Rumor Look Back: Oct. 22 - 28, 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 jump right in.

October 23, 2017

• While Kurt Angle will never be full-time, look for more matches from him in the future, probably at “Big 4” PPVs.
• He didn’t work the Royal Rumble, but this looks like how it’ll go. He worked Survivor Series and WrestleMania since debuting. (1/1)
• A rematch of Finn Balor vs. AJ Styles could be one of the Raw vs. SmackDown matches planned for Survivor Series.
• AJ ended up winning the WWE title and facing Brock Lesnar. Finn was on the Raw Survivor Series team. (0/1)
• If WWE is still interested in a Four Horsewomen feud, it won’t be happening at Survivor Series. They may have cooled on the idea altogether, instead focusing on Ronda Rousey as a solo act.
• It did not happen at Survivor Series. Ronda didn’t even officially debut until the Royal Rumble. I still bet it will happen at one point. Shayna is already NXT champ. Jessemyn Duke and Marina Shafir would be the two they’d have to really train. But it’s a story that’s been set up somewhat already. It’ll eventually happen if at all possible. (1/1)
• Seems like a long shot, but it’s out there... ProWrestling.com says they’ve heard that New Japan is interested in getting Chris Jericho to face Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12.
• Long shot happened! (1/1)

Special Raw rumor round up Oct. 23

• Shane McMahon is backstage in Green Bay (site of tonight’s show). He could be there to announce the Raw vs. SmackDown men’s match for Houston. Numerous blue brand talents are said to be at the arena for Monday night’s filming. They could be there for the reveal of a traditional five-on-five elimination, or one of the other planned PPV bouts.
• He was there. However, he didn’t announce any matches. Kurt Angle set up the matches. Shane straight up attacked. (1/2)
• Alexa Bliss and Natalya will have a champ vs. champ singles match at Survivor Series, but there will also be a women’s team match like last year.
• Bliss faced Charlotte, who was champ by the time Survivor Series rolled around. They did have a women’s 5 on 5 as well. (1/2)
• Sasha Banks and Bayley will wrestle tonight to determine who captains the red team.
• It was actually a three way with Alicia Fox which Foxy won. (0/1)
• SmackDown will hold a 5-way match tomorrow to determine the captain of their women’s squad.
• That’s true. Becky Lynch won. (1/1)
• Brock Lesnar will accept Jinder Mahal’s challenge, and folks backstage think John Cena may be the guest referee for that non-title match.
• Brock accepted the challenge but the match never happened because AJ Styles won the title. Cena was not the referee to the match that happened. (1/2)
• Other expected champ vs. champ matches for Survivor Series include Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins against The Usos, and Baron Corbin against The Miz.
• Corbin vs. the Miz happened. The Bar ended up defeating Rollins and Ambrose prior to the show so it was the Bar vs. the Usos. That may be a full fledged feud now that they are both on SmackDown. (1/2)
• Kane vs. Braun Strowman is probably happening, and may be further set-up tonight with Kane backstage in Wisconsin.
• Yeah, that happened. (1/1)
• In other not fully-interbrand action, the cruiserweights will have a Team Enzo vs. Team Kalisto match which is expected to be announced tonight. It does have some SmackDown flavor, with Sin Cara joining his old tag partner’s squad along with Mustafa Ali, Rich Swann and Cedric Alexander against Amore, Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, Noam Dar and Ariya Daivari.
• This match happened on Raw this night. Sin Cara was not involved though. (1/2)

October 24, 2017

• Another, probably more likely reason for the Chris Jericho/Kenny Omega Twitter issues from this past weekend - Wrestling Inc says it may be to set up an angle for the Ring of Honor tournament on Jericho’s upcoming cruise.
• To the surprise of most at this time six months ago, it happened at Wrestle Kingdom. Jericho has not been promoting a rematch for the cruise. (0/1)
• Vince McMahon came up with the idea for Kurt Angle to replace Roman Reigns at TLC last Thursday, according to PWInsider. He was cleared on Friday, and the WWE promotional machine immediately went into action.
• They had to work quickly on this one.
• Reigns may be expected back before Survivor Series, but Wrestling Observer says there’s no timetable for Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas’ return from viral infection. They’ll be evaluated with Roman next Monday.
• Reigns was back the week prior to Survivor Series. He and the Shield worked the New Day at the PPV. (1/1)
• Jeff Jarrett missed an independent booking Saturday night in Canada after showing up in poor condition for the same promotion on Friday. Inc says fans walked out, and the company (RCW) announced Jarrett headed back to the U.S. “due to his own issues”.
• Jarrett ended up checking into rehab and hopefully is keeping his house in order. He went into the WWE Hall of Fame this year.

Special SmackDown Rumor Roundup

• As they reported yesterday, there’s still expected to be a 5-Way match to determine the captain of SmackDown’s women’s team. Participants should be Charlotte Flair, Tamina, Becky Lynch, Carmella and Naomi.
• This is a freebie for the rumors since it’s the exact same rumor as the day before. The exact participants was correct. (2/2)
• A match between Sami Zayn and Randy Orton is planned, with the winner getting a spot on the five-on-five Survivor Series team.
• That happened and Orton won. (1/1)
• Same thing with Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode, with Insider saying that may be a best two-out-of-three falls affair.
• This match happened, and Roode won. However it happened the following week. (0/1)

October 25, 2017

• According to Dave Meltzer, WWE is planning on adding a special guest referee to the Brock Lesnar vs. Jinder Mahal match at Survivor Series.
• That match didn’t even happen and the match that did happen didn’t have a special guest referee. (0/1)
• John Cena is the subject of the most speculation to get that ref spot, though WWE apparently has yet to settle on that choice.
• He was on the SmackDown Survivor Series team. He was a nonfactor.
• Although there was mention of the possibility of it on television, no titles are expected to change hands before Survivor Series, so all the announced matches should go forth as currently planned.
• As we learned above with all the incorrect rumors, three of them did. Charlotte defeated Natalya for the SmackDown women’s title, the Bar defeated Ambrose and Rollins for the Raw tag team championshipss, and in the biggest one, AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal to win the WWE title. (0/1)

October 26, 2017

• Raw likely won’t retaliate for SmackDown’s invasion until the Survivor Series go home show on Nov. 14 in Charlotte.
• This is accurate. They took their time with it. (1/1)
• According to SI.com, there is no heat on Kevin Owens for leaving SmackDown’s South American tour to deal with a family emergency last week.
• It wasn’t much time in the future that he and Sami Zayn were reportedly sent home from a European tour for reasons that we never learned.
• The rumored Miz and Maryse reality show is being discussed under the working title “The It Couple” and would likely feature friends of Miz Dolph Ziggler and musician Ryan Cabrera as regulars, says PWInsider.
• It’s actually called Miz and Mrs. but it’s not out yet so we don’t know who’s going to be on it.
• Aiden English and Rusev are expected to start working as an official tag team, per Wrestling Observer.
• That’s true. I’m surprised they never won the titles given they’re so over. I get it because of the feuds the New Day and Usos had and eventually getting to the Bludgeon Brothers. But it’s still a shame. (1/1)
• WWE has filed for a trademark for “Immune to Fear”. It may be for Jeff Hardy’s return, as he used that phrase during his 2009 run.
• I don’t see any Jeff Hardy single’s gear at all. I see Hardy Boyz and I see Broken stuff. But I don’t see Jeff single’s. That’ll change real soon I’m sure. (0/1)

October 27, 2017

• The Four Horsewomen of WWE vs. Four Horsewomen of MMA match is still planned but now it’s looking like it will happen at WrestleMania 34, per the Observer.
• That was the WrestleMania that just happened and the mach didn’t take place. Rousey had her first match there, a mixed tag with Kurt Angle against Stephanie and Triple H. Charlotte defeated the undefeated Asuka. Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, and Bayley were on the Women’s kickoff battle royal. Shayna Baszler won the NXT women’s title the night before. (0/1)
• If he’s healthy in time for it, Roman Reigns is likely going to be a late addition to the Raw Survivor Series men’s team.
• He was healthy in time, but they worked him with the Shield against the New Day instead. (0/1)
• There’s some speculation that WWE may have soured on the idea of doing Brock Lesnar vs. Finn Balor, which could explain the latter’s booking recently.
• True story. That match never happened. (1/1)
• The Observer notes Kurt Angle was already planned for a big program at WrestleMania before being penciled in for the spot at TLC.
• I wonder if they had the Rousey thing in mind six months ago or if the deal wasn’t even in place at that time. Then there’s the bit where they considered Batista for this role. Even if the Rousey thing wasn’t the plan, they set up possible single’s matches against Triple H or Shane McMahon at Survivor Series.
• Nia Jax is expected back next week, according to the Observer.
• Jax returned and defeated Bayley. Then she was added to the Raw Survivor Series team.

October 28, 2017

• According to PW Insider, WWE is planning on running a major show for the Jan. 22 episode of Monday Night Raw at the Barclays Center because it’s the 25th anniversary.
• They ran a show at Barclays and Manhattan Center. It was billed as a huge deal and there were some big moments, but for my money, I’d rather just a really good regular show with some legends popping up here and there. (1/1)
• The Observer notes all the recent Nia Jax stories are inaccurate and she simply “got a few weeks off because she wasn’t figured into a main program.”
• So many rumors surrounding Jax’s absence.
• Lucha Underground still has no deal but there’s hope of that changing soon.
• They finally got their fourth season.

This week: 18/32 - 56%

Overall: 2,100/3,837 - 54.7%

Have a great week, everyone!