WWE Tag Team Champion Austin Theory to Miss SmackDown Due to Dental Surgery

Content warning: This article contains mentions of violence and injury.

Austin Theory, one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions, will be absent from Friday’s episode of “WWE SmackDown” due to a medical issue. Approximately two hours before the show aired on Fox, Theory posted an Instagram story showing his visibly swollen face. In the video, he opened his mouth and poked his cheek, captioning it with “Missing SmackDown” and a sad-faced emoji.

Grayson Waller, Theory’s tag team partner and the other half of the champions, shared a video on his X account explaining that Theory had undergone “pretty serious dental surgery.” Waller attributed the injury to actions by Tommasso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano, collectively known as #DIY, during last week’s “SmackDown” episode in Glasgow, Scotland. Waller expressed uncertainty about when his partner would return to the show. The incident occurred during the “Grayson Waller Effect” segment, which featured #DIY. Waller had stated that Theory didn’t need him before attacking Gargano, but Theory intervened to protect his partner from Ciampa. However, Theory was then superkicked by Gargano and hit with a running knee by Ciampa. The growing rift between Theory and Waller was evident when Theory’s name was absent from the sign for the segment.

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