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Austin Theoryâ€s WWE future has been shrouded in confusion for months, but recent reports are finally painting a clearer picture—though not without plenty of questions still on the table.

Back on August 6, PWInsider repotted that Austin Theory had been quietly removed from WWEâ€s internal active roster. With no official announcement and no storyline exit, speculation immediately ran wild. Had he been released? Was this creative limbo? Or something else entirely?

At the time, Theory had vanished from television without a trace, despite having been half of the rising “A-Town Down Under†tag team with Grayson Waller. The duo had built serious momentum, teasing a potential split and even prompting live crowds to chant: “Turn on Grayson!â€

It felt like WWE was setting up either a huge babyface turn for Theory or a hard-hitting breakup angle. Then… nothing. No payoff. No explanation. No mention. In fact, Theoryâ€s last in-ring appearance came on July 14, at a WWE Main Event taping. After that, radio silence. But later that same day, Fightful Select provided a much-needed update: Austin Theory wasnâ€t gone—he was injured.

“Theory is still part of WWEâ€s roster, but heâ€s now listed among injured talent alongside names like Zoey Stark and Ilja Dragunov.â€

WWE didnâ€t publicly disclose the injury or its severity. A vague on-air mention of an “injury†was made in passing, but never expanded on. That only added to the confusion for fans who had invested months watching the A-Town Down Under story develop.

Meanwhile, Waller was quickly pivoted into a new direction—teaming with The New Day on SmackDown—while Theory remained completely absent from TV. Still, that didnâ€t mean WWE was done with him.

On October 14, Fightful Select dropped another major update. Despite not wrestling a RAW match in five months—and only five televised main roster appearances all year—internal WWE sources confirmed Theory was considered for a role at Survivor Series WarGames.

“Internal sources confirmed Austin Theory was considered for Survivor Series WarGames as an option at one point.â€

Plans change in WWE all the time, but his name being in the mix meant one thing: Theory wasnâ€t forgotten. With Seth Rollins now out with an injury himself, creative plans for Survivor Series 2025 are reportedly being shuffled again, which could have opened up a spot for someone like Theory.

Early WarGames team concepts even featured him in a major heel faction known as The Vision—lined up alongside Brock Lesnar, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, and Seth Rollins. That group was reportedly set to take on a superteam of CM Punk, Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, and Jacob Fatu—with Jimmy Uso or LA Knight as the fifth man.

Then on October 21, WrestleVotes added even more fuel to the fire. According to their sources, Theory is still very much in the mix creatively—even if heâ€s not on-screen.

“Sources indicate there are still voices within the company pushing to keep Austin Theory involved in creative plans, even after the recent shuffling caused by Seth Rollins†injury.â€

“The idea of Theory joining The Vision was at least discussed, and he still has internal support moving forward to reappear on TV in a significant manner.â€

So what does this all mean? Austin Theory isnâ€t done with WWE. He hasnâ€t been released. Heâ€s been injured. With Survivor Series just around the corner and several moving pieces on the board, itâ€s still possible Theory shows up, especially if WWE finds a way for The Vision storyline to still come to life.

WWE Survivor Series 2025 goes down Saturday, November 29 at Petco Park in San Diego, California. Itâ€ll be the first time the event takes place in a stadium, and all eyes will be on who shows up—and who doesnâ€t. Will Austin Theory be one of them? Only time will tell.

Let us know what you think: Should WWE bring Theory back with a major return storyline, or did they miss their chance? Would you still want to see a Grayson Waller feud or something totally different? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.

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MONTREAL — Joe Veleno took off down the wing and hit the speed burst button right as he was crossing the offensive blue line. The television broadcast clocked him double-clutching from second gear to fourth, going from 26 kilometres per hour up to 34 to open up the space that might enable him to do something special.

Instead, Veleno just did what the situation called for. He had started the play one-on-two and only marginally improved his odds after stepping on the gas, so when he got into that space, he used it to just get a simple shot on net.

This five second sequence was among several solid ones Veleno had in Montrealâ€s final exhibition game. It was the type of sequence that secured his job with the Canadiens months after he signed a one-year deal with them worth a fraction more than the league minimum.

That $900,000-deal came 15 days after unrestricted free agency started, and all it really represented was a lifeline for the former first-round pickâ€s NHL career.

Veleno came to Canadiens camp having to grab that lifeline and pull himself up, and the way he managed to do that was by doing exactly what the game asked of him each time he stepped on the ice.

“I thought he was excellent tonight,†said coach Martin St. Louis after the Canadiens lost 3-1 to the Ottawa Senators.

The game sheet read: Joe Veleno: zero goals, zero assists, zero points, even.

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But the game sheet doesnâ€t track calculated decisions that increase the percentage of your line winning a shift.

Itâ€s what St. Louis has been emphasizing to the Canadiens for the better part of a year.

Itâ€s what he talked about with reporters who attended Saturday morningâ€s skate, and also what he repeated following Saturday nightâ€s game.

“I think they understand what weâ€re looking for,†said the coach after he was asked in the morning about the endgame for fringe players still pushing for roster spots with the Canadiens. “I think we communicate that every day in the kind of meetings we have. We do video, weâ€re not showing highlight reels; weâ€re talking about the details of the game, the ordinary things that you have to do over and over. Every now and then you get extraordinary things, but itâ€s not one extraordinary thing thatâ€s going to get you inside the door. Itâ€s how many ordinary actions can you do that helps the collective game and that raises the percentages of us being successful knowing that youâ€re going to have those moments every now and then that youâ€re going to do an extraordinary thing. But you canâ€t just look for extraordinary things. The game is not like that. It happens, but I donâ€t know when itâ€s going to give you that.â€

What the game always gives you are situations that force you to make quick calculations. And what it forces you to calculate is just how much risk you can afford to take.

Veleno consistently making those calculations correctly throughout camp pumped oxygen into his NHL career.

If he continues to make them correctly as the season rolls along, heâ€ll go from surviving to thriving in a way the Detroit Red Wings hoped he would when they selected him 30th overall in the 2018 Draft.

It may have taken the 25-year-old 306 NHL games to truly understand what it takes to make his mark in this league, but at least he figured it out.

“I think experience is probably the biggest thing, youâ€re going to need to learn certain things, in terms of details, knowing where youâ€re going to be, knowing guys’ tendencies, who youâ€re playing against and who youâ€re playing with,†Veleno said. “It comes naturally once you get this many games under your belt, so Iâ€ve really grown from my experiences.â€

But many of these young Canadiens have grown from their experiences.

If that wasnâ€t apparent through this final pre-season game — which Brendan Gallagher qualified as one in which the Canadiens didnâ€t have “A-execution or A-effort†— itâ€s been patently obvious through the rest of their camp.

And camp has been an extension of what we saw from the Canadiens through the end of 2024 and opening months of 2025, with the whole team embracing detailed, “ordinary hockey,†and maturing.

“You could tell there was a switch from December on and it just got really contagious,†said St. Louis. “You make a push, get into the playoffs, get through that first round, you understand how much thatâ€s important. When camp started, we didnâ€t start over. Thereâ€s a continuity. The guys really took that to heart. We started camp with that kind of mindset.â€

The Canadiens are finishing camp with it, too.

Even the guys not finishing camp with the Canadiens displayed to what extent theyâ€ve adopted the mindset St. Louis wants them to have.

Cuts will be announced Sunday. Theyâ€re almost certain to include Florian Xhekaj, Owen Beck and Adam Engstrom. And while all three of those players would be justified to feel disappointed about their dreams not being realized, St. Louis pointed out they shouldnâ€t feel as though they failed.

Engstrom did anything but fail. His only path to a job on the Canadiens†blue line was an injury to one of the players locked into one, but he didnâ€t allow that to stop him from proving heâ€s ready for one right now.

“Heâ€s a gamer,†said St. Louis. “Heâ€s going to play (NHL) hockey. He played a good game tonight, showed he has everything it takes to play in this league. Wonâ€t be surprised if he has a long career.â€

No one should be surprised if it starts for the young Swede at some point this season.

Beck has already played 13 games at this level, and his 14th will come soon enough.

Xhekajâ€s first might come a little further down the road, but any doubt that heâ€ll play it sooner than anyone thought he would when he was drafted — 101st overall in 2023 — was erased by his performance in this camp.

Still, the details must be sharpened, and the calculations made more precisely — and not just for an unpolished stone like Xhekaj, but also for the most varnished veterans of the Canadiens.

A player like Patrik Laine must ritually execute the ordinary more than he did through exhibition. Heâ€s a player capable of extraordinary things but also a player who often complicates the ordinary.

And what is “the ordinary?â€

“Itâ€s F3 on the forecheck, how you arrive in our zone if they get deep pucks, how you deal with the rush as the first forward back,†said St. Louis. “Every team has different ways to play certain situations; do you understand how we want to play it, and can you do these ordinary things over and over thatâ€s going to allow us to kill more plays, get more pucks and now raise the percentages to be able to do extraordinary things?â€

Oliver Kapanen and Samuel Blais did, too, and the former already made this team.

Donâ€t be surprised if the latter, who had five hits against the Senators, also sticks around after Sundayâ€s cuts.

Then the real fun begins, and itâ€ll be anything but ordinary.

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Bas Rutten is very impressed with how committed The Rock was to playing Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine.

Rutten spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard about his role in The Smashing Machine.Rutten, a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, appears in the movie inspired by Mark Kerrâ€s life. He spoke about working with Dwayne “The Rock†Johnson on the film, and said although they just met, it felt like he was around the real-life Kerr again.

“I just met him on the film for the first time. Weâ€ve been in contact quite a bit online, always interacting, [but the film set is] where I met him the first time,†Rutten said. “He grabbed me and he gave me a big kiss on my head and I go, ‘Okay.†And then I realized, ‘Oh, that was Kerr.†Kerr was always doing that to me.

“Him coming in with all the fight scenes, whatever it was, he was just glued to me, and he says, ‘I want you to do everything. All the directions, I want come from you because you were there. You were actually doing it.†That was the same with Benny Safdie, the director. He also said, ‘Read the script. The script is just to give you a guideline. You say whatever you want to say because itâ€s you. Just be Bas again from 25 years ago.â€

Photo Credit: Eric Zachanowich / A24

Bas Rutten says The Rock made working on The Smashing Machine very easy

Rutten joked that it took “an extra few cups of coffee†to do that because he was younger at the time the film takes place. He explained that working on set went really well, even saying it was pretty easy since Johnson nailed the role.

“People go like “Easy?†Yeah, but the only reason it was easy [was] because DJ was Kerr from the moment he walked in and started speaking. The way he walked, the way heâ€s fighting, if you see him fight in the ring in the movie, pull up a fight from Kerr and [look at] the way he stands. He always had this weird stance, more straight. I always told [Kerr to] stand more over, but he would always stand like this [straight up]. The way he moves his mouth, the way he speaks and cries in the movie, even the movements of the mouth when he cries, it was Kerr.â€

Rutten said this made the set very relaxed and calm, and he just got to teach Johnson just like he taught Kerr, his student, 25 years ago. Rutten didnâ€t agree that Johnson went as far as method acting, but said when he was on the set, he was Mark Kerr.

The 2015 UFC Hall of Famer said Johnson is a busy guy and has the spotlight on him constantly. He noted that itâ€s probably hard to commit to method acting like that, let alone pump his own gas or go to the grocery store without being recognized. After seeing the film on an IMAX screen, Rutten picked up on more traits that highlighted just how much effort Johnson put in to accurately portray Kerr in the film.

“The shoulders that he developed, the ‘Kerr shoulders,â€â€ Rutten noted. “That took a lot of work. I didnâ€t [initially] talk to him about it. It was the first thing I said, though [when I noticed]. When I saw him, I go, ‘Did you work to get the Kerr shoulders?†I know that his coach was there and he said, ‘Yeah, we worked really hard on that.†I can only imagine. So having a guy walk in that like that, walking up straight the way he normally walks, the way he fights, walks when he fights, heâ€s Kerr. He did his homework, 100% in every little detail.â€

Bas Rutten shares what he hopes viewers take from The Smashing Machine

Rutten said The Smashing Machineshows people that everything is not all “nice and dandy†in the spotlight. You never know what people on TV are going through, and the film shows what really goes on behind the scenes. Rutten highlighted how like Johnson as Kerr, Emily Blunt nailed the part of his ex-wife, Dawn Staples.

“When I saw her, boom, thatâ€s Dawn. It was the first time on the set, we made a picture for a release of the thing. I met her first in regular clothing, but then suddenly I heard something behind me,†he said. “She was standing there in a dress like Dawn, and her hair like Dawn. I said to a friend, ‘Iâ€m getting goosebumps.†Itâ€s amazing. The whole aura, everything, [Emily] was her.â€

He pointed out that the movie shows that a toxic relationship or home life can also impact your professional life. Rutten considers himself lucky to have a wife who understands what kind of balance and dedication heâ€s looking for. Some people might believe fighters will settle things in the ring and at home by fighting more, but most times, Rutten noted, they want the opposite.

“We donâ€t. We want peace and quiet. The more quiet your mind is, the better you fight. If you can come completely relaxed, mindful to a fight, thatâ€s the only thing you need, pretty much,†Rutten said. “Now we find out thatâ€s not always the case. There could be some struggles. When I read the script the first time, I was like, ‘Oh boy.†I knew [Mark and Dawn] had some trouble at home, but I didnâ€t know that. You will see it. Thereâ€s some scenes when Emily had like a smirk on her face before a big fight starts. I go, ‘Whoa.†Itâ€s like thatâ€s completely psychopathic. Itâ€s impressive.â€

The Smashing Machineopens in theatres worldwide on October 3.

Read More: The Smashing Machine: Ryan Bader On Working With The Rock, Making Fights Look Real

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Jon Moxley (media photo courtesy AEW) SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)… The…