Rumor Look Back: May 20 - 26, 2016

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. First, an outstanding rumor.

February 16, 2015

• It is unlikely Bill Goldberg will ever back to WWE for a match. It is more likely he’ll accept an offer form Glory to do a kickboxing match.
• He had a WWE match last week, where he squashed Brock Lesnar in under 2 minutes. And he’s signed on for more. He hasn’t gone to Glory. (0/2)

And now onto this week’s rumors.

May 20, 2016

• Brock Lesnar vs. Bray Wyatt may still be the plan for SummerSlam this year.
• It was not. Bray Wyatt wasn’t even on the 4 hour SummerSlam card while Brock main evented against Randy Orton and won by TKO. (0/1)
• While many of the top stars in NXT at the moment are clearly ready for the main roster, the reason they haven't been called up is apparently because they're needed for touring purposes.
• This would include the likes of Bayley and Finn Bálor, who have since been called up. The touring scene is now on the names of Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka, and Austin Aries.
• The word is WWE is really high on Big Cass and Dana Brooke.
• Both are still on screen, though Dana’s role has been diminished and the rumors more recently say that aren’t planning a huge push for Dana like they may have once been.
• According to the Observer, Neville was originally in the plans for the Intercontinental title picture right now before his injury. He may go there once he returns.
• Neville hasn’t done much of anything since coming back. He’s certainly not in the picture for any title. (0/1)

May 21, 2016

• Apparently John Cena winning the US title and brining back the Open Challenge has been discussed for his return.
• They didn’t go that way. He feuded with AJ Styles upon returning. The US title found its way to Roman Reigns. (0/1)
• There’s some talk that Emma may not be back until the end of the year.
• She worked a house show in September but hasn’t been on TV as they are continuing to prep her Emmalina debut. So does this rumor mean house show or on TV? I’m going to say it means back in general. (0/1)
• Apparently Velvet Sky is a candidate for the women's tournament show WWE may be running on the Network at some point.
• We’ll just have to wait and see. She’d be good veteran addition. I would think like with the CWC they’d have a few veterans alongside a bunch of indie women.
• The Observer notes that Dixie Carter, Eric Sherman, and John Gaburick from TNA are all doing business in India this week related to selling a percentage of the company and a tour there.
• Yes, the phantom tour of India that’ll never ever happen.

May 23, 2016

• The tag line JBL uses about Roman Reigns now, "If you love him or hate him, you're very passionate about him!" was written by Vince McMahon and is the official company position on their champ, per Wrestling Observer.
• Pretty much they gave up getting people to try to like him. And in fairness, they’ve done well with that. They haven’t put him in any position where he’s always a sympathetic babyface. He kicks ass and if you dig him, you dig him. If you don’t, it doesn’t kill the story.
• Enzo Amore was in Newark for Extreme Rules and is set to travel with the main roster this week, according to PWInsider. It's not confirmed that he's cleared to wrestle, but WWE feeling he's healthy enough to travel is a positive step, and he may be used in a non-contact role.
• He returned this night and actually took some bumps as well.
• Another name said to be back on the road and close to being cleared for a return is Naomi, who's been out with a torn tendon.
• She didn’t return until after the draft on July 26, (0/1)
• New Japan ace Hiroshi Tanahashi is expected to take the better part of the next month off to deal with nagging injuries. He's been pulled from the rest of the Best of Super Juniors shows after a kayfabe attack by Bullet Club, but should be back to face the faction's leader, Kenny Omega, at Dominion on June 19.
• It’s true that he missed time, but his injuries actually kept him off the Dominion show. (1/2)
• WWE may treat the July 4 Raw as a throw away show since they expect the ratings to be really bad.
• Here are the results. There was a US title match, a lot of stuff that felt like a regular Raw, but then a random Team USA vs. Team Not-USA main event, which feels throw away. So I’ll say this is true. The ratings were predictably bad . (1/1)

May 24, 2016

• Look for John Cena to feud with Alberto Del Rio for a while after he comes back next Monday.
• They really didn’t feud at all. (0/1)
• Network show, Ride Along, reportedly just filmed an announcer episode with Michael Cole, JBL & Byron Saxton road-tripping from Newark to Baltimore this past Sunday.
• This was an episode. I normally don’t watch Ride Along, but this episode was on after a pay-per-view and I ended up having a couple good laughs at it. JBL and Cole get so frustrated with Byron and Saxton just feeds into it. (I’m sure some of it is a work.) They end up leaving the poor guy at a truck stop in Delaware and he has to take a bus the rest of the way. (1/1)

May 25, 2016

• Though Seth Rollins is back and working a main event title program with Roman Reigns, it doesn't look like there are any plans for Reigns to lose the WWE world heavyweight championship any time soon.
• He lost at it Money in the Bank, which was less than a month later. Of course, he was then immediately suspended for wellness so it is possible his reign would have been much longer. (0/1)
• Apparently WWE still has big plans for AJ Styles despite his losing to Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens over the past few days, according to the Observer.
• WWE champion AJ Styles. (1/1)
• There is more word going around that WWE is going to release another wrestler soon, and other cuts could still be coming.
• There were no more cuts. (0/1)
• New Day vs. Social Outcasts could be the next tag team title program but Enzo & Big Cass are in plans for SummerSlam.
• New Day never really feuded with the Outcasts (they had a match but hardly a feud) and they didn’t feud with Enzo and Cass at SummerSlam. Enzo and Cass lost to best friends Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho at SummerSlam. New Day lost to the Club by DQ due to a returning Big E (remember the Club crushed his balls) and Jon Stewart. (0/2)
• Mickey Gall put on Instagram that he heard he's fighting CM Punk in "late summer" though no date is official just yet.
• It was early September, just after Labor Day, so I’ll count it. (1/1)

May 26, 2016

• The Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins title program is expected to stretch out over a series of matches leading up to SummerSlam.
• It did not go this way. Seth defeated Roman and lost the title immediately to Dean Ambrose. Dean defended the WWE title successfully in the Battleground main event. Dean got drafted to SmackDown while Roman and Seth stayed on Raw. Dean feuded for the title with Ziggler at SummerSlam. Roman moved down to the US title picture as Rollins faced Finn Bálor for the new Universal title on the show. (0/1)
• The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports the top of the SummerSlam card is already decided upon, with matches set for Roman Reigns and John Cena. Brock Lesnar will also have a match, but his opponent hasn't been set yet apparently.
• I believe that Cena/Styles was planned. Reigns’ plans may very well have changed since he ended up losing his title and getting suspended between this and SummerSlam.
• It looks like Bray Wyatt will work heel when he returns.
• He did return heel. (He had just started a face turn before getting injured.) (1/1)
• The Observer is reporting WWE is aggressively going after as much talent as possible due to the brand split and needing to shore up talent in NXT for touring purposes.
• They ended up signing Shelton Benjamin (who never wrestled due to getting injured), Jinder Mahal (who has done zero since returning), Rhyno, and Curt Hawkins to fill the void. There’s most likely a bunch of talent that turned them down. (I can’t imagine that someone like Drew Galloway didn’t get a phone call.) (1/1)
• The Observer also notes Vince McMahon is "really pumped about the new possibilities" with the brand split.
• I’m guessing his favorite possibility was to purposely book a terrible show on Raw while not having anything to do with SmackDown so it could flourish.

This week: 7/19 - 37%

Overall: 1,189/2,227 - 53.4%

Have a great week, everyone!