Rumor Look Back: March 11 - 17, 2016

Welcome to the weekly Rumor Look Back, where we look back at the hot rumors from six months ago and see how they all played out. Let’s get right to it!

March 11, 2016

• From Wrestling Observer Newsletter: the "Vince McMahon vs. Triple H dynamic is something that everyone is talking about internally, even more since Shane McMahon appeared on the scene." Dave Meltzer outright says to decide for yourself how much is legit or exaggerated with regards to Shane being back and internal strife.

• The entire Triple H/Vince dynamic is surely interesting. It’s lead to some people blaming Vince for all the bad and praising Trips for all the good. I wonder if Vince is fine with that; if he has no problem playing the villain so the guy who eventually takes his place has a general positive aura.

• Apparently Shane McMahon has been a bit lost during promos, with Vince covering up for him on one a couple weeks ago. Recent re-writes may be to blame on the recent occurrence.

• And this was before the epic “You’re going to hit me and I’m going to miss.” I don’t recall how well Shane did with promos prior to his exit. I could imagine the shift to massive scripting of promos didn’t help.

• There’s talk internally that Vince doesn’t love NXT as much as Triple H makes it seem in interviews.

• Even if that’s true, he doesn’t impede with NXT at all. Plus the first two WWE Universal champions were former NXT champions. Both women’s champions are from NXT too.

• New Day vs. League of Nations has been the planned match for WrestleMania 32, but apparently there's talk of turning it into a multi-team match.

• There were no other teams involved. (1/2)

• According to the Observer, Lucha Underground is close to closing a deal with Netflix to air season 1.

• We haven’t heard anything about this since. (0/1)

March 12, 2016

• There’s a weird rumor that someone in WWE recently gave notice but no one knows if it’s true nor who it is.

• This is extremely vague and because of that, I am not going to grade it. I think word on Barrett looking to leave was already going around by this point. And this could incorporate behind the scenes people we don’t know about as well.

• Shawn Michaels has been pitched to be either the special referee in the Triple H vs. Roman Reigns match or do a run-in during a different match at WrestleMania 32, according to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He'll be on the show in some way.

• While he was on the show, he didn’t do either of those things. (He did not run in during a match but did a post match segment instead.) (1/2)

• According to the Observer, there is talk of having a second women’s match on the WrestleMania card.

• That’s the case. They had the triple threat for the Women’s championship on the main show and the multi-woman match on the pre-show. (1/1)

• Undertaker, Sting, DDP, and Shane McMahon are apparently being considered for the Stone Cold Podcast on the WWE Network.

• None of them have been on yet. Shane McMahon was interviewed by Mick Foley because Austin couldn’t do that one. We’ve gotten AJ Styles and a somewhat awkward Dean Ambrose one. (0/4)

• WWE is interested in a top star from Lucha Underground who is currently unhappy with creative there.

• Interesting rumor. Not much to grade, but there’s plenty to speculate. Both Rey Mysterio and Prince Puma (Ricochet) could fit this bill.

March 14, 2016

• Undertaker, Shane McMahon, Brock Lesnar, and Paul Heyman are all set for Raw tonight in Pittsburgh. It's also possible Roman Reigns makes his return from nose surgery.

• The initial four were already advertised so not rumor. Roman wasn’t advertised but he did return. (1/1)

• There’s also talk that Mick Foley will return to Raw tonight to set up something for WrestleMania.

• Foley was there to give his barbed wire baseball bat to Dean Ambrose, but he didn’t set himself up for something at Mania. (1/2)

• The Observer notes that WWE may be interested in signing Kazuchika Okada.

• The contract status of Okada isn’t clear enough for me to grade this. From what I understand, the Rain Maker was already locked up in a 5-year deal, and if that’s the case, WWE wouldn’t have been able to sign him even if they were interested.

March 15, 2016

• Lana's alliance with Team B.A.D. is expected to lead to her in-ring debut, as part of a six-woman tag against a Total Divas team of Paige, Brie Bella & Alicia Fox.

• Leading to her in ring debut is correct, since the she did debut at WrestleMania. The details of that match are technically incorrect as Emma and Eva Marie were also added to this match. (1/2)

• Jerry Lawler said in an interview that they may run split crews at WrestleMania so he and Mauro Ranallo could work the show.

• Lawler and Ranallo called the pre-show matches. (1/1)

• Humberto Garza Jr., the cousin of the late Hector Garza, may be joining NXT.

• He did not. (0/1)

• Evolve is trying to sign TJ Perkins to an exclusive deal.

• He’s a WWE talent now. (0/1)

March 16, 2016

• The interaction between Chris Jericho and Charles Robinson in the ring after Neville's injury on Raw this week was apparently a shoot, according to the Observer. Not only that, but Jericho's post-match promo on AJ Styles wasn't planned beforehand.

• This is a bit weird. Jericho and Robinson talked about it on Jericho’s podcast. Chris said he was in character (though was speaking about real life stuff). Robinson said that he was a bit angry but also doing his job. So it’s a little of yes and a little of no.

• According to the Observer, it hasn’t been decided what the Rock will do at WrestleMania yet but he will be heavily involved in the decision making process.

• “Alright, Vince here’s what I’m thinking. Nothing with Roman. We know how that ends. So how about I come out with some fine cheerleaders, light some shit on fire, ramble for awhile, and then make the Wyatt family look like a bunch of chumps?”

• WWE is expecting to have their top stars — John Cena, Randy Orton, Cesaro, Seth Rollins — back in time for SummerSlam.

• I’m impressed they included Cesaro as “top star” in this rumor. They were all back for the big summer show. Cena lost to Styles. Randy Orton got concussed by Brock Lesnar. Rollins lost to Finn Bálor. And Cesaro lost to Sheamus. (4/4)

• Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting that TNA had plans to push Ken Anderson before he got fired.

• Anderson didn’t have a place in TNA at that point. His leaving opened up a spot for younger guys to fill.

March 17, 2016

• Bray Wyatt may be dealing with a back injury and could miss WrestleMania 32.

• I don’t know about the back injury for sure. He was at WrestleMania but he didn’t work a match, though the entire family sold for Cena and the Rock. (0/1)

• It’s now possible that the idea for a special guest referee for Triple H vs. Roman Reigns has been dropped, but if it hasn’t, we’ll know who it is by next week.

• It was dropped. (1/1)

• The Observer is still reporting the plan for Kevin Owens is a multi-man match at WrestleMania 32 and Sami Zayn is the only participant who is "locked in." Apparently Neville was also scheduled for it before his injury and Dolph Ziggler & The Miz were also set for it at one point but that may have changed.

• Kevin Owens was in a multi-person match alongside Zayn. The other guys who this rumor wasn’t sure about it were also in it. (2/2)

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This Week: 14/26 - 54%

Overall: 1,073/2,006 - 53.5%

Have a great week, everyone!