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Welcome to the weekly Look Back, looking at the rumors that were on all our minds six months ago and seeing how they came to pass. At this time six months ago, the Royal Rumble was around the corner and there were tons of rumors regarding the Pay Per View and the match itself. And many of them were not correct.
Let's take a look.
There’s a rumor going around that Dolph Ziggler lost his Intercontinental title because WWE was upset about him booking an improv comedy show without their permission. So the plan is to bury him.
There’s no grading this one. Was he buried? Sure he was definitely no hotter than he was before he lost his intercontinental title. He was part of the "fired superstars" story and then he spent all the build to WrestleMania in the Intercontinental title stealing story with six other guys. It’s sure a drop but wasn’t an intentional bury? Who knows. Same thing I’ll have to deal with in six months with these Kevin Owens rumors.
Rumor has it that Triple H and Vince McMahon are leaving the writers out of creative planning and putting the shows together in meetings alone.
Man, you couldn’t pay me enough to be a writer for that company.
Biff Busick may be close to signing with WWE.
I had to google the gentleman because I had not heard of him. According to Wikipedia, he is not currently signed by WWE. (0/1)
Adam Cole of Ring of Honor and Crimson of past TNA fame are two names thrown around as possibly signing with WWE in the near future.
Neither have within the six months of this rumor. Adam Cole is still in ROH. Crimson made a brief return to TNA to have one match with Bram recently. (0/2)
There has been talk about Daniel Bryan entering the Royal Rumble at the number one spot and either going all the way to win it or getting eliminated by a heel to get major heat on that heel.
Bryan entered at #10. He did not win it nor did he go far and the person who eliminated him (Wyatt) did not get any lasting heat from it. But there was crowd heat at that Rumble alright. (0/1)
A name being thrown around as a possible surprise Rumble entrant is Diamond Dallas Page.
It could have been the highlight of the Rumble for me. I really wish WWE could use is WCW music instead though. (1/1)
The New Age Outlaws may be sticking around after the Royal Rumble to run a series of matches with the Ascension to help get them over.
The Ascension? Over? Ha! They worked the one planned Rumble match and weren’t seen since. (0/1)
Infamous reddit rumor monger MetsFan4Ever is saying morale is really good in WWE as far as SmackDown is concerned and there is feeling this show will be much better off on its move to Thursday.
I won’t grade this. But I probably could say it’s incorrect because Thursday SmackDown isn’t at all different than Friday SmackDown. Not at all.
Kalisto could be getting a main roster call up soon.
He was called up with Sin Cara as part of the Lucha Dragon tag team after WrestleMania. (1/1)
People in UFC are confident that Lesnar is coming back to MMA. Word has it his first match could be match #3 against Frank Mir.
People in UFC were wrong. I’m not a UFC guy, but would you MMA fans have dug Mir/Lesnar III? (0/1)
There’s more speculation that both Orton and Sheamus will return at the Royal Rumble in the Rumble match.
Neither of them did. There were pretty much months of incorrect rumors about these guys returning imminently. (0/2)
Other surprise entrants include Rob Van Dam, Bo Dallas, and the Dudley Boyz.
There was one Dudley Boy (Bully/Bubba Ray.) RVD, Bo Dallas, and Devon were not in the match. (1/4)
There is talk about using some NXT stars in the Rumble as well.
That too is incorrect. (0/1)
There were rumors about WWE going back to TV14 but that does not appear to be a plan in the future.
It is still a PG product. And honestly, I don’t think the PG product is to blame for poor storytelling. You can tell a good story with a PG format. (1/1)
Sting vs. Triple H appears to be a lock for WrestleMania. That does not mean that Sting vs. Undertaker is off the table at one point. It could happen at WrestleMania 32 as a retirement match for both men.
Sting vs. Triple H did happen. I’ll put the Sting/Undertaker rumor in the outstanding column. (1/1)
WrestleMania 33 could be held in Philadelphia.
Last I checked, that wasn’t really in the mix any more, but since nothing has been announced, I’ll put it in the outstanding columns. Last I checked Minneapolis is the front-runner.
Word is the new season of Tough Enough will be filmed in Florida and air after WrestleMania.
It is filmed in Full Sail in Orlando and the barracks are in Florida. While not right after WrestleMania, it was a few months after. (2/2)
WWE has chosen who is going to win the Royal Rumble and as of now, it is Daniel Bryan.
It was not. And while they did not build Roman well, going with Bryan only to have him have to bow out again after Mania would have not looked good. Though if they went with the same WrestleMania ending with Bryan instead of Roman, it would have actually gotten decent heat on Rollins since every one loves Daniel. (0/1)
Kevin Nash could go into the Hall of Fame this year.
He did and he headlined. (1/1)
Maria Menonous is tabbed to host the WWE Hall of Fame red carpet show and it will air on the WWE Network.
Both are true. I did not watch it. Any one check it out? (2/2)
There are expected to be no less than 5 surprised Royal Rumble entrants.
There were 2… I guess 3 if we count the Boogeyman. (0/1)
WWE is planning to do another free month of the WWE Network in February.
That was the case, as was every month except for March thereafter. (1/1)
It is reported that Goldust will be wrapping up his in ring career soon. Cody will continue the Stardust character without him.
The Goldust rumor is tough because he got hurt. I will put that in the outstanding column. Cody is working the Stardust gimmick without him. (1/1)
Velvet Sky was fired in TNA story because she opened the Feast or Fired briefcase that contained the pink slip. She may be done with TNA for real though.
She’s already back. (0/1)
This was all from a special Royal Rumble Round Up the day of the PPV.
It is expected the Rock will make an appearance tonight.
He did. But even the Rock couldn’t deflect the boos from that crowd. (1/1)
Chris Jericho is not expected to be in the Rumble, despite being in town.
He was not. (1/1)
Names of people who could appear at the Rumble based on various rumors:
Rob Van Dam, Team 3D, DDP, Randy Orton, Bo Dallas, Sheamus, Sami Zayn, and Kevin Owens.
To be fair, I’m going to only grade the ones that weren’t mentioned just days earlier – and that’s Zayn and Owens. Neither were in the Rumble. (0/2)
Outside the match itself, there’s Rumors of a Sting appearance and a full-blown Lesnar face turn at the Pay Per View.
Neither happened at the Rumble. (0/2)
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This Week: 14/33 - 42%
Overall: 327/628 - 52%
Have a great week, everyone. We'll be back next week with tons of rumors from the Roman Reigns Royal Rumble fallout.