When Theory Found Out About His Brock Lesnar MSG Match, Theory on Vince McMahon, More

The March 5 WWE live event from Madison Square Garden in New York City was headlined by then-WWE Champion Brock Lesnar defending his title against Theory, in a match that was not advertised ahead of time. While Lesnar was advertised to defend, no opponent was listed.

A new report from Fightful Select notes that WWE officials kept Lesnar’s opponent a secret and close to the vest even backstage in the lead-up to the match. Theory, who eventually came out and lost to Lesnar in around 90 seconds, was even surprised when he found out he’d be working Lesnar about mid-way through the show.

Theory noted that he only learned of the match against Lesnar about an hour before the bell rang. He said there was “Brock Lesnar vs. —-” on the card listed backstage, but that was it. This match came weeks after Lesnar and Theory worked together on RAW for the infamous selfie seen above.

Theory also said he never felt like he was fully called up from WWE NXT in 2020, and was always under a NXT contract. He noted that AOP’s Rezar was injured, and he was only called up to RAW to fill in for him. At no point during that period did Theory feel like his call-up to the main roster was official.

Theory said he felt like his real run in NXT helped him develop more character and he was happy that he got that time as a member of The Way with Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell. While the original plan for The Way was for Theory to serve as a bodyguard to others in the group, things ended up working well and Theory’s role continued to expand.

Theory has worked with WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon in the last year, and continues to be linked to Mr. McMahon in the storylines. He noted that when working with Vince, you have to be at your best for every take.

Theory dropped the WWE United States Title to Bobby Lashley at Saturday’s WWE Money In the Bank event, but then won the Men’s MITB Ladder Match main event to capture the briefcase title shot. He is scheduled to challenge Lashley for the title at WWE SummerSlam on July 30.