WWE Superstar Austin Theory knows it's damn near impossible to replace his former boss, Vince McMahon ... but there's one person he believes can and will get the job done, and that's the billionaire's son-in-law -- Triple H!!
TMZ Sports spoke with 25-year-old Theory -- who was with rising women's star Raquel -- out at LAX ... and asked him his thoughts on HHH succeeding Vince as the company's heartbeat.
"Triple H, I feel like he has a very creative mind," Theory said, "and I think now he always says it's very hard to fill Mr. McMahon's shoes, and it's gonna take a lot of people to do that."
Theory and Raquel both expressed that there's a level of comfortability with "The Game" in charge as the head honcho ... and the relationship they developed with him formed during their time in NXT.
"I would say for me, and I'm sure she feels the same way, but both of us coming up in NXT and Triple H was in charge there along with Shawn Michaels, and for us, it was a great experience," Theory said.
"I feel like there's a lot more freedom now and a lot more to explore," he added.
Theory called Vince, his former on-screen mentor, "iconic" and said that anybody stepping in after him would inevitably have tough shoes to fill because of what Vince meant to the world of sports entertainment.
"I would just say with Mr. McMahon, he's always gonna be, I think John Cena just said it, if there was a Mount Rushmore, he'd be the only one on it," Theory said.
"Just how iconic he is and everything that he's done. He set a hell of a foundation."