Austin Theory Opens Up On WWE Absence Prior To Joining The Vision: ‘I Wrestled With A Hernia & My Contract Was Coming Up’

Published: Apr 10, 2026 by Connel Rumsey | Last Updated: Apr 10, 2026 by Connel Rumsey

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Austin Theory Opens Up On WWE Absence Prior To Joining The Vision: ‘I Wrestled With A Hernia & My Contract Was Coming Up’

Austin Theory has opened up on his absence from WWE television last year, says he wrestled with a hernia and his contract was coming up.

During the main event of Survivor Series, a masked attacker entered the War Games cage, delivering a Stomp to CM Punk to help The Vision pick up the win over Punk’s team in the match beyond.

The attacker was later revealed to be Austin Theory, who had joined the Vision after months off television due to an injury.

Austin Theory Wrestled With A Hernia Prior To WWE Absence

Speaking on the Mark Hoke Show, Theory opened up on his absence from WWE television last year, and how it was a low point in his life.

Theory noted that he had been wrestling with a hernia until it got to a point where he couldn’t ‘push it back in’, and that his contract was coming up during his time away.

He said:

“Well I think for me it was everything happens for a reason, but I was actually wrestling with a hernia for a very long time, and as gross as it is, I was having to pop it back in after certain matches and yeah, stuff people don’t know about. They don’t know when someone goes to the ring, what the damage is.

“But I was in a good spot, and even when it was hitting a low for me, I was doing everything I could to just stay and keep the wheels turning on the car.

“It reached a point, I had a match on Main Event and it would not go back in. So that night I went to the emergency room, and it blew my mind because I was like ‘I just had my gear on, I went out there and wrestled, and now I’m in the ER’ and now it’s like where does this go now because now I’m out of the picture, my contract was actually coming up, so a lot of things were hitting me personally.

“That’s kind of one of those things that’s a low point in your life where you get really rocked, and to me, those points are where you really pick yourself up and you become a version of yourself that’s always been in you, but it takes you to that next level.

“It helped me reframe my mindset and everything, and coming back I just knew this is my value and this is what I need to be doing, and as you see it’s clear vision now.”

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Austin Theory’s Potential In WWE

While Austin Theory’s push had seemingly stagnated in WWE over the past few years, it seems that WWE is once again focused on pushing the young star following his introduction to The Vision.

At just 28 years old, the future is still way ahead of Theory in WWE, despite him already having a 5 year run on the WWE main roster, including beating John Cena at WrestleMania 39.

While it may take some time to re-establish Theory as a key future player after recent shaky booking of the man now known as ‘The Pressure’, he remains a potential key pillar of WWE’s future.

Theory is set to rub shoulders with Logan Paul and IShowSpeed at WrestleMania 42 next weekend, a clear sign of trust put into the Tag Team Champion.