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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. But first, let’s knock out some outstanding rumors.
- There are expected to be multiple additions to the Royal Rumble match made official on Raw tonight.
- Looks like Seth and Taker announced this evening. (1/1)
- Baron Corbin is in line for a big push here sooner rather than later.
- He’s the current men’s Money in the Bank briefcase holder, which is usually indicative of a push. (Unless you’re Damien Sandow.) (1/1)
- Batista had an appearance at Wizard World in New Orleans booked through WWE, according to PW Insider, but it is not expected to lead to a return anytime soon.
- It didn’t. (1/1)
- John Cena's Instagram post on Kenny Omega wasn't indicative of anything and it's not expected he'll be coming to WWE
- Kenny is a top star and current United States champion in New Japan. (1/1)
- Undertaker is the early favorite to win the Royal Rumble.
- It was Randy Orton. (0/1)
- TNA is again planning to run house shows this Summer, and is back in the planning stages of an India tour and possibly having a presence in Orlando during Mania week.
- The house shows are planned and India tour happened. They didn’t have a Mania presence though. (2/3)
- Talk of injured New England Patriots’ star Rob Gronkowski working WrestleMania got enough traction that SI.com asked him about. Mojo Rawley’s friend said he hadn’t been approached by WWE, but was open to the idea.
- This isn’t really a rumor since it doesn’t really hint one way or another if Gronk would work Mania. But he did, helping his friend Mojo Rawley win the Andre the Giant battle royal.
- Undertaker vs. Braun Strowman appears to be the direction for WrestleMania 33 right now.
- It was Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns. Braun was thrown into the Andre and eliminated rather early. (0/1)
- According to PW Insider, Paige met with WWE officials recently and she isn't expected back before WrestleMania 33 and may not return to wrestling until summer.
- Well she didn’t return before Mania for sure. She’s still not back wrestling. (1/1)
- PW Insider is reporting WWE has hired Vic Travagliante of House of Hardcore, will be renaming him Vic Joseph, and he will likely be working in NXT.
- Oh that’s the Corey Graves clone (really just from this picture) from 205 Live! He doesn’t work NXT though. Mauro Ranallo is play by play for the yellow brand. (Since this rumor Mauro left WWE and returned to work NXT. A lot can happen in six months.) (1/2)
- Samoa Joe is set for a “monster push” when he hits the main roster, according to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter. That could include a high-profile WrestleMania match.
- He didn’t have a WrestleMania match. At all. But he also just fought Lesnar in the main event of Balls and could face him against at SummerSlam so I’ll give “monster push” a yes. (1/2)
- Dave Meltzer also says that Mania card is changing, as Vince McMahon has reportedly pulled John Cena vs. Undertaker AND Taker vs. Braun Strowman from the list of possible matches. It’s not known what the Dead Man will be doing, but Vince also doesn’t want him competing for the World or Universal title.
- I always find these rumors regarding the shifting of the cards interesting.
- Jim Ross is teasing Josh Barnett heading to TNA in some capacity.
- Barnett had a brief program with Lashley. (1/1)
- Wrestling Observer Live's Bryan Alvarez said on the show recently that names being discussed for this year's WWE Hall of Fame class include Christian, William Regal, IRS, and the Natural Disasters.
- Swing and a miss. (0/4)
- WWE has long-term plans to follow up the United Kingdom Championship Tournament with similar tournaments to crown champions for Asia and Latin America.
- We’ll sit on this for maybe a year. Since they don’t have any plans for the UK group just yet, it probably wouldn’t be for awhile.
- According to PW Insider, Steve Corino has reported to the WWE Performance Center to begin working as a trainer.
- He is a trainer down there. (1/1)
- The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that Kyle O'Reilly has finished up totally with Ring of Honor, as they've stopped advertising a dream tag team match of Adam Cole & Cody Rhodes vs Jay Lethal & Kyle for the 1/14 TV taping in Atlanta. He's been in talks with WWE and is still expected to go there, although a contract hasn't yet been signed.
- He still hasn’t showed up to WWE but I’ll give it some time.
- While it was offered with the usual “this could change” caveat, the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted the Performance Center class closest to being called up to WWE’s main roster consists of Shinuske Nakamura, Andrade “Cien” Almas, Alexander Wolfe, TM-61, Hideo Itami, #DIY, Chris Hero, Elias Samson and Tye Dillinger.
- Nakamura, Samson, and Tye are up. The rest are all still down there. (3/9)
- Notably absent from that group is The Revival. That there were plans for them to feud with TM-61 before Shane Thorne’s injury is another sign there are no plans to promote Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder in the short-term.
- They were called up as soon as all the others. (0/1)
- Bobby Fish recently re-signed with Ring of Honor, but on a per-event deal, according to the Observer. So it’s still possible reDRagon could end up wherever Kyle O’Reilly signs.
- Fish just debuted on NXT. We’ll see where Kyle ends up.
This week: 14/30 - 47%
Overall: 1,605/2,960 - 54.2%
Have a great week, everyone!