Welcome to the weekly Rumor Look Back, where we look at the rumors from six months ago and see which played out as originally stated. Let’s jump right to it.
- After multiple outlets reported that Bayley will be returning to WWE television soon, PW Insider claims that she was seen at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando “for several days earlier this week.”
- She returned at SummerSlam. (1/1)
- Insider also mentioned that WWE has officially moved Liv Morgan over to the SmackDown roster.
- That’s the case. (1/1)
- Even though AOP’s Wrestling Entertainment Series blamed the talent for the cancellation of their debut show, Fightful indicates the show was actually nixed due to “mismanagement and poor ticket sales.”
- That was a massive mess.
- WrestleVotes was told that Pat McAfee actually signed his long-term contract extension with WWE “a few weeks back.” WWE knows how good he is and made sure to keep him around.
- I’m not sure if he’s going to be back on commentary. Maybe he’ll do a match a couple times a year.
- On his Oh…You Didn’t Know podcast, former WWE star Road Dogg mentioned that he is in talks with “a wrestling company about doing something.”
- Sounds very legitimate. Road Dogg is back in WWE, but that’s after his buddy Triple H took over. Before then, he was begging Tony Khan for a job.
- A WWE source told Fightful Select that Vince McMahon shouted “FUCK EM!” when he got backstage after his June 17 appearance on SmackDown, which was the day he stepped down as WWE’s CEO and Chairman following the Wall Street Journal’s initial report on the investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct.
- That’s the least bit surprising. He’s already found his way back on the board after resigning.
- Denise Salcedo was told that the Vince McMahon Netflix documentary series has been pulled from Netflix’s programming schedule. The project was said to be well into post-production, with millions of dollars spent on it. One source at Netflix said “that shit’s out of here.”
- Yes, nothing on that front. A puff piece on a guy who just resigned after multiple sexual assault allegations and misappropriation of funs isn’t the way.
- Everyone who Fightful spoke with at WWE believes John Laurinaitis is done with the company, but he’ll be taken care of with a golden parachute deal.
- He’s gone, but I can’t speak to any golden parachute deal. He recently got pulled from a signing because fans were very upset he was involved. Which is totally fair. He doesn’t deserve any sympathy at all. But his partner in alleged crime faced zero consequences and is back at work. Some folks just seem to get away with everything. (1/1)
- Fans have begun noticing signs that WWE is out of the Sasha Banks business. A Top 10 video of Paige’s Greatest Moments edits Banks out of Paige’s 2017 return, and Sasha is no longer available as a user profile image on Peacock.
- There were some hopes she’d return after Vince left, but that didn’t pan out and she’s gone to Japan instead. I figured she’d come back to WWE after that, but with Vince’s takeover, that’s less likely I think.
- NXT’s next streaming special is tentatively planned for either Sat., Aug. 20 or Sat., Aug. 27, per the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
- It doesn’t appear they had a special in August. (0/1)
- PW Insider says WWE recently instituted budget cuts that included no longer using Curtis Axel and Ariya Daivari as producers.
- The budget cuts were endemic at that time. Hopefully they don’t come back, as I’m sure many rehired talent are fearful of.
- They also say because of those cutbacks, there has been an issue with Producers being what was described as “extremely overworked.”
- Sounds like a fantastic work environment.
- Fightful Select says Vince McMahon was scheduled to fly up to Vancouver following SmackDown to meet with John Cena.
- I don’t know about that, but he did celebrate his birthday with Big Match John after his resignation.
- Fightful also says the original plan for Raw this past week was for Otis to puke on Chad Gable’s boots instead of what they went with.
- Vince loves his vomit.
- For what it’s worth, Marko Stunt told NBC Sports Boston’s The Ten Count that Paul Wight pitched an idea to be his best friend on AEW TV at one point but it obviously never came to fruition.
- That would have been something. Paul Wight doesn’t really have a TV presence.
- A “WWE Source” told PW Insider they never heard louder pops for Liv Morgan than the ones she received this weekend on house shows. This person also told the site “it was obvious looking in the crowd that her merchandise was selling in high numbers at the events.”
- It’s great that she’s connecting with crowd. I don’t think she had all it took to be a long term champion, but at least she got her moment to share with her fans.
- The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Palazzolo & Ted Mann were on Busted Open Monday to talk breaking the Vince McMahon hush money scandal. Regarding the story’s impact, they believe “anyone doing business with [WWE] is paying attention” to it.
- When it comes to a sale, hush money scandals and allegation charges aren’t important it seems. It’s all about money in the end.
- When asked if there were more allegations to come, Palazzolo & Mann said their reporting is “probably not done yet,” but don’t expect anything bigger than the $7.5 million dollar settlement with a wrestler who they reported was demoted and not re-signed after declining a sexual relationship with McMahon.
- There was some nasty stuff. Rita Chatterdon’s rape allegation is still out there.
- On Sunday Night’s Main Event, Dave Meltzer said Bryan Danielson has recovered from the injury he suffered at Double or Nothing, but Tony Khan “is not going to rush him back.”
- Yeah, you don’t want to rush someone like Bryan, given the history he’s had.
- Finishing where we started with new SmackDown Women’s champ’s weekend, a clip of Natalya no-selling Morgan’s finisher at the Sacramento live show on Saturday went viral. Neither wrestler has commented on what happened or if there was an issue.
- Weird.
- For whatever it’s worth, BetOnline has all the champions currently favored to retain their titles at SummerSlam.
- That is accurate. (1/1)
- Fightful Select says talent they’ve talked to have heard nothing from anyone in WWE about the women’s tag team title tournament that was previously announced to crown new champions. It remains unclear what will happen with the women’s tag team titles.
- They came back when Triple H took over creative.
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer claimed Io Shirai has “pretty much got her foot out the door” and she’s “pretty much gone.” For what it’s worth, Shirai seemed to respond by posting a tweet calling it a rumor and using a puke emoji.
- She returned at SummerSlam. Again, this was when Triple H took over. (0/1)
- Meltzer also said the situation at a WWE house show that led to Natalya no selling Liv Morgan after a pinfall had nothing to do with any heat between the two.
- Again… weird.
- The Good Brothers will be staying with Impact Wrestling until late this summer, per Fightful.
- That’s the case. They eventually returned to WWE. (1/1)
- Promoters who’ve contacted Sasha Banks have been told she’s only taking non-wrestling bookings until Jan. 1, 2023, according to Fightful Select.
- That’s how it went down. Nothing wrestling related until the new year. (1/1)
- SI confirmed Fightul’s earlier report that that Vince McMahon shouted “FUCK EM!” when he got backstage after his June 17 appearance on SmackDown in the wake of stepping back as CEO & Chairman while his Board investigates him for alleged sexual misconduct, “and was told McMahon repeatedly shouted ‘FUCK EM’ — then finished by stating, ‘Let’s put on a show.’
- This fuckin’ guy.
- While the focus remains on recruiting athletes with the right look and training them to be WWE wrestlers, Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports some indie wrestlers will be invited to the company’s just announced SummerSlam tryouts.
- It wouldn’t make sense not to tryout standout indie wrestlers.
- On his Keepin’ It 100 podcast, Konnan confirmed that Santana & Ortiz are “not on good terms.”
- That’s too bad given how much business they did as a team together.
- WOW made “an overture” to Lita about joining the company, per Fightful, but the WWE Hall of Famer made it clear she wouldn’t work for GLOW and WOW founder David McLane.
- Is there heat there?
This week: 6/8 – 75%
Overall: 4,427/7,772 – 57.0%
Have a great week, everyone!
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