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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.
- John Cena won the WWE championship from AJ Styles at Royal Rumble so he could put Bray Wyatt over.
- That’s nice of him. Still didn’t help Wyatt’s feud with Randy Orton from being short and disappointing.
- Though he's advertised for house shows, Finn Bálor isn't likely to make his television return before WrestleMania 33.
- He returned the night after. (1/1)
- Chris Jericho will be taking a break from WWE shortly after WrestleMania 33.
- He left about a month afterwards. Came back for one night since as a SmackDown surprise. (1/1)
- Tamina Snuka returned to house shows this weekend working SmackDown Live. She's expected to return as a babyface.
- She’s definitely more a heel. (0/1)
- It looks like TNA is trying to bring Magnus back.
- They did, though it was only for him to drop the GFW title. He’s not with them. (1/1)
- Whispers the Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal match for WrestleMania 33 WWE started setting up at last year’s Mania might not happen keep getting louder.
- It didn’t happen unfortunately. Shaq insisted it wasn’t his fault. (1/1)
- There’s talk of another Raw/SmackDown draft happening in June.
- There wasn’t. Instead they did the post Mania Shake-Up. (0/1)
- Kelly Kelly coming back for another run with WWE beyond just a Mania appearance is a real possibility.
- That didn’t happen. (0/1)
- Victoria has also teased a return to the company.
- That also didn’t happen. I was always a fan of Victoria and wouldn’t have minded a final run for her against the current women. (0/1)
- WWE is still interested in signing Kyle O’Reilly, but backed off due to potential contractual/legal issue with Ring of Honor.
- This is a vague rumor focusing on backing off and reasons why so I’m not going to assign a grade. But he’s in NXT now.
- Seth Rollins is expected to announce next week that he'll be back in time for WrestleMania 33.
- He eventually did say so in a segment with Triple H. (1/1)
- While a Hulk Hogan return to WWE still looks inevitable, it likely won't be anytime soon.
- Still hasn’t happened, so the soon part is right. But that’s contingent on the first part being correct so we’ll sit on it.
- Despite her injury, Naomi is expected to return in time for WrestleMania 33.
- She made it back the week prior and reclaimed her title. (1/1)
- There is still a plan in place to do a Fatal 4-Way for the Raw women's title featuring Charlotte vs. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax.
- That was the WrestleMania match. It was an elimination match that Bayley won, retaining her title. (1/1)
- The Observer notes original plans called for Bayley to win the Raw women's title at WrestleMania 33 and have her first defense come in San Jose at Payback on April 30 but they changed that plan. They could still have her with the belt and defending it on that show.
- Yes, they change it to her winning prior to Mania and defending it in Orlando. (1/1)
- The non-finish from Tuesday’s battle royal may be because WWE hasn’t decided whether or not to include Luke Harper in SmackDown’s WrestleMania World title match.
- This is when things were starting to look worse for Luke, who has since been lost on SmackDown. Like not on TV lost.
- WWE is considering a Bray Wyatt face turn as part of his angle with Randy Orton.
- I wish. It would have made sense in a way. Have I mentioned how disappointed this feud left me? (0/1)
- Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis-Bennett are re-signing with TNA.
- They’re in WWE. Power of love, baby! Unfortunately that power hasn’t been on our TVs lately. (0/1)
- TNA officials are reportedly angry with Josh Mathews recent Twitter behavior.
- He’s still an announcer there and has been featured in stories, so not angry enough to lessen his workload.
- WWE may be planning a roster shake up among the Raw and SmackDown brands following WrestleMania 33, with wrestlers switching sides.
- That happened. It wasn’t as exciting as I hoped for. Instead it was people randomly showing up on the other show. (1/1)
- Kurt Angle wrestling may be one of the things WWE does to help maintain interest following WrestleMania.
- He hasn’t wrestled yet. But he’s had an illegitimate child! (0/1)
- WWE is still interested in signing Matt and Jeff Hardy and they have yet to sign new deals with TNA just yet.
- They were obviously interested since they’re in WWE now. (1/1)
- It looks like, at least for the time being, Jeff Jarrett won't be an on-screen performer for TNA.
- No, just his wife, Bruce Prichard, Dutch Mantell, and now Jim Cornette. Though that may be changing given the fact he’s been seen backstage dealing with Bobby Lashley’s MMA team. (1/1)
- Both Cody Rhodes and Zack Sabre Jr will be working in New Japan as "their main base of operations" now, according to the Observer.
- I wouldn’t call Cody’s main base of operations Japan since he’s Ring of Honor champion. He does spend time there though. ZSJ I would say yes to. (1/2)
- Both Brock Lesnar and Chris Jericho could be appearing on next Monday night's episode of Raw.
- Neither were on the show. (0/2)
- WWE officials are again making calls about the long rumored women's tournament.
- It’s finally airing next Monday. (1/1)
- The Drifter may be getting called up to the main roster in the next round of NXT call ups after WrestleMania 33, maybe on Raw the night after.
- Yes, he’s up on the main roster but wasn’t there the night after Mania (it was a week later). I’ve found him wildly entertaining on the main stage. I walk with Elias (1/2)
This week: 14/25 - 56%
Overall: 1,685/3,095 - 54.4%
Have a great week, everyone!