Theory Believes WWE NXT Star Is The Randy Orton Of His Generation

Theory bridged past and future in interview on the YouTube-based SHAK Wrestling, where he spoke about John Cena's impact on his personal and professional life while offering his pick on which wrestler could inherit Randy Orton's star spot in the WWE orbit.

SHAK Wrestling host Shakiel Mahjouri questioned Theory on whether he would be willing to combat Cena in a future WrestleMania. "I will say that I'm pretty confident that could happen, for sure," Theory said. "And I want it to happen."

However, Theory only had praise for his potential opponent, noting how Cena offered him inspiration in the midst of a troubled childhood riddled with bullying and a mostly absent father. "Man, it's so weird to meet somebody and pretty much have to explain to them I've modeled my whole life after you," he said. "Cena, I could just watch him and escape ... I had to put in my own work, but [he is] somebody that got me to the dance mentally. It just kind of takes the words out of my mouth to think about that actually happening."

Mahjouri then posed the question: "If Theory is the John Cena of this generation, who is its Randy Orton?" Theory replied with "Bron Breakker," although he did not elaborate on why he cited the NXT champion for his answer.

While Breakker did not offer any public response to Theory's praise, the latter's remarks came at a time when Breakker and Theory have each been touted as wrestling's the future superstar -– although both are on different paths to this peak. The Sportster's Travis Szetela observed that while Theory came out of indie promotions and "jumped back and forth between NXT and the main roster" while building his audience appeal "as one of the top heels of the main roster," WWE is readying Breakker for greater visibility by slowly "making him the focal point of NXT each week ... if he was forced to get jump-started too early in his career onto 'Raw' or 'SmackDown,' he may have floundered under the spotlight."