, there’s both sides to it, right? Hitting him in the balls and looking him in the face and being like, ‘this is my hero’ and beating him with my finisher 1-2-3. Like, it was awesome, I had a great time. But the little 8 year old kid inside of me that was inspired by John Cena. The 8 year old kid that’s dad wasn’t in his life and I got bullied in school, that kid that had John Cena to get him through those hard times, it was such a cool full circle moment.

On What That Match Meant to Him:

“Still to this day, just — even not just professionally but personally. Getting to have that moment with him and not just — Monday Night Raw is a huge show, a live event is a huge show, Smackdown’s a huge show. All the Premium Live Events are huge shows. But a WrestleMania is the biggest show we have. Getting to have that match with John Cena there — and not only walk in as United States Champion but walk out United States Champion? That’s my childhood dream right there, man.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Enry Lazza with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.