WWE Rumors on Austin Theory, Santos Escobar, Xavier Woods and Erik's Absences

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

WWE's Reported Plans for Austin Theory

Austin Theory has not been seen on WWE programming since July, but there are reportedly still plans in place for him moving forward.

According to WrestleVotes, there are "voices within the company pushing to keep" Theory part of creative plans despite Seth Rollins' injury necessitating some changes.

WrestleVotes added that making Theory part of The Vision was "at least discussed," and he continues to have "internal support" regarding a return to WWE TV in a major role.

It was first reported earlier this month by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News) that plans were in place for Theory to be part of a WarGames team at Survivor Series.

Meltzer noted that plans called for Theory to team with Rollins, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed of The Vision, as well as Brock Lesnar against Roman Reigns, CM Punk, LA Knight, Jacob Fatu and either Jey or Jimmy Uso.

That was a surprising revelation at the time since Theory hadn't been on TV in months and there was no indication on the show that he was gearing up to join The Vision.

At Crown Jewel, Rollins faced Cody Rhodes in the main event, and although he was victorious, he reportedly suffered a major injury during the match.

Per Meltzer (h/t WrestlePurists), Rollins suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery. The exact extent of the injury isn't yet known, but he is reportedly expected to be out of action for "months."

On last week's episode of Raw, Breakker and Reed shockingly attacked Rollins, and it was announced this week by Raw general manager Adam Pearce that Rollins was being stripped of the World Heavyweight Championship due to him not being cleared to compete.

With Rollins out of the picture, it is fair to wonder if Theory is still an option for The Vision. Of course, Paul Heyman could always bring him in to make The Vision a three-man unit again, but that would likely require at least some changes to the overall story.

Latest on Escobar's Return to WWE Programming

After reportedly re-signing with WWE recently, Santos Escobar could be slated to make his on-screen return soon.

According to PWInsider.com (h/t SI.com's Blake Lovell), Escobar is scheduled to be present for the Monday, Oct. 27 episode of Raw in Anaheim, California. While Escobar will reportedly be in attendance, it isn't yet known if there are plans for him to appear on the show.

PWInsider.com (h/t Carrier) previously reported that Escobar's WWE contract expired earlier this month, however, in a subsequent report, PWInsider.com (h/t Carrier) noted that he re-signed with the company on a "significantly higher" offer than the ones made previously.

At the time, it was reported that Escobar's contract was up, he had not been seen on WWE programming in several weeks, and he had not had a match since Worlds Collide in June.

On that show, Escobar teamed with Angel and Berto to defeat AAA's El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Pagano and Psycho Clown in a trios match.

For the most part, Escobar had been acting as a manager for Angel and Berto more so than a wrestler over the final few months of his tenure.

Now that Escobar has reportedly re-signed with WWE, there will be plenty of intrigue surrounding whether he remains aligned with Angel and Berto or attempts to achieve the greatest singles success of his WWE career thus far.

Reported Reason for Woods, Erik Absences on Raw

Neither Xavier Woods nor Erik appeared on Monday night's episode of Raw despite their tag team partners being on the show, but their absences reportedly weren't injury-related.

According to Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live (h/t Carrier), both Woods and Erik had been granted time off for vacations, which is why they were not part of Raw.

The main event of Raw was a battle royal to determine who would face CM Punk for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship on the Nov. 1 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event.

Woods' longtime New Day tag team partner, Kofi Kingston, was in the battle royal, as was Grayson Waller, who has been aligned with New Day in recent months. Also, Erik's War Raiders tag team partner Ivar competed in the match.

None of them were able to avoid elimination, as Jey Uso prevailed, setting the stage for Punk vs. Uso for the world heavyweight title.

As for New Day and The War Raiders, it seems likely that those teams will be back to full strength in the near future.