"My mom was sneaking me in"- Theory addresses the criticism of him not earning his push in WWE

WWE Superstar Theory has fired back at his detractors who believe that the former United States Champion does not deserve the push he's getting in WWE.

Theory has been on a meteoric rise in WWE since joining the main roster for a second stint in 2021. He has worked closely with Vince McMahon on-screen and was even touted as "the next John Cena" by the former CEO.

While he has been hailed as "super talented" and "a future world" champion by many fans and critics, some believe that the former NXT star has been over-pushed. The upstart addressed the criticism in a recent interview with The Ringer Wrestling Show:

“I think a lot of those people, the people that do know the story and the people that don’t – when you think about it, any time somebody is really young, it seems like ‘oh they’ve been given this.’ But think about, I started working out at 12 because at eight years old I saw WWE. My mom was sneaking me in the gym – I had to be 13 to go to the gym, but I was sneaking in at 12 because I saw a video of John Morrison training abs and Triple H. It was a WWE workout video. I just wanted to start preparing myself for that because that’s all I wanted to do."

He further detailed his journey to the Stamford-based promotion:

"I played sports before I figured out what WWE was, and if you think about that, I quit playing sports at around eight. I just worked out and was like, ‘I don’t want to get injured, I don’t want to rely on a team.’ That’s just my mindset. For me, that was my mentality. I’m gonna do whatever it takes to get here as fast as I can….once they gave me that debut, I was like, ‘This is mine.’ It’s a long story, but I think why people say that is because the age is young.” (H/T 411mania)

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Theory was in action at WWE SummerSlam

The rising star was in action at the company's latest premium live event, SummerSlam, where he took on Booby Lashley for the latter's coveted title.

Theory's attempt to win the United States Championship fell short as The All Mighty defeated him in under five minutes, making him tap out to the Hurt Lock.

The former NXT star also tried to make his presence felt in the main event as he tried to cash in his Money in the Bank contract during the Roman Reigns-Brock Lesnar match. However, he had no success there as well. It will be interesting to see what lies ahead for Mr. Money in the Bank.