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.
- The Wrestling Observer Newsletter confirmed that Randy Orton’s “suggested time frame” for a return is Survivor Series. Randy’s doctor suggested that he retire “due to back issues,” but the 43-year-old Orton is hoping to continue wrestling and making top money until he’s 50.
- It was Survivor Series. Hopefully he stays healthy throughout. (1/1)
- Per The Observer, WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns is “not scheduled for Survivor Series.” After Crown Jewel, the next premium live event he is scheduled to wrestle at is Royal Rumble 2024.
- That is accurate. There were long gaps without Roman. Which in one sense sucked but when he was there it felt better. We’re going to see Cody more often, which is good for star power but he’s going to have some feuds that feel more B level because of it. (2/2)
- Several hours before Logan Paul and Kevin Owens briefly crossed paths on last night’s SmackDown, BWE indicated WWE was having “early talks” about booking a future match between them.
- They had a one on one at the Royal Rumble and then a triple threat (including Orton) at WrestleMania. (1/1)
- F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer explained AEW’s decision to bring in stars like Ric Flair and RVD to Dynamite by saying, “I think that they’re really trying to hotshot as many stars for ratings purposes” to help negotiate the best possible TV deal.
- We’ll see what kind of deal it is. Hopefully it’s a good one for the sake of the entire business.
- Fightful Select claims former WWE star Heath Slater is now a free agent after his deal with Impact Wrestling expired.
- He’s work a few indie dates lately. But gotta wonder if his career is coming to a close soon.
- The Ryback said “you never know what you’re gonna see” in the WWE showers. It’s “not uncommon” to see wrestlers shaving each other’s backs, or to see little people taking a group shower. The Big Guy concluded that the WWE showers are sometimes “like a tornado tag match, and other times it’s like an all out free-for-all Battle Royal / Royal Rumble type scenario in those things.”
- Fascinating insight.
- Per Fightful Select, talent within WWE have said creative in WWE has been “much more straightforward since the TKO merger.”
- You can tell.
- BWE mentioned that whatever WWE has planned for Karrion Kross will “resume” following Crown Jewel.
- It was January, so not immediately following Crown Jewel. (0/1)
- They also say the next WWE 2K game will likely be dedicated to Bray Wyatt and they are looking at “new PvP opportunities.”
- The game was a big Wyatt themed game. Bray and the family were in the game. (0/1)
- Current odds from BetOnline have Logan Paul looking likely to win the United States championship from Rey Mysterio at Crown Jewel.
- That’s the case. Seemed like the more likely outcome. (1/1)
- According to Fightful, Abadon had been sidelined with an injury before her return on Dynamite and she just recently got AEW clearance before said return.
- She’s not on AEW TV often currently. She’s more of an ROH talent.
- While again confirming that Drew McIntyre still hasn’t re-signed with WWE, Fightful Select noted that McIntyre’s current deal will expire before WrestleMania 40. The report also reminded us that TKO isn’t being as proactive about contract negotiations as WWE was pre-merger, and that Becky Lynch & others also have deals expiring in 2024.
- He only just re-signed. So it seems like the deal did not expire prior to Mania. (0/1)
- Recently, AEW’s creative plans have been getting finalized and communicated to talent later than they used to be. That’s according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, who added it’s “almost” like situations WWE’s been criticized for in the past, and like those situations, is “very frustrating” for the talent.
- It could not have been as bad as it was under Vince.
- In a post on X responding to Meltzer’s report, AEW producer & coach Jerry Lynn defended the changes as being Tony Khan’s attempt to not have future plot details spoiled for fans, which are necessary because “wrestlers and God knows who else have and continue to leak info to the sheets, podcasts, etc.”
- That’s probably a factor, but there are better ways to get the talent not to leak to the sheets.
- WWE’s discussed a few ideas that would potentially turn The Miz face while he’s working with DIY, per BWE. It’s not yet confirmed if they’ll use those ideas, though.
- The Miz did turn face. (1/1)
- In a Fightful Select Q&A, Sean Ross Sapp mentioned that WWE officials view both Austin Theory & Grayson Waller as having “high upside”. Waller is “easy to do business with” as he “listens really well”, and is good at generating buzz in interviews and online. Sapp feels Theory is seen as playing a role similar to Baron Corbin’s.
- They’re currently SmackDown tag team champions.
- On WOR, Meltzer said Bryan Danielson’s latest injury makes it “touch and go” whether or not Danielson will be able to work New Japan Wrestle Kingdom in the Toyko Dome on Jan. 4 the way he was hoping to.
- Bryan was able to work the show, losing to Okada.
- Careful out there, wrestling fans of all ages. There are always increased sightings of The Boogeyman today. We hear he could be coming to get you.
- Always a danger on All Hallows Eve.
- While fans are still combing WWE TV for references to CM Punk, BWE says there is no new update on his coming back to the company and he has not signed a deal.
- Sounds like it all came together last minute.
- According to PW Insider, AJ Styles is expected to make his return to WWE television on the Nov. 10 episode of Friday Night SmackDown.
- He did not return until December. (0/1)
- They also say there have been talks of doing a Grayson Waller segment at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia this weekend.
- He had a segment with Miz and a Saudi celebrity. (1/1)
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned WWE running Bash in Berlin when they are at least in part, to some degree, to mess with AEW in London.
- I don’t know how running a show in a different country a week later affects anything. (It could affect All Out buys for the Sunday after if folks are getting wrestling fatigued though).
- The Observer has confirmed the Candice LeRae spot on Monday Night Raw was always planned and she is not hurt.
- They’ll do some worked injury spots. There’s debate if they’re worth it this day and age. (And this one came on the heels of a discussion about a real Moxley concussion.) I don’t think it’s completely off the table but understand folks who feel it should no longer be a thing.
- PW Insider says Sarray is “in negotiations to return to the United States to perform” and the belief is she is not in talks with WWE.
- She worked one Sukebam match in Miami. (2/2)
- Vince McMahon and “possibly even Ari Emanuel” will be in attendance at Crown Jewel, according to PW Insider.
- Not that we know of but I guess they could have been backstage. I have a feeling Vince was not there though.
- Warner Bros Discovery sources told Fightful Select they’re still happy with their partnership with AEW and hope it continues. The site asked about AEW shows’ recent ratings, and were told it isn’t anything WBD hadn’t anticipated.
- We’re waiting to see what the deal is. It may also hinge on where the NBA goes to how much AEW gets in this deal.
- That said, “as of a few weeks ago” AEW and WBD “were unable to come to terms on a deal” that would have included television & PPV rights, as well as the AEW & ROH libraries: “Those at WBD stated that [Tony] Khan has a particular value that he believes the AEW library is worth.”
- We should find out in not too long, but they have until the end of the year.
- Fightful also confirmed that WBD believes NBCUniversal and USA Network plan to make a play for NBA rights when they’re up after the 2024-2025 season. If they believe they can be successful, it could limit what USA is willing to bid for WWE Raw and NXT. If TNT thinks they’re going to lose the NBA, they would have more money to spend on wrestling.
- Raw & NXT went off the table prior to the NBA rights getting settled.
- Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that AEW is still undecided on a tag team championship match for Full Gear. The Young Bucks won a title shot at WrestleDream, but that has never been brought up on television since. The Bucks vs. current champs Ricky Starks & Big Bill has been discussed, but is “just one of many different things that was thrown out there.”
- They went with a fatal 4-way that Starks & Bill won.
- WWE officials were very happy with The Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile’s debut on Raw this week, per Fightful Select.
- I think they’re going to end up heels with Chad Gable.
- WrestleVotes was told that Kairi Sane has “reappeared” on WWE’s internal talent roster. Her return to WWE “is imminent.”
- She returned at Crown Jewel to join Damage CTRL. That was the beginning of the end of Bayley in the group she formed. (1/1)
- Fightful Select heard from “sources near Ric Flair” that AEW’s partnership with Wooooo! Energy will “pay for a significant portion of Flair’s AEW salary, if not all of it.”
- What a weird partnership.
- The site also claims that WWE “prepared talent to answer CM Punk questions” at the Fastlane post-show press conference last month. Triple H was planning to “shoot down the rumors of an impending return,” but was surprised when he wasn’t asked about it.
- That’s kind of embarrassing
- BWE says there are a lot of people in WWE worried about “the supposed heavy rains coming in this weekend” for Crown Jewel.
- That did not seem to affect anything that I recall.
- PW Insider was told that morale backstage in Impact Wrestling is very high following the overwhelmingly positive fan response during its tour of the United Kingdom.
- Impact has a good place in the landscape.
- The site also says that Odyssey Jones has not been on the road with WWE lately, but “that is expected to change.” Even though he was drafted to Raw earlier this year, Jones was “quietly moved” to the SmackDown roster months ago.
- He’s wasn’t really on either roster, though he had been working some SmackDown dark matches prior to this rumor. More recently, Odyssey Jones was drafted to Raw again. Maybe he’ll do better this time but it doesn’t bode well that they spelled his name wrong on the graphic. (1/1)
- Regarding the return of Kairi Sane to WWE, PW Insider says some WWE wrestlers heard that she might be back at today’s Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.
- That’s the case. (1/1)
- BWE said “that’s true” in response to a rumor that indicates WWE has scheduled a Miz TV segment for Crown Jewel that will feature Grayson Waller and a local celebrity. Insider notes that Waller “is no longer advertised” for WWE’s house shows in the USA this weekend, and F4WOnline confirmed that he’s in Saudi Arabia right now.
- That is accurate. It wasn’t a great segment but it really was only for the live crowd. (1/1)
- According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE star Dragon Lee “signed his new main roster deal last week.” It looks like the risk he took was worth it when he passed on bigger money from AEW in order to sign with NXT last year.
- He hasn’t been on TV too much, but he seems poised to get more time. Plus get that money.
- The Observer also says Ric Flair’s performer deal with AEW is for two years. Flair previously tried to make a deal with WWE for Wooooo! Energy, but WWE “already had an energy drink deal in place.”
- C4 is their big sponsor.
- Bryan Danielson has been telling people his fractured orbital bone was the result of a freak accident, per Fightful Select. Danielson says he caught a stray elbow or forearm during a basic collar-and-elbow tie-up with Andrade.
- Wrestlers can get hurt at any moment. Feels like both AEW & WWE are dealing with a spate of injuries right now.
- Marty Jannetty told WrestlingNews.co’s Steve Fall that Hulk Hogan once threw a wild party that featured a gumball machine filled with mixed drugs: “…you’d turn it, and you’d take whatever comes out…it’s right there when you walk in the front door, and just [turn it], and three, four, five pills just fall out.”
- While I don’t believe half of what these old wrestlers say, I also think this is believable so…
This week: 13/17 – 76%
October 2023: 36/59 – 61%
Overall: 5,061/8,806 – 57.4%
Have a great week, everyone!
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