Rumor Look Back: May 19 - 25, 2017

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.

May 19, 2017

• If Kurt Angle is to wrestle in WWE, it's likely it won't be until WrestleMania 34.
• He’s already wrestled twice. (0/1)
• Rusev going after Shane McMahon could very well be to set up a match between the two, possibly for SummerSlam.
• That has not happened and it doesn’t look like Rusev is anywhere near that status now. Dude couldn’t find his way onto a 6 hour Survivor Series. (And it sucks.) (0/1)
• The Observer notes there are still open lines of communication with Mauro Ranallo and WWE and it's at least a possibility he may return.
• He returned, which I was surprised to see. He is calling NXT. (1/1)
• Cody Rhodes' status for the G-1 is up in the air right now.
• I’m not entirely sure what this means. He wasn’t part of the G1. He had a match against Okada at the G1 special though.

May 20, 2017

• There's a lot of speculation that WWE may be considering having Jinder Mahal win the title from Randy Orton for a sort of one month test run with it to see how it goes.
• He did win the title. I don’t know if it was a trial of sorts. (1/1)
• Summer Rae has been cleared to return by WWE, according to the Observer.
• That may be true. We don’t really know. But she never returned and was released.
• WWE is hoping Tommaso Ciampa can wrestle just enough to get by so they don't have to make a change to the tag title ladder match at TakeOver: Chicago. If he can go, he's expected to be heavily protected.
• He wrestled and I wouldn’t consider him being protected at all. They went all out. Unfortunately, he sustained a bigger injury and is currently out (0/1)
• Impact Wrestling is still planning on running live events in the future, it's just unclear when exactly that may be.
• They ran a couple shows. Pretty small scale stuff last summer. (1/1)

May 22, 2017

• The decision to put the title on Jinder Mahal at Backlash came two hours before showtime, per Sportskeeda. Betting odds fluctuations seem to back that up.
• We get rumors like this all the time. I have to believe at least some of them are true.
• Further, WWE was ready to start a Randy Orton vs. Rusev World title program Sunday night - even asking the Bulgarian Brute to fly to Chicago.
• I’ll always wonder if Jinder’s title run was going to be meant for Rusev. (Though if the decision was made last minute, who knows how it would have gone.)
• There’s a contingent backstage who wants Rusev to win Money in the Bank, however, and his being pulled from SmackDown last Tuesday and the title change to Mahal puts that “back in play”.
• It was Corbin. Rusev wasn’t even in the Money in the Bank match. Man, RuRu has been getting the shaft this year. (0/1)
• The Tommaso Ciampa/Johnny Gargano break-up angle was done in part because WWE eventually wants to use them as singles performers on the main roster.
• Hopefully one day. Johnny is a bit in limbo in NXT currently, perhaps spinning the wheels until Ciampa comes back for that feud.

May 23, 2017

• The Hardys hired lawyers in April to negotiate with Anthem about the “Broken” gimmick, according to PWInsider and Pro Wrestling Sheet, but Impact officials didn’t agree to meet with them until last week.
• The story that will never end.
• According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, in exchange for ownership of the act, the Hardys offered to agree not to sue Anthem for “a litany of alleged claims they have stemming from their time there”.
• Hell, this story was only just getting started in this Look Back alone.
• Despite what Ed Nordholm said, WWE is interested in the gimmick - for merchandising purposes if nothing else.
• It’s still going!
• The New Day are expected to feud with The Usos for the tag titles as soon as they return to SmackDown.
• And. It. Was. Awesome. (1/1)
• TLC 2017, SmackDown’s December PPV, is rumored to be in Boston on the 17th.
• TLC was a Raw PPV last month. It was in Minneapolis. (0/3)

May 24, 2017

• Braun Strowman's return is expected for mid-July.
• He did. (1/1)
• Shinsuke Nakamura is the early favorite to win the men's Money in the Bank ladder match.
• It was Corbin. Shin did have that awesome moment with Styles. (0/1)
• The obvious speculation is that whoever doesn't win the number one contender match for the SmackDown women's championship next week will be in the women's Money in the Bank ladder match.
• Actually, no one won that match. It ended in a no contest and Shane deemed everyone in the match would go onto the MITB match. (0/1)

May 25, 2017

• While WWE would use the “Broken” Hardy gimmick if Matt gains the rights to it, Wrestling Observer says they have told Anthem they’re not interested in it because they don’t want to set a precedent of buying creative.
• For what it’s worth, it’s still not in the WWE. Matt Hardy recently lost to Elias on the Survivor Series kickoff show.
• It’s expected Brock Lesnar will have matches with most, if not all, of the men in the Extreme Rules Fatal 5Way match between now and WrestleMania 34.
• That match had Samoa Joe, Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns, Finn Bálor, and Seth Rollins. I suppose it’s possible, but with only one Big 4 PPV prior to Mania, it likely won’t be all of them. I see Wyatt and Rollins likely being left off. Maybe Bálor will get his shot, though given the recent rumors and the fact he just lost clean to Joe on Raw, that’s even questionable.
• PWInsider reports Randy Orton is off house shows the next couple of weekends, but he will be working Tuesday tapings.
• He did not miss SmackDown and it looks like he didn’t work many house shows at the time. (2/2)
• It’s still possible Rusev could be added to the Money in the Bank ladder match next month, if he’s cleared - and WWE wants to go that direction.
• He was cleared June 14 and June 18 was the Money in the Bank show, so he could have competed. But they didn’t want to go that direction I guess.
• Mike Bennett & Maria Kanellis are still talking to WWE and could sign soon.
• They did. They were on TV then quickly stopped being featured. Maria is pregnant currently so Mike is on his own on house shows and maybe Superstars. (1/1)

This week: 8/17 - 47%

Overall: 1,850/3,391 - 54.6%

Have a great week, everyone!