WrestleMania 36: 5 Reasons why Austin Theory replacing Andrade in the RAW Tag Team Championship match is best for business

This week on RAW, the Creative decided to kill two birds with one stone by pairing The Street Profits up with Kevin Owens to take on Seth Rollins, Andrade, and Angel Garza for a tag team match.

However, before the match could begin, Zelina Vega walked out with Garza to inform the WWE Universe that her client Andrade had suffered an injury and was being replaced by NXT’s newcomer, Austin Theory.

At WrestleMania 36, we will watch KO battle The Monday Night Messiah, while The Street Profits will defend their RAW Tag Team Championships against Garza and Theory.

While many fans wouldn’t know much about Austin Theory, it is important to note that he is one of the best under-25 talents the company has got today.

In this article, we will look at the 5 reasons why Theory replacing the injured Andrade in the WrestleMania match could end up being great for WWE.

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#5 Gives newcomers a chance to prove themselves

At times, fans have criticised WWE for pushing older and more established talent ahead of the newcomers, thus disheartening them and also the fans .

Recently, we have seen many examples of that as several wrestlers who moved from NXT to RAW or SmackDown last year have been either underutilised or used as enhancement talent.

But for the past few months, the tide has turned a bit as several newcomers from NXT and 205 Live have gotten some really big chances on RAW and SmackDown, with former NXT Cruiserweight Champion Angel Garza being one of the beneficiaries of the new trend.

Similarly, Austin Theory who recently debuted in NXT in December could prove his worth to the entire WWE Universe by giving an incredible performance at WrestleMania and making a name for himself.

This allows men like Theory and Garza to showcase their talents at The Grandest Stage of Them All at such a young age, while giving WWE some young talent to look out for and book well.

#4 Adds a fresh look to the WrestleMania card

Over the years, fans have gotten used to seeing the same big stars take up the spots in WrestleMania matches. We have seen several Superstars come out of retirement just to compete in one more match at The Show of Shows, while many only wrestle at special PPVs such as WrestleMania.

This year’s WrestleMania, as we all know, will be different in a lot of ways. It will be the first time oen to be held without any crowd and it will be held at the Performance Center. Apart from that, it will be pre-recorded and will be held over two nights as the show is too big to be held in one go.

With that in mind, another distinctive thing about this year’s event is the number of WrestleMania debutants who will be featuring in some big matches.

NXT Champion Rhea Ripley, who is only 23, will be defending her title in her first appearance at the show. Similarly, Angel Garza, who is only 27, will team up with 22-year-old Austin Theory who is now officially the youngest Superstar on this year’s card to take on the RAW Tag Team Champions, The Street Profits for their titles.

Apart from these three Superstars, Otis, Kairi Sane, Shayna Baszler, Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford will be the other Superstars making their televised WrestleMania debuts this year.

That’s quite a few young Superstars who will be part of 16 matches, which does not include a Battle Royal. Theory’s inclusion just makes the average age of competitors involved even lower.

#3 A chance for Angel Garza and Austin Theory to take over multiple brands

Angel Garza was initially paired with Andrade to take on The Street Profits at WrestleMania 36 for the RAW Tag Team Championships. While the pairing seemed a bit odd at first, there was still some story involving the two men which had been developed over the past several weeks.

Austin Theory's inclusion into the mix seems a bit off for now, but looking at the two young men, one can say that they have the potential and talent to turn into a formidable tag team.

While we watched the two men perform together for the first time on RAW this week, they will not have much time to build more chemistry as their biggest opportunity is just days away.

If WWE allows them to perform their hearts out at The Show of Shows, we could see the two men become permanent tag team partners for the time to come. Garza was the NXT Cruiserweight Champion not too long ago, while Theory could also fall into the cruiserweight category if he loses just a few pounds.

Together, WWE could book them to become the biggest heel team by performing together not just on RAW, but also on NXT and 205 Live. This would help them build the two men up quickly while giving fans some fast-paced nonstop action from the two young prospects.

#2 Blurs the line between the brands

After Survivor Series things have turned around for the three brands of WWE. The brand that has benefited the most from the pay-per-view and a new television deal is definitely NXT.

The Black & Gold brand has hit gold by outperforming the other two brands over the past year, and Rhea Ripley made a huge impact by challenging the Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair and punching her ticket to WrestleMania. The move allowed NXT to book a top match at WrestleMania for the first time.

Angel Garza too has made the jump from NXT to RAW and gotten himself booked for The Show of Shows while adding Austin Theory to the lineup now just clearly shows that WWE is taking as much interest in NXT as any other brand.

This also proves that WWE is blurring the lines between the brands and not treating any brand lower than the other.

With a Superstar Shakeup coming up soon, it will be really interesting to see how the brands shape up now as we’ve seen Finn Balor head to NXT, Charlotte Flair challenge for an NXT Championship, and Austin Theory move from NXT into the RAW Tag Team Championship picture.

#1 A future megastar in the making?

Austin Theory signed for the company in August 2019 when he had just turned 22. Since then, the Superstar has made his debut on NXT for the NXT North American Championship against Roderick Strong and competed against Tyler Breeze and Tommaso Ciampa thereafter.

The former Evolve Champion got a huge chance on RAW this week as he partnered with former NXT Cruiserweight Champion Angel Garza and former Universal Champion Seth Rollins, and has an even bigger chance ahead of him at WrestleMania.

Theory has managed to do all this in just over three months, making one wonder where the young sensation will be when he hits 25 or 30 years of age.

This proves that WWE has a lot of faith in The Unproven One, and he could be in line for an even bigger push after WrestleMania which could catapult him to new heights. With the talent and physique of a top wrestler, fans could actually watch Theory develop into the next Seth Rollins or Finn Balor in the years to come and achieve much more than the Superstars have when he reaches their age.