Austin Theory Says His Money In The Bank Cash-In Deserved a Better Payoff, Reveals Brock Lesnar ‘Murdered’ Him With Briefcase

Austin Theory has some unfinished feelings about how his Money In The Bank tenure played out — and he’s not shy about saying so.

Appearing on the Impaulsive podcast, Theory was asked by Logan Paul whether he felt robbed by his failed cash-in attempt on Seth Rollins’ United States Championship during the November 7, 2022 episode of Raw. His answer was a straightforward yes.

Theory acknowledged that he was never under the illusion he’d walk out of a cash-in attempt against Roman Reigns with the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. But he felt that a moment from a promo segment with Reigns at Barclays Center — where Reigns hit him with the line “your daddy’s not here anymore” — set up something that never got its proper follow-through.

“I felt like there could have been a moment, I knew I wasn’t gonna get the title off Roman, but even just building it to seem like ‘oh, here we go’,” Theory said. “I can lose to him, whatever, but just give it more of a payoff, because it felt cool man, I did a lot of cool things with it.”

He also noted the irony that Reigns’ “daddy” comment could have been flipped back on him, given that Reigns was equally a product of the Vince McMahon era.

For what it’s worth, Theory still has the briefcase — dented and battle-worn — hanging in his office. When visitors ask if he beat someone up with it, he’s quick to set the record straight: “No, Brock Lesnar murdered me with it, and it sucked.”

Theory won the Money In The Bank briefcase in 2022 at what turned out to be the final WWE premium live event fully produced under Vince McMahon’s watch. Triple H had taken over creative duties by the time Theory’s cash-in attempt ultimately fell flat, leaving one of the briefcase’s more colorful runs without the climactic moment Theory had clearly envisioned for it.