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.
- Suspended AEW talent cannot work independent dates, per the Observer.
- That makes sense, I suppose. It’s a bit grey with the independent contractor aspect, but all bookings do have to go through AEW.
- While the sides are staying quiet now (reportedly due to possible legal action), Wade Keller said on a recent PWTorch.com audio show, “I’m expecting the silence to end soon.”
- I wouldn’t say the silence ended. No one has talked about it. CM Punk sent a soon deleted Instagram story about the happenings to All Out very recently because this is destined to go on forever, but no one has spoke on record about the brawl. I find it wild that this is still a story, with it being a big part of yesterday’s Rumor Round Up a little over six months later. (0/1)
- Discussing Stokely Hathaway’s promo from this week’s Dynamite, Keller also said Hathaway has a reputation for “getting himself over, and not who he’s with.”
- To be fair, Stoke’s creative kept changing in regards of who he was even tasked to get over. I can understand the criticism since I’m more interested in what he is doing over Ethan Page, Big Bill, Matt Hardy, and Private Party.
- Fightful says Liv Morgan was originally listed to be involved in the Damage CTRL promo on SmackDown this past week but that was obviously changed.
- She hasn’t directly feuded with Damage CTRL.
- Ringside News claims Edge will be back quickly and, in fact, is scheduled to appear at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on Oct. 8 in Philadelphia.
- Edge faced Finn Bálor in an “I Quit” Match at Extreme Rules. Finn forced Edge to say it when they were threatening Beth and still hurt Beth after. That led to the Hell in a Cell match at Mania. (2/2)
- According to Fightful, AEW is planning to hold its Revolution event early next year at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California.
- The prior Dynamite was at the Cow Palace but the PPV happened at the Chase Center. (0/1)
- On Sunday Night’s Main Event, Dave Meltzer said the reason Logan Paul is in the main event of Crown Jewel is because, “He’s a big deal to the Saudi Arabian prince and that’s the whole thing of these shows.” Saudi officials want Roman Reigns vs. Paul because it will garner more mainstream publicity than Reigns vs. Seth Rollins or Kevin Owens would.
- They actually did well with a match that was kind of ridiculous to book.
- Discussing the Malakai Black Instagram post where Black confirmed he requested his release from AEW, Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio: “Obviously, he wanted to go back to WWE.” It’s not clear what will happen though, as Black still has four and a half years left on his deal and “it’s really difficult to keep someone who is unhappy under contract for that length of time.”
- He ended up returning to AEW and winning the trios titles with the rest of the House of Black.
- Hulu’s deal for next day rights to Raw & SmackDown replays is about to expire, and the service will pull all WWE content on Sept. 25 if they can’t agree on a new contract. That report comes from PW Insider, who says the two sides are still negotiating.
- They eventually extended the deal.
- Ronda Rousey worked heel at Sunday’s house show in Oakland, notes the Observer. Rousey’s been teaming with Shayna Baszler when she does work house shows, and did so again on Sunday against Shotzi & Xia Li.
- She eventually started teaming with Baszler and will continue at WrestleMania. I know she’s hurt, but it kind of amazes me how big of a deal Ronda Rousey isn’t in WWE right now. Michael Cole didn’t even have enthusiasm in his voice when he announced Ronda & Shayna would be in the throwaway tag 4-way at Mania.
- Insider also reports records show the court date for the battery & trespassing case against Patrick Clark (fka Velveteen Dream) was canceled. No new date is listed, which could mean the charges have been dropped.
- Footage of the arrest was later released.
- WrestleVotes says a source told them he suspects the recent White Rabbit teases are about Bray Wyatt but doesn’t know because “it’s being withheld from everyone.” They’re hoping to keep it as quiet as possible while still drawing the interest in it they have.
- They were for Wyatt. This shouldn’t be surprising, but his build to his debut was the best part of his return. At this point, we don’t know if he’s even going to be able to work WrestleMania. (1/1)
- Ringside News claims that any talk of Vince McMahon going into the Hall of Fame next year is premature and there have been no talks about as much behind-the-scenes among writers and producers.
- I can’t speak to any talks behind the scenes, but he’s not going into the Hall of Fame. But then again, his retirement was short lived.
- Per Fightful Select, morale is up within WWE as company employees were told by Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and Nick Khan that they would be getting more holidays off in 2023, including Juneteenth, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving Eve, and a floating holiday.
- I wonder if that’ll change with Vince making decisions again.
- For what it’s worth, Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that the AEW rankings are “not dead but they have been toned down.” He also said “there was a decision not to emphasis them as much on television but they can always go back to doing so.”
- I think they’re pretty much dead at this point. They were always an interesting idea but more of an albatross in practice. They had to use their YouTube shows to bolster records to manipulate rankings to earn title matches. It was always more of a burden than something that made the show more exciting.
- Even before his recent criminal charges, Fightful claims WWE had no interest in bringing back Patrick “Velveteen Dream” Clark.
- He’s got way too much baggage for that.
- AEW held a talent meeting before Dynamite Grand Slam, per Fightful Select. Details were scarce, but it was said to be a pep talk for the roster that was positively received.
- A lot of pep talks were called for at this time.
- The site also spoke to a pair of AEW veterans, one of whom said the last three weeks have been much more laid back than how things were leading up to All Out. The other said the last three tapings are the best the the locker room’s been in a long time.
- That’s good news. It wasn’t a given how things would go post Punk rant.
- Another of Fightful’s AEW sources used the term “addition by subtraction” to describe the current backstage culture, but wasn’t specific about who they were referring to.
- I guess it depends who they were speaking to.
- In a report indicating that AEW had conversations with Saraya over the summer (which seem accurate after last night), Fightful also said a source told them Triple H’s team was potentially interested in bringing her back to WWE.
- While her presence didn’t immediately turn around the women’s division, she is part of one of the larger women’s stories in AEW history.
- Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston believes SmackDown will remain on Hulu if the streaming service’s deal with WWE expires this weekend, “because Smackdown next-day rights are sub-licensed by Fox to Hulu as a separate deal.”
- They got the extension done soon enough.
- On Sept. 16, WWE filed for trademarks on “NXT Europe” and “NXT Global.”
- NXT Europe was already announced as their UK replacement. I don’t believe NXT Global is anything.
- Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer indicated that WWE wants to book Roman Reigns vs. Tyson Fury at some point down the line.
- Nothing on that yet.
- It’s expected that the main event of AEW’s Full Gear pay-per-view in November will be Jon Moxley vs. MJF for the AEW world championship.
- That was the match. MJF won with the help of William Regal. (1/1)
- After checking in with his sources in the WWE locker room following the Survivor Series WarGames announcement, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful tweeted the reaction to that news and all the recent changes at the company remains positive. Sapp contrasted it to the negativity he heard about following Royal Rumble earlier this year.
- Positive vibes are always good to hear about, especially in this business where that feels it’s often not the case.
- Wrestling Observer Live’s Bryan Alvarez mentioned there were problems with the concessions at AEW’s Grand Slam taping in Arthur Ashe Stadium, just like last year.
- That had to be super frustrating for folks who wanted a drink or a bite.
- Konosuke Takeshita is expected to return to the USA to wrestle for AEW in October. He’s been wrestling in Japan since mid-August.
- He returned in September (and actually didn’t wrestle for them in October). (0/1)
- AEW wrestlers Luther and Serpentico have been contributing in a coaching role for a while, per Fightful.
- Luther has been around a long time.
- According to Wrestling Observer Live’s Bryan Alvarez, at the time when Bray Wyatt was fired by WWE last year, he had “an issue with being cleared” to compete. That issue was a factor in WWE’s decision to release him. Alvarez went on to say that he doesn’t know if the issue has ever been resolved.
- Currently he’s supposedly out due to an undisclosed illness, though very unlikely related.
- Regarding the story of WWE contacting more AEW wrestlers besides Malakai Black, a source in WWE heard that the company sent out feelers to Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler, per Fightful. Swerve Strickland is another AEW wrestler who WWE reached out to.
- Dax and Cash have made their decision for April. We’ll see if it’s WWE or sticking with AEW. (My bet is sticking with AEW.)
- F4WOnline’s Ryan Frederick says Bobby Fish tried to convince Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly to request their release from AEW and go back to WWE, but they told him no.
- Bobby didn’t go to WWE himself. I don’t think he’d have much appeal to them outside the ERA team, or at least the reDRagon team.
- As far as the ongoing investigation into the All Out brawl between CM Punk and The Elite is concerned, Alvarez claims that, “Nobody is communicating anything to Kenny Omega and the [Young] Bucks. Nothing. They’re absolutely one hundred percent in the dark.” The Elite have no idea when they might return to AEW.
- That’s probably frustrating for guys who are EVPs.
- MJF’s renegotiated deal with AEW pays him more than $1 million per year, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
- They put the title on him so makes sense they’re paying him more.
- The WON reports NXT has either a “new rule” or “strong recommendation” that talent be “good enough” for television within two years or they face release. Dave Meltzer wrote that “a lot of people right now are ‘on the clock.’”
- There are some success stories for people who lingered in developmental for years before finding that spark. At the same time, I understand the idea here when you look at it purely at resource allotment and not the individual aspect. If there are limited spots, could someone who has been meandering for five years be taking that spot from someone who could do more with it?
- PW Insider reports Gabe Sapolsky is back with WWE and on the creative team. It’s not known if the former ROH and Evolve booker is working on the main roster or in NXT.
- He had a relationship with Triple H for awhile.
This week: 4/7 – 57%
Overall: 4,497/7,887 – 57.0%
Have a great week, everyone!
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