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.
- F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer says WWE is moving forward with the idea that The Rock vs. Roman Reigns won’t happen at WrestleMania 40 because The Rock’s schedule will be too busy.
- That is incorrect because it was the plan for a bit and he did work a lot during that time his schedule was definitely not too busy. (0/1)
- However, Dave believes that if The Rock decides he wants to do the match, then WWE will change their plans to accommodate him. If the match does happen, Meltzer was specifically told that The Rock won’t win the WWE Universal championship.
- This is tough because they kind of did? But they did didn’t?
- WrestleVotes claims that “new merchandise & branding has been approved” for Randy Orton, and there will be a “large social media promotion” for his return to WWE. Orton’s return is “likely” happening on the weekend of Survivor Series.
- He returned at Survivor Series. (1/1)
- Regarding Ari Emanuel’s decision to remove Vince McMahon from WWE creative, Meltzer was told by someone close to the situation that, “Emanuel has a vision for how he can use the worldwide notoriety of McMahon, and that vision doesn’t include him micro-managing the weekly television shows.”
- It’s definitely a much better product without Vince.
- This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that many of the wrestlers in WWE are loyal to Triple H and think things are better with Vince not involved in the creative process. Before Vince took a medical leave for spinal surgery, he was making changes to WWE creative plans “fairly regularly,” and those changes “did get in the way of the long-term vision.”
- Now we get to see what the Triple H Era really looks like.
- BWE claims that Karrion Kross was “planned for a vignette” on last night’s episode of SmackDown, but it “got postponed for later.” Karrion’s story “will go in full gear soon.”
- His group got revealed a few months later. (1/1)
- The Ryback said as part of WWE’s drug testing policy, he had to get in a stall with the drug tester and show that person his nipples while peeing in a cup. His nipples had to be out because there was a “developmental talent” and “other talents” using a Whizzinator to cheat the test. Ryback was randomly tested anywhere from 4 to 12 times per year and always provided clean samples. He also claims that Al Snow was taken aback by how powerful his “standard Big Guy pee” stream is.
- I don’t know what a Whizzinator. I have a guess but I don’t know what it has to do with the nipples. I’m not going to google it to look into it further.
- There were two alleged cases of WWE tampering that Tony Khan took personally, per Fightful Select’s “SRS Backstage Report” show. One was Swerve Strickland, who was approached for a Hit Row reunion shortly after signing a long-term deal with AEW. The other was it “became abundantly clear” WWE was talking to William Regal about a return with Khan’s mother was in the hospital.
- The Regal stuff seems accurate, and Regal seemed to give his side of the story. Maybe the Swerve bit was real. TK kept his man and just crowned him world champ.
- Demand for Survivor Series tickets is so high that Haus of Wrestling says WWE is not offering comps to talent or staff, and production may be scaled back to open up as many seats as possible.
- They’ve scaled back the stage in general and at times to fit more seats.
- After a local television station in Rhea Ripley’s hometown claimed she would “headline” Elimination Chamber in Australia next year, Haus of Wrestling spoke to a WWE source who told them that while Ripley will certainly be on the show, “creative will dictate the match and match position.” Of the 7NEWS Adelaide story, the source said it was “local news doing what they do, but all good.”
- Ripley did main event but I’m sure that wasn’t set in stone in October.
- Sites such as Bet Online have LA Knight, The Rock, Nia Jax & Raquel Rodriguez as the early favorites to win the 2024 Royal Rumble matches.
- It was Cody & Bayley, so neither of the women or the mens top favorites were right. (0/2)
- According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the “down the line” teases from WWE indicate Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley vs. Becky Lynch, Jimmy Uso vs. Jey Uso, and Charlotte Flair vs. Jade Cargill are all planned for a major event, though it’s unclear which major show those matches will take place on.
- Flair’s injury has kept it out but the other matches happened at Mania last month. (3/4)
- The WON also says that Matt Riddle’s people “have already been in talks with a number of pro wrestling, MMA and boxing companies regarding working there.” His non-compete goes through December, however, so nothing can be announced before then.
- He has done some work for MLW and NJPW, as will as some indies.
- WWE feels there is enough star power at Crown Jewel to avoid using Brock Lesnar, which is why he isn’t on a Saudi show for the first time ever, says PW Insider.
- It was a good show without him.
- According to Haus of Wrestling, CM Punk did indeed visit backstage at Impact Wrestling before a taping in Chicago the day after Bound For Glory. He talked to “key talent” there “throughout the taping.”
- If he didn’t fight anyone, it was a good time.
- They also say Ace Steel, who has been working as a Producer there, has been “warmly received backstage and seemed very happy to be back to work.”
- I believe he is currently still working there.
- Fightful Select notes that WWE is of the belief, at least, that they have John Cena available until the actor’s strike ends.
- They pretty much did. (1/1)
- BodySlam.net claims there is no timetable for Cora Jade’s return to NXT right now.
- She came back in December but then tore her ACL in January and has been out ever since
- Serpentico was seen in a sling recently, says Insider, so he’s dealing with an injury right now.
- As long as Jonathan Cruz is good to go.
- It’s not clear just yet what the direction for Survivor Series will be but Dave Meltzer did say on Wrestling Observer Radio that a Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins champion vs. champion match is not happening.
- That is correct. They have done champion vs. champion since they brought back WarGames. (1/1)
- Meltzer also says Drew McIntyre still hasn’t signed a new contract with WWE.
- Apparently that’s still the case. Probably.
- Speaking of as much, Fightful Select notes that “several top stars,” among other talent, have not been approached about new contracts that are coming up in 2024. There is apparently a new way of doing things now that Endeavor owns WWE.
- We’re apparently approaching those dates without words they’ve gotten anything done.
- Jade Cargill is expected to be working out at the Performance Center in Orlando for the rest of the week, per PW Insider.
- She came on full time just in time for WrestleMania.
- Will Ospreay has hired Barry Bloom to represent him as he gets ready for his New Japan contract to end next February, according to Insider. Fightful says Ospreay hired Bloom “months ago”.
- He ended up signing with AEW and already feels like a massive star there. And I’m glad. I watch both AEW & WWE and have enjoyed both to varying degrees at different times. But I in general like Triple H as a booker overall. I would have been very interested to see how Will would have been booked in WWE. But I think he makes AEW feel bigger at times, and fits their “Where the best wrestle” motto they’re working with. It seems better for wrestling in general (given wrestling is better when AEW is a viable option) that Ospreay, and Okada/Mercedes, went to AEW.
- Regarding the possibility of Ospreay signing with WWE, Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that “I know WWE is absolutely after him, and he is absolutely going to listen to WWE.”
- There are some hard feelings now that he chose AEW (though I believe their offer was much better, at least according to him).
- After WWE announced Bash in Berlin yesterday, Fightful Select reported that a PLE in Paris has been “discussed heavily”. “Some internal schedules in the company” have next year’s Backlash taking place in the French capital.
- Backlash is in France. But it’s not in Paris. It’s in Lyon. And they’re not close (0/1)
- During Monday’s Raw, Sean Ross Sapp posted on X that the “piped in boos” during Dominik Mysterio & Logan Paul’s segment were “really bad” and that WWE was “playing the exact same audio repeatedly.” When fans argued with him, Sapp replied he was “outright told it was piped in” by someone at WWE.
- I think I’ve heard piped in noise less. Or at least I’ve heard matches where the crowd isn’t into it and they aren’t sweetening those. Hopefully they get completely away from it.
- Becky Lynch was “banged up” heading into her match at Halloween Havoc, per Bodyslam.net. The site’s sources couldn’t confirm what the issue is or if she’ll need time off, but said it “did not play a part in her loss to [Lyra] Valkyria”.
- It almost feels like “banged up” is the name of the game.
- He’s far from the only one, but Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso writes that Logan Paul “is expected to walk away with the US title” after his match with Rey Mysterio at Crown Jewel.
- That’s accurate. (1/1)
- After giving notice to the company last month, PCO decided to re-sign with Impact. According to Haus of Wrestling that decision was made based on ”the energy around the TNA re-brand, along with other requests being met.” They also say the new deal “leaves the door open” for D Destro, who manages PCO in other promotions, to appear with him at major Impact shows.
- I wonder how he felt when they parted ways with Scott D’Amore.
- Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer said Ric Flair had a “verbal deal” with Tony Khan in 2021 to go to AEW, but “it was not the right time” for him to be there following sexual misconduct allegations made against Flair on Dark Side of the Ring. His AEW debut was instead saved for this week’s episode of Dynamite.
- He hasn’t done much outside a few appearances during Sting’s farewell.
- BWE indicates that “unless something changes last minute,” WWE’s plan has always been for Jade Cargill to debut on the Raw roster.
- She debuted at the Rumble and signed with SmackDown. (0/1)
- WrestleVotes was told that WWE creative has “gone back & forth for a while now” on the WarGames match for Survivor Series. At first the idea was to keep the story on Raw, but “the sense from a source” is that’s no longer the case.
- Are they speaking of the men’s match? Because that was Raw specific. But the women’s was more SmackDown.
- On his 1 Of A Kind With RVD podcast, Rob Van Dam implied that he recently received a phone call from WWE where he “got officially unbooked” for next year’s WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia, as their response to his recent appearances in AEW.
- Ouch.
- Per Fightful Select, the “front-runner” city to host WWE SummerSlam 2024 is Cleveland, Ohio.
- That’s the case. Logan Paul announced it. (1/1)
This week: 9/15 – 60%
Overall: 5,048/8,789 – 57.4%
Have a great week, everyone!
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