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Welcome to the Rumor Look Back, where we take a look at rumors from six months ago and see how they ended up playing out. Before getting to this week’s, I’d like to grade one that had been outstanding for a while.
It is reported that Goldust will be wrapping up his in-ring career soon. Cody will continue the Stardust character without him.
Goldust is still around over a year later and they are planting seeds of a tag team with R-Truth. He did have an injury much of 2015 that may have changed his mind/plans. I had already graded the Stardust part the first go around. (0/1)
Now onto this week's rumors.
Sting was banged up in his match with Seth Rollins and early word is his injury may be significant.
It was a serous neck injury and he may be retiring from it, though that is still up in the air. (1/1)
After all that talk of a Sting title win at Night of Champions (with or without a Sheamus cash in), it was apparently never under consideration. He was always going to be a stopgap feud for Rollins.
This is interesting because I think some rumors that don’t turn out to be correct were ideas being discussed by WWE that they ultimately decide against. However, I will say with this one, even with the few "Sting will win," rumors that popped up, they were always surrounded by other rumors saying he would not.
Though there are no plans to get him back into the main event soon, Kevin Owens has supports backstage which is why he’s booked to look strong in the midcard.
I believe this. And I’m also OK with them not keeping him in the main event right after his feud with Cena. Bringing someone in and thrusting them right into the main event scene means more scrutiny from those backstage. Letting him look good in the upper midcard allows him to build more support without being super micromanaged as opposed to someone like Reigns in the main event.
Apparently, Vince McMahon wanted Sting on the Raw after Night of Champions to either set up a future angle or address his injury. Unfortunately, his status was too unknown so they held out on it.
It really is unfortunate that this could be the end for Sting. If it is, at least he had a full career and hopefully can live his retirement years with generally good health.
Though there’s definitely an angle being set up between Y2J and Dean Ambrose following Night of Champions, it won’t be addressed until 2016. Jericho has Fozzy tour dates going through the end of 2015. A WrestleMania program is a possibility.
This possible feud stemmed from the fact that Jericho tagged himself in during Reigns and Ambrose’s tag match against the Wyatts and immediately lost the match. Then right after, he was a total jerk about it.
This is not going to be a WrestleMania match since Dean is going against Brock and Jericho is likely going against AJ Styles. I will put this outstanding in case this is a program they run soon after Mania. (I don’t know when Jericho has to leave again to tour.)
Scott Hall has expressed interest in working as a trainer at times at the WWE Performance Center. As long as he takes care of himself, WWE is willing to bring him on.
Scott Hall was on Breaking Ground at points, though that show is pretty scripted. However, since he was in the PC and giving advice, I will count this as correct. (1/1)
It has been noted by PW Insider that the fear is Sting suffered a spinal injury. What more, WWE is almost surely going to avoid booking him for matches in the future, so his in-ring career is likely over.
I actually originally graded both as true until Sting said "Hey, I’m not retired yet" so I’m going to put that part on hold for now. (1/1)
According to Dave Meltzer, the plan is no longer to finish the Lesnar/Undertaker feud at WrestleMania 32. The Hell in a Cell match will be the blow off match.
That is correct on both accounts. There are a lot of outstanding rumors regarding their WrestleMania plans (which I’ll do a special Look Back for after WrestleMania), but I will grade this one correctly now. They did not meet up against after Hell in a Cell. (2/2)
That could mean we’re finally getting Brock vs. the Rock.
I believe this rumor is implying "at WrestleMania" given how it is following up the last rumor. And Brock is fighting Dean. Rock will be at WrestleMania at a still unknown capacity. (0/1)
It looks like Charlotte’s first title defense will be against both Paige and Nikki Bella at Hell in a Cell.
It was only a one on one match with Nikki. She went on to feud with Paige afterwards. (0/1)
WWE could be releasing an Eric Bischoff DVD sometime in 2016
It’s looking like this will be the case but I will hold out on grading it until it happens.
As expected, Vince is "freaking out" about the low Raw and SmackDown ratings.
You would think he’d be used to it by now.
The low ratings is why WWE advertised Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, & Undertaker for the October 19 episode of Raw. Expect more of this if the turnaround isn’t quick.
Looking back at the ratings, that show only drew a modest increase, so the heavy advertising didn’t even help too much. The ratings continued to go on to hit record lows through November, but there weren’t any packed shows advertised like the one in October. (0/1)
There are apparently some issues with Alberto El Patron that hasn’t come to light regarding his status in AAA and Lucha Underground.
"Some issues" is very vague. That being said, he was back in WWE by the end of the month. (1/1)
Here’s your regular "morale in TNA" is low rumor, given the small amount of buzz for Bound for Glory and the uncertainty of their future.
This rumors pop up all the time and TNA keeps on ticking.
According to the Observer, Undertaker/Lesnar at Hell in a Cell was a last minute thing and was negotiated for extra money for Lesnar. Expect Undertaker and Lesnar to be added to more shows headed towards the PPV to help counteract ratings.
Lesnar was on two shows, the Raw following this rumor and the go-home show to Hell in a Cell (which he was already advertised for prior to this rumor.) Undertaker was not added to any shows but did appear on the go home show that he too was advertised for prior to this rumor. I don’t know if Lesnar was advertised for the Sept 28 Raw prior, so I’ll count that as an "addition" to give it the benefit of the doubt. (1/2)
Hell in a Cell is also expected to include Ryback vs. Kevin Owens for the Intercontinental title and the Dudleys vs. the New Day in a tables match for the tag team titles.
It was not a tables match for the tag team titles though the teams did fight. Ownes/Ryback took place and Owens won the IC title. (1/2)
It looks like Eva Marie’s push may be slowed down in favor for pushes for Dana Brooke, Emma, Asuka, and Alexa Bliss as the top NXT women alongside Bayley.
While Alexa Bliss is a bit of an outlier since she hasn’t really been featured (though Carmella, who isn’t listed in this rumor, has), all the other women have been featured more or as much as Eva Marie. This is the first rumor that correctly pointed out the fact Eva Marie isn’t getting a monster push. (1/1)
With season 2 of Lucha Underground being announced and no word on Mysterio’s status, there’s some talk that he’s being kept as a surprise for when he shows up.
Lucha Underground ended up advertising him prior to season 2, and I believe, prior to any of his in ring matches being taped. Likely, it would have gotten out so they wanted to control the release and get more viewers to LU. It was just last Wednesday that Mysterio finally debuted in the Temple. (0/1)
Brock Lesnar vs. the Rock is currently not scheduled for WrestleMania 32.
And it stayed that way. (1/1)
According to the Observer, you can expect big changes to SmackDown in January when it moves to the USA Network. The idea would be to give it a fresh new look and book big angles on the show to get it over as a big deal.
I’m going to have to say this is incorrect. While they added Mauro Ranallo to give it a different feel in that regard, the set looks exactly the same and no major angles are booked on it. They give major angles time and follow up stuff from Raw, but it’s not that much different. (0/1)
Bad News Barrett is expected to return to TV soon.
He returned on the following Monday to attack both Neville and Stardust. He did not return as Bad News Barrett, though as that gimmick is dead. But my take is that this rumor is just referring to the man and not the gimmick. (1/1)
Regarding the Carlito re-signing with WWE rumors, the Observer notes that they offered him a deal that was too low. That doesn’t mean they won’t come back with a bigger offer that would get him signed. He could be part of whatever they have in mind for the repackaged Los Matadores.
I gave the Carlito rumor last week 6 months and I’ll do the same here.
The Observer is noting that the entire Madison Square Garden show will air on the WWE Network.
This is referring to the fact that for these house show specials, they will have some dark matches prior that are not aired on the Network.
There were two dark matches, Zack Ryder defeating Bo Dallas and Mark Henry defeating Brad Maddox, meaning the entire show was not aired on the Network. (Unlike with PPVs, where everything is aired.) (0/1)
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This Week: 11/19 - 58%
Overall: 731/1370 - 53.4%
Have a great week, everyone.