Former US Champion to dethrone Austin Theory on his first night back? Examining a potential SmackDown return

Austin Theory has picked up some major wins during his WWE United States Championship run. However, The Forever Champion has lost plenty of momentum since moving over to SmackDown during the 2023 Draft. Theory is no longer in major storylines, which might indicate that WWE will be taking the belt off of him sooner rather than later.

Austin Theory is a two-time United States Champion. He's been US Champ for over 200 days after winning the gold at Survivor Series 2022 in a triple-threat match against Bobby Lashley and Seth Rollins. During his second reign, Theory has defeated top stars like Edge, Rollins, and John Cena. The Now also successfully defended the US Title inside the Elimination Chamber back in February.

Who will be the superstar to dethrone Austin Theory for the US Championship? That wrestler may be a returning champion who's known to keep it very cool and comes from the Caribbean. That's right, it's none other than wrestling veteran Carlito.

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Carlito is expected back on WWE SmackDown, and he's sure to make a splash on his very first night back

Carlito is reportedly signed by WWE and expected to make a return on the blue brand. He was most recently seen on WWE programming during a cameo appearance at the 2023 Backlash premium live event in Puerto Rico, which saw Caribbean Cool come out to fend off Finn Bálor and Dominik Mysterio of The Judgment Day, who were attacking Rey Mysterio.

Carlito represented the LWO during this appearance, and he may be a part of the stable upon his full-time return to wrestling in the company. The clip of Carlito's return at Backlash currently has over three million views on YouTube.

Various reports indicated that Carlito would be making his return at last week's SmackDown in Madison Square Garden. However, that didn't end up being the case. Still, the Puerto Rican star is expected back any week now.

If and when the multi-time champion does return to the ring, maybe he'll continue the trend he started on SmackDown in October 2004. In his very first night wrestling on the blue brand, Carlito defeated John Cena for the United States Championship, using Cena's chain to take out The Doctor of Thuganomics.

When he was drafted to RAW in 2005, Carlito won the Intercontinental Championship on his very first night with the red brand by defeating Shelton Benjamin, using the middle rope for leverage in typical heel fashion.

Wrestling history shows that when Carlito makes his debut on a major WWE weekly show, he's guaranteed to win a championship. When he makes his return or re-debut on SmackDown, he might win the US title from Austin Theory just like he did to John Cena almost 20 years ago.

However, unlike his previous singles championship wins, Carlito will likely be getting a babyface response from the WWE Universe if he were to knock off the arrogant Theory.

Could Carlito be returning to challenge Austin Theory for the United States Championship when SmackDown comes to Raleigh, North Carolina, on July 14? Let us know in the comment section how excited you are about Carlito's heavily-rumored upcoming WWE return.