Rumor Look Back: Mar. 30 - Apr 6, 2018

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 jump right into it.

March 30, 2018

• According to PW Insider, Dean Ambrose was in Birmingham working on rehabilitating his triceps injury and he’s still in a sling. Still no word on when he’ll be back.
• He only came back rather recently.
• According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Rey Mysterio actually flew out to Birmingham to get his arm checked out for WWE in his negotiations with them about a return.
• Did he run into Ambrose?
• WWE is now saying the talks they had with Hulk Hogan were about his desire to help others learn from his mistakes and not about the company rehiring him.
• I have a feeling they expected a bit less of a hostile reaction to the Hogan situation and backtracked a little bit.
• The Observer says there’s a belief the SmackDown Top 10 Superstars List is already done and won’t be used going forward.
• Good. It sucked. (1/1)

March 31, 2018

• It is expected that Undertaker will appear live on next week’s episode of Monday Night Raw to accept John Cena’s challenge for a match at WrestleMania 34.
• He never accepted the challenge. He just showed up at Mania. (0/1)
• The announcement of Daniel Bryan wrestling at WrestleMania 34 has led to increased ticket sales for the show, per the Observer.
• That’s not too surprising. I bet a lot of people go to Mania weekend but opt not to do the very long stadium show and instead take in a bunch of other WWE shows or events from other promotions. But with the Beard back, they may have changed their mind.
• Speaking of Bryan, with his return to wrestling there’s more talk of replacing him with someone else as General Manager of SmackDown, and it would likely be a babyface.
• This is accurate. He was replaced by Paige, who is a babyface GM. (2/2)
• According to the Observer, WWE is looking at doing more with the U.K. situation and Triple H also hinted at something bigger coming up there soon.
• Still nothing. They did another UK tournament, but nothing big on the lines of the TV programming that is still “coming soon.” (0/1)
• Jeff Jarrett says he’ll be doing an episode of Table for 3 for the WWE Network soon
• He did one with the Road Dogg and Elias. (1/1)

April 2, 2018

• The latest speculation going around has The Rock appearing at WrestleMania 34 for a singing segment with Elias.
• The Rock wasn’t at WrestleMania. Elias did a segment with Cena prior to the very quick Cena/Undertaker match. (0/1)
• According to Sports Illustrated, Vince McMahon was surprised at the success of The Ultimate Deletion on social media and there may be more segments like it because of that.
• Well we may be getting a Halloween special, but we don’t know what that will be yet. There haven’t been any more fights there though. (0/1)
• There’s more talk of a cruiserweight tag team title, especially with WWE blocking bootleggers from selling merchandise in New Orleans related to a design of it.
• That still hasn’t happened. At this point, I don’t know if it would help make 205 feel any bigger. (0/1)
• Apparently WWE waited to acknowledge Bobby Fish’s knee injury to allow television to catch up.
• That makes sense.

April 3, 2018

• Speculation is WWE decided to not confirm Undertaker vs. John Cena in advance because the stacked WrestleMania card didn’t need it for promotion, and the uncertainty will generate buzz.
• It still find it a weird decision, but given it wasn’t much of a match, it makes sense looking back.
• Entertainment site The Wrap says Brock Lesnar is leaving WWE for UFC after WrestleMania, but they speculate Paul Heyman may stick around to manage either Ronda Rousey or Roman Reigns.
• Brock hasn’t really left yet. (0/1)
• Fox is more interested in signing WWE than UFC at this point, according to Wrestling Observer.
• They paid a lot of money for SmackDown Live.
• James Storm was caught on camera backstage at Raw in Atlanta, but it’s believed he was just visiting friends.
• Is Storm in any televised promotion currently? He’s not in Impact any more.
• A Minneapolis Star-Tribune item about WWE officials visiting a Minnesota Vikings game this fall says Minneapolis is again being discussed as a WrestleMania host for 2020 or 2021.
• Eventually, Minnesota. Maybe.

April 4, 2018

• PW Insider is reporting that Undertaker is scheduled for WrestleMania 34, so no matter what he’ll be there.
• He was there. It’d be something if he just no showed Cena completely. (1/1)
• Per the Observer, Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns is currently the main event of WrestleMania 34, though they add it could change, of course.
• It was the match that went on last. (1/1)
• There’s some speculation that the new version of Bray Wyatt could be Braun Strowman’s mystery partner at WrestleMania 34.
• Bray did not team with Braun. And to be honest, Bray wasn’t that different when he returned. (0/1)
• The Observer notes that The Miz’s babyface stuff on Raw about becoming a dad wasn’t to start a turn but to help build up the reality show with his wife, which ends with Maryse giving birth to Monroe.
• Miz is still full heel. (1/1)

April 5, 2018

• After reiterating that their sources tell them Undertaker will be at WrestleMania 34, PW Insider’s latest says it’s “very possible” there won’t be a match between Taker and John Cena at the show, with the two instead having a “‘face off’ in a non-official capacity”.
• It was an official match. (0/1)
• The sites sources say they definitely expect something between Taker and Cena, though, because WWE wouldn’t have had Cena do all his promos on Undertaker for no payoff.
• Yes, something being a match. (1/1)
• Sports Illustrated claims a planned WrestleMania musical segment with numerous legends, including Jeff Jarrett, involved with Elias has been scrapped because WWE couldn’t get a commitment from The Rock, who would have been “the centerpiece of the segment”.
• Jeff Jarrett hasn’t done anything on TV. He was also the Triple A Mega Champion for a bit there.
• There’s talk going around that Jarrett is a candidate to replace Daniel Bryan as General Manager of SmackDown.
• That was not the case. (0/1)
• The WrestleVotes Twitter account says they’ve heard Stone Cold Steve Austin could be inducting Kid Rock into the WWE Hall of Fame on Friday night.
• Looks like it was Triple H instead. (0/1)

April 6, 2018

• The Observer notes that Batista was called about being Ronda Rousey’s partner for WrestleMania before it was decided Kurt Angle would be in that spot.
• It’s all weird. Supposedly they did but then dropped it without telling him? Who knows? They seem to do Batista dirty, but he’ll be at SmackDown 1000.
• The popular word going around is that Shane McMahon is likely turning on Daniel Bryan in their tag team match at WrestleMania 34.
• That was actually my prediction but it didn’t happen. (0/1)
• The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy, Big Cass, Big Show, and Drew McIntyre are all ready to return from injury.
• Big Show didn’t return but the other guys were back in WWE soon after. (4/5)
• Angelico and Jack Evans have asked for their release from Lucha Underground, per the Observer. Angelico was apparently turned down.
• There was a rumor a long while back about Jack Evans being ride or die with LU as long as they still exist.

This week: 12/24 - 50%

March 2018: 47/93 - 51%

Overall: 2,402/4,356 - 55.1%

Have a great week, everyone!