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.
- Brock Lesnar won’t be back in WWE until Royal Rumble next year, says the Wrestling Observer.
- He hasn’t been back since, ever since he was referenced in the Janel Grant lawsuit. (0/1)
- According to PW Insider, “the expectation” at SmackDown this past week was that Becky Lynch would be the final member of the Bianca Belair team at Survivor Series for War Games.
- She was. They set up a Charlotte/Becky reunion, but Charlotte’s injury meant they weren’t be able to follow up on that. (1/1)
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned John Cena needing surgery on both elbows after his latest run in WWE, and he speculates that could mean Cena will do a WrestleMania match in the future but not much more than that.
- Cena didn’t even work a Mania match, even though he had a moment in the big main event. (0/1)
- Meltzer also said the booking for LA Knight on SmackDown this past week was designed to “make him strong again.”
- There’s worry by some about Knight’s position but I think he’s still in a good spot. His big fans were a bit miffed (OK, online fans are never just “a bit miffed”) that his King of the Ring match wasn’t on TV. They probably had the same feels about him losing to Tama Tonga. But that man lost a match with two guys distracting him on the outside and still set up a program with Carmelo Hayes and teased that eventual Logan Paul match.
- On his Fightful Select Backstage Report podcast, Sean Ross Sapp said he doesn’t hear about a lot of “passive aggressive stuff” between WWE wrestlers: “Everything I hear about in WWE is it’s a pretty good locker room, especially over the last year-and-a-half.”
- That’s always good.
- WWE’s website is advertising Sheamus on the Nov. 25, Dec. 8, and Dec. 15 episodes of SmackDown, which is an indication that he’ll be back from injury very soon.
- Sheamus didn’t return until just a few weeks back. (0/1)
- As the end of Raw made pretty clear, Wrestling Observer reports WWE is planning to make the men’s War Games match at Survivor Series five-on-five. Dave Meltzer previously said Drew McIntyre would join The Judgment Day team in that scenario.
- That’s correct. (2/2)
- Randy Orton will then be the fifth man on Cody Rhodes’ team, and Fightful Select says WWE will announce that before the Nov. 25 show to “to avoid any CM Punk speculation.”
- That’s accurate too. They didn’t specifically say Orton but Cody implied it to the point that it pretty much was. (2/2)
- Speaking of Orton, Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp recently shot down a rumor he saw on Instagram which claimed Randy will win a major title after he returns. Sapp said there’s been no consideration of that within WWE.
- Orton has not won any title since his return. (1/1)
- Though “at least a couple” of his sources on the WWE roster rolled their eyes when Nia Jax returned, “at least one of those people” now tell Sapp, “You know what? Her work’s been pretty good since she came back. Nobody’s gotten hurt. Looks like she’s worked to get in a better shape and the like.”
- She’s been pretty good. I quite enjoyed her Queen of the Ring match with Naomi.
- In last week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer confirmed what several fans guessed immediately about AEW’s Toni Storm/Mariah May storyline: that it will be based on the classic 1950 film All About Eve.
- That seems to be the way they’re going.
- Warner Bros Discovery will now allow the filmmakers to shop Coyote vs. Acme to other distributors, per Puck News’ Matthew Belloni. The live action/animation Looney Tunes movie starring John Cena was going to be shelved as a tax write-off before backlash, specifically from other Hollywood creators, caused WBD to change course.
- Unfortunately, it seems like we’re not going to see it.
- Some recent social media posts from Alicia Atout and MJF hinted that the former co-workers were in a relationship together, and Atout confirmed it in a YouTube Q&A over the weekend.
- Cool.
- Haus of Wrestling notes that Rey Mysterio was working with a torn meniscus for “about three months” before he finally got surgery on it after it “slowly worsened.”
- Rey has had issues with his knees for a long while.
- They also say Mysterio is expected to be out between 6-to-8 weeks and “will likely resume his feud with Escobar when he returns.”
- He didn’t wrestle again until March, though he did return to feud with Santos. (1/2)
- Drew McIntyre’s heel turn “has been planned internally for at least a couple of months,” per Fightful Select.
- It continues to be fantastic work.
- PW Insider says Jade Cargill has been “training regularly at the Performance Center” but wasn’t scheduled for NXT TV this week. It’s unclear still where she’ll end up.
- She ended up on SmackDown.
- Brogan Finlay and Jay Malachi were both spotted at the WWE Performance Center recently, says PW Insider, and expected to have signed deals with the company.
- They’re both with the company. (2/2)
- Despite some of his recent Instagram Stories teasing/trolling that he is, both Fightful Select and Haus of Wrestling report that CM Punk is not AEW’s “Devil”.
- I almost don’t want to pad the stats with this rumor. (1/1)
- Fightful’s report notes that the person wearing the mask on television is believed to be the person who will play the character post-reveal, and that’s also true about the other masked assailants. Several people in AEW are said to know who’s under the masks, but they’ve “done well at keeping it quiet.”
- It was Cole.
- They also ruled out Britt Baker as the Devil.
- Sigh, another real dumb one. I could have told you that without sources. (1/1)
- Santos Escobar’s heel turn didn’t happen because of Rey Mysterio’s injury, according to PW Insider. However, if Mysterio wasn’t injured “they would gone right into live events doing Rey vs. Escobar.”
- It felt they were planning that for awhile.
- Speaking of Escobar’s turn, Insider says Zelina Vega got a lot of praise backstage for her role in the angle.
- She’s good at that type of character work.
- Mickie James is no longer listed on the Impact roster. PW Insider’s sources tell them she’s taking “a break” from the company, but remains on good terms and could return “at any time.” Fightful previously reported that James hasn’t had a contract with Impact since returning to the company in 2021, meaning she’s technically a free agent.
- Outside one independent date in April, she hasn’t wrestled at all since last fall.
- WrestleTix noted that the WrestleMania 40 week shows at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center won’t have a stage in order to maximize seating capacity. Instead, they’ll likely use an entrance tunnel like WWE had at Backlash in Puerto Rico earlier this year.
- I think this is accurate. They had seats behind the stage area. (1/1)
- Kurt Angle told the True Geordie Podcast a movie about his life is “gonna start filming probably next year.” Angle says he’ll be an advisor on the film.
- I wonder when we’ll see anything on that.
- According to Fightful Select, several people in AEW have indicated that Mercedes Moné is not expected to be Tony Khan’s mystery signing tomorrow night at Full Gear. However, there have been plans for Mercedes and AEW to work together at some point.
- It was Ospreay, though he had to finish up Japan dates before he could get working with them. (1/1)
- Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer doesn’t think Dolph Ziggler can be the mystery signing because his WWE non-compete period isn’t up yet.
- That’s probably accurate given timing, but we could have all figured that out.
- Meltzer says when Rey Mysterio returns from surgery, the idea is to do a group feud of “Santos [Escobar] with partners against Rey with partners.” Carlito will be on Mysterio’s side, Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro will be with Escobar, and it’s not clear where Zelina Vega will end up.
- Wilde & Cruz stayed with LWO. Instead Angel & Berto were with Santos. Carlito was with Mysterio until he betrayed them. (1/2)
- Fightful mentioned that AEW’s deal with Sega was in “the six figures” for the Like A Dragon street fight on this week’s episode of Dynamite. The deal was “largely connected” to Kenny Omega.
- Make that money. WWE markets matches all the time.
- Meltzer claims the idea of Mariah May’s current AEW program is “to get Mariah to be a top star” in the women’s division.
- We’ll have to wait and see on that.
- Per Fightful, Kenny King requested his release from Impact Wresting this week and it was granted. As a result, he is gone from the promotion and is now a free agent.
- He hasn’t worked much since. He had an ROH match.
- For what it’s worth, before her ROH debut, Sean Ross Sapp posted on X that Ronda Rousey isn’t the AEW mystery signing that Tony Khan will announce at Full Gear.
- This damn mystery signing is really padding the stats (which I’m never a fan of). (1/1)
- Regarding that AEW mystery signing, Mat Men Podcast’s Andrew Zarian said “I was told Will Ospreay.”
- That’s accurate. (1/1)
- Discussing the various rumors on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said: “It’s funny because I know two people who have told me who it is and they had two different names. So, I don’t know that anyone really knows.”
- Andrew Zarian got it right.
- While reminding us that Ospreay’s New Japan contract isn’t up until February 2024, PW Insider reports he’s “already received the blessing of NJPW to explore discussions with other companies” There are at least three that Insider knows of who are interested.
- I’m glad he signed with AEW because he feels like a big time star there.
- WWE’s been interested in Kazuchika Okada for years, but “there’s been more talk” about going after the New Japan star “of late,” according to Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Their pitch will likely involve the WWE schedule being easier physically, and the fact he’s done everything there is to do in NJPW.
- He ended up in AEW, which doesn’t seem surprising.
- Even if she doesn’t win the TBS title at Full Gear, Fightful Select says Julia Hart “will remain as a focus” on AEW television.
- She did win the title.
- The Ryback said his phone was blowing up with text messages from current AEW and WWE talent because everybody assumed The Big Guy was AEW’s mystery signing when Tony Khan said it’s one of the world’s best pro wrestlers who is universally respected. That being said, Ryback denied he is the mystery signing because “your hungry hero” is still not cleared to wrestle due to a right shoulder issue.
- Could you imagine that moment if Tony Khan revealed frickin’ Ryback. I can’t even think of how that crowd would react.
This week: 16/21 – 76%
Overall: 5,087/8,844 – 57.5%
Have a great week, everyone!
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