Welcome to the weekly Rumor Look Back, where we look at the rumors from six months ago and see which played out as originally predicted. Let’s jump right to it.
- It does look like Matt Hardy’s in-ring career is over. Wrestling Observer says he only worked the last few weeks in order to make all this advertised dates.
- He’s back wrestling alongside his brother. (0/1)
- Two matches are being considered for Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series, per Ringside News: vs. The Undertaker or a tag match with Triple H against Taker and Kane.
- Unfortunately, none of those happened. It was just Crown Jewel. Lame (0/1)
- According to one of WrestleVote’s sources, the Hell in a Cell cage was painted red because Vince wanted to make a noticeable change since the match has been around for more than 20 years, similar to dropping Roman numerals from WrestleManias.
- It was back to the normal color this year.
- That Twitter account also says the SmackDown before WrestleMania “won’t be a typical show” when the brand moves to Fox and Fridays. WWE won’t try to put on a normal episode two days before the event.
- I’m very curious what it’ll be. We’ll have to wait a year to find out, though. Survivor Series, the first big show after the Fox move, has the go-home SmackDown in the same city as the PPV part of the weekend. Maybe they do that with WrestleMania?
- Both Brock Lesnar’s return and the non-finish for Hell in a Cell’s main event were always the plan and not last minute additions or changes, per Wrestling Observer Radio.
- Finishing a Hell in a Cell match in a no contest is lame no matter how you swing it.
- While it wasn’t how things played out at Hell in a Cell, according to Dave Meltzer on Observer Radio the plan for Becky Lynch’s SmackDown Women’s title win at Hell in a Cell was to “slowly turn Charlotte [Flair] babyface during the match” before “Becky [Lynch] screwed her and beat her for the title.”
- Wasn’t Charlotte already babyface?
- Sticking to that subject, a story in U.K. tabloid The Daily Star claimed pro-Becky signs were confiscated at Sunday’s PPV, but Fightful spoke to a fan who had “I Boo The Woo” signs taken who said it might have been because she brought a lot of the same sign and was handing them out in her section. The Observer got a comment from WWE which said they only would have taken them if they were blocking camera shots.
- We hear a decent amount of stories about WWE taking stuff, but I always wonder if there’s a bit more to it than the sign or the shirt.
- A report from Barnburner’s Fired Up podcast that WWE’s talking to Cris Cyborg about facing Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 35 was given a tiny bit more credence when Cyborg told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani she’d be interested and teased an announcement.
- That certainly isn’t the plan. (0/1)
- WWE and New Japan are both interested in signing indie big man Brody King, says Observer Radio.
- He’s working in Ring of Honor and New Japan.
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said the current plan is indeed to do Triple H & Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker & Kane at WWE Crown Jewel.
- That happened. Triple H got injured early. Shawn still looked good.
- PW Insider says Alexa Bliss’s injury is legit but plans are for her to return to team with Braun Strowman if she can get cleared by the time their second match is scheduled. No word on when that may be.
- She wasn’t cleared by that time.
- Mia Yim has been at the WWE Performance Center this week and may have signed an NXT deal, according to PW Insider.
- She is in NXT now. (1/1)
- That site also says WWE has decided on a location for Axxess at WrestleMania 35 and it’s likely the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.
- It’s actually in Brooklyn. No word if Cryme Tyme will be there. (0/1)
- More following yesterday’s update on Fenix and Pentagon Jr.’s futures, PW Insider says they’re locked into a Lucha Underground non-compete until 2020, so there’s no chance of them heading to WWE until that’s up.
- The stories of these LU contracts holding people up, especially when the show may never return, are ridic.
- There’s no timetable for Jason Jordan to return to the ring, and it’s possible his wrestling career is over. Insider says his neck “was a lot worse than they thought it was gonna be” when it was first evaluated.
- He’s still out. Word has it he’s working as a producer.
- Now that they’ve locked in lucrative TV deals, PW Insider reports WWE is “approaching a lot of talents and trying to sign them to longer-term deals”.
- That’s still the word, more so with AEW.
- Amanpreet Singh Randhawa (former TNA wrestler Mahabali Shera) is no longer in WWE after only about six months in developmental, according to multiple sites.
- I completely forgot he had signed with WWE at all. (1/1)
- WWE has been scouting Mexican indie star Bandido and is very interested in signing him.
- He’s in Ring of Honor right now (and very popular).
- Per PW Insider, Shawn Michaels will return to Raw on Oct. 1 in Seattle to promote Super Show-Down and, beyond that, his coming out of retirement to wrestle again.
- He was on that show. (1/1)
- Speaking of which, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter indicates the money for the Saudi Arabia show is likely what has driven the decision for Michaels to come out of retirement and, for that matter, for Brock Lesnar to return for another match.
- Shawn says that’s not the case... but c’mon.
- The Observer says the meeting between WWE and Impact officials recently was one that WWE requested and “there was said to be no substantial news out of it,” at least so far.
- There was word it was just about WWE using some TNA footage. But there was also word that Impact was trying to sell off their tape library.
- While it appeared as though WWE did an injury angle for Jeff Hardy at Hell in a Cell, the Observer notes he’s confirmed to be working house shows this weekend.
- Accurate. (1/1)
- AJ Lee responding to a tweet about a match of hers in WWE got some talk going but Dave Meltzer says there’s still nothing to the idea of her working Evolution, at least as of recently.
- I still miss AJ Lee. (1/1)
- Alexa Bliss is apparently experiencing numbness in her arm and that’s why she was pulled from Mixed Match Challenge, says the Observer. She’s able to do some stuff, so she won’t miss television, but that’s why she can’t wrestle in full right now.
- Word of her injuries have been in the rumors for awhile now.
- The Observer notes that 205 Live is scheduled to air on Wednesdays until at least mid-December and it could move back to its old time slot at that time.
- It is back in its old slot. (1/1)
- Per the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Jeff Cobb is expected to sign with Ring of Honor.
- He’s their TV champion. (1/1)
This week: 7/11 - 64%
Overall: 2,646/4,806 - 55.1%
Have a great week, everyone!