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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 get right to it.
- Everyone within WWE has been happy with the brand split and they may do even more to differentiate between Raw and SmackDown Live.
- I wouldn’t say they did anything more to differentiate. If anything, they’ve come closer to the center. I felt they seemed more unique earlier on than they do now. (0/1)
- Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman still appears to be the plan for SummerSlam.
- It was a fatal 4-way between Brock, Braun, Samoa Joe, and Roman Reigns. (0/1)
- The reason Raw was such a disjointed show this week was because of Strowman's injury and the need to change major plans to account for it, per the Observer.
- That must be tough when they have to rewrite a show on the fly.
- Luke Harper vs. Erick Rowan could be added to the Backlash event.
- It was a match. A match I don’t remember in the slightest. They’re back together as a team now. (1/1)
- Jim Ross is likely going to be the lead commentator for the WWE women's tournament on the Network.
- He was with Lita on color commentary. He didn’t get rave reviews but I think they settled in as the tournament went on. (1/1)
- WWE officials are apparently second-guessing a Charlotte Flair face turn, which is why she played tweener last Tuesday. She may be back to full heel after Backlash.
- She’s been a face while on SmackDown. (0/1)
- John Cena is being advertised for the July 4 SmackDown in Phoenix, apparently because WWE is concerned about ticket sales on a holiday.
- That makes sense. It is a holiday where people are doing something the exact time SmackDown airs.
- There are no plans for a Raw/SmackDown draft in 2017.
- It was just the Shake-Up. (1/1)
- Ember Moon’s announced injury is storyline, says The Observer, but it’s cover for another, legitimate injury which will keep her out at least another month.
- I’m going to leave this one ungraded since the details aren’t really confirmed either way.
- All plans for the World of Sport revival are on hold for several reasons, including contractual issues between Anthem & ITV.
- Anthem ruins everything.
- WWE will be crowning a top contender to the Universal championship as early as tonight's episode of Raw, or next week at the latest.
- They didn’t do so until June 4 at the Extreme Rules PPV. (0/1)
- It looks like The New Day will be arriving on SmackDown by early June at the latest.
- It was May 30 they returned to SmackDown. They were on Talking Smack the week before. (1/1)
- Simon Gotch, now Simon Grimm, has been backstage at multiple Ring of Honor shows the past few days, leading to obvious speculation he may be signing on with the promotion.
- He’s not with Ring of Honor currently. (0/1)
- Travis "Flip" Gordon has signed with Ring of Honor, according to PW Insider.
- He is with ROH. He definitely does a lot of flips. (1/1)
- Billy Corgan has officially signed an agreement to purchase the NWA from Bruce Tharpe, according to PW Insider.
- He is. There was a championship match last week. (1/1)
- Multiple sources indicate WWE’s six month time frame for Braun Strowman’s recovery from elbow surgery is a work, and he should be back in a couple months.
- Yes, that’s accurate. They gave him six months and he returned on June 19. (1/1)
- The current plan for releasing the WWE Women’s tournament on WWE Network is three or four episodes at a time, says PWInsider.
- It was 2 four episode blocks. I actually ended up enjoying it that way. (1/1)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi was injured during the last night of New Japan’s War of the Worlds tour with Ring of Honor, per Wrestling Observer. Looks like a biceps issue, but the severity isn’t known.
- He wrestled with the bicep injury through the G1. (1/1)
- The reason WWE announced Braun Strowman could miss six months is so his return can be a surprise, where he'll challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal title.
- It was kind of a surprise, though due to these rumors, we all kind of knew it was coming. But he returned to gun for Roman and not Brock. (1/2)
- The plan now is for WWE to move the SummerSlam title match to Great Balls of Fire and have Strowman wrestle Lesnar at SummerSlam. Finn Balor and Seth Rollins are the top candidates for the match.
- This is muddled, but overall inaccurate. (0/1)
- Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Alexa Bliss are all apparently being strongly considered for Total Divas now that Eva Marie is out.
- Bliss was the one to take it. I don’t know if the other two were strongly considered or not. Just recently, Becky spoke about why she’s not into the idea herself.
- Paige could be next to be removed from Total Divas, though a final decision hasn't been made.
- She is not on this season. That’s not terribly surprising since she wasn’t traveling with them and around Alberto often at that time. (1/1)
- There is no set time for Shane McMahon to work with WWE but all sides are still happy and he'll likely be around as long as that's the case.
- He’s still quite active and even competing on back to back pay-per-views.
- A photo going around social media shows a couple who look like Finn Balor and Cathy Kelley walking hand-in-hand, leading to speculation the two WWE performers are an item.
- I have no idea if they were/are or not.
- There’s a chance no titles will change hands at Backlash this Sunday.
- Jinder Mahal won the WWE title. (0/1)
- In fact, there may be no new champs on either WWE event this weekend, as current plans for NXT’s Saturday show are said to be leaning toward keeping the belts where they are.
- Pete Dunne defeated Tyler Bate to win the UK championship in a MOTY candidate. (0/1)
- A since deleted Tweet by a singer claiming she was recording vocals for a new Johnny Gargano theme song has a lot of folks speculating #DIY could be breaking up at or shortly after their TakeOver: Chicago title shot.
- The break up happened at TakeOver: Chicago. Unfortunately, Tommaso Ciampa tore his ACL and they weren’t to continue the feud. (1/1)
- New Japan is exploring streaming shows from partners like Ring of Honor, CMLL and Revolution Pro on their World service.
- Nothing like this has happened yet. (0/1)
This week: 12/22 - 55%
Overall: 1,842/3,374 - 54.6%
Have a great week, everyone!