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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.
- The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter says there are many wrestlers in WWE who are in the middle and want out but have kept that private.
- Word of this has not gone away.
- There’s been more talk of the WWE Network being revamped before 2020.
- They did a platform revamp, which has kind of made things worse. However, there haven’t been any tiered formula just yet but it’s coming. (1/1)
- WrestleVotes notes that those within WWE hope the Lars Sullivan stuff dies down quickly and everyone moves on from it.
- He got hurt too soon after so we really don’t know how long this would have stuck around.
- Shayna Baszler vs. Io Shirai is expected for the NXT TakeOver: XXV event on June 1, per advertisements going around.
- That was the match. Shayna won. Io has since turned heel. (1/1)
- Per the Observer, AEW is expected to start airing its weekly television show sometime in the fall.
- It was October. (1/1)
- The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that they’ve been told the planned opponent for Becky Lynch at WrestleMania next year, as of right now at least, is not Stephanie McMahon, Ronda Rousey, or Charlotte Flair.
- We have no clue yet. I still wouldn’t be surprise if they bring Ronda back for a 3 month run for the one on one match that never happened.
- They also say Kurt Angle is shadowing producers right now and learning the job because he’s training to become a producer.
- A great mind to be behind the scenes.
- Per WrestleVotes, one name being discussed for the upcoming June 7 show in Saudi Arabia is “WWE Sands of Time.”
- I thought this was a great name, but they actually just repeated the name of the Australia show with one less dash in Super ShowDown. (0/1)
- It’s been rumored that Alexa Bliss and Buddy Murphy ended their engagement and Ryan Satin says that is indeed the case.
- I can’t find any of them talking about it so, while that’s the word, I’m going to leave it ungraded.
- The Toni Storm vs. Bea Priestley match that was scheduled for Stardom was apparently nixed by WWE because they didn’t want her working with someone from AEW, per the Observer.
- That’s not too outrageous.
- Dean Ambrose will start wrestling for indie promotions after he finishes filming on Cagefighter, per Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
- I don’t know if he waited until he was done filming because I don’t know when filming stopped. It looks like imdb has it as “filming” now. Since he debuted at Double or Nothing weeks after this rumor, probably not. But maybe? You can spend a couple weeks filming.
- Due to his already diagnosed spinal stenosis and the concussion he recently suffered, rajah.com reports there’s concern backstage Sheamus could be “winding down his career in the near future”.
- I’m going to say yes to this given the fact he hasn’t wrestled in many months. (1/1)
- According to Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens, NXT announcer Percy Watson has quit WWE to pursue an acting career.
- He has left NXT. (1/1)
- The latest on WWE’s handling of talent’s social media accounts is Ryback posting a 2016 letter covering numerous trademark issues, one of which involved asking that Twitter, Snapchat & Instagram accounts with the Ryback name be transferred back to the company.
- He eventually changed his name to Ryback to help with these type of things.
- It was noted in the WON that Bruiser Brody and Buddy Rose’s widows said they weren’t told their husbands were being added as Legacy inductees to WWE’s Hall Of Fame, and only learned about it online.
- Weird. Not hard to make a call.
- Morale backstage in WWE is really bad, based on what Wrestling Observer Live’s Bryan Alvarez has heard, possibly “the worst it’s ever been”.
- WWE’s product was really bad then and it sounds like there are still folks unhappy there.
- While WWE “are willing to promise a lot of things” to get Sasha Banks back, according to freelance journalist Tom Colohue, there’s no sign of that situation thawing.
- Took a few more months.
- A Fightful story on Luke Harper backed up earlier reports about Vince McMahon having an issue with Harper. A source told the website McMahon “decided to hate anything he was involved in long ago.”
- Then release the dude!
- Lio Rush asked for his WWE release after the argument about his main roster pay but his request was denied, per Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
- Looks like they finally worked something out
- PW Insider says Killer Kross has asked for his release from Impact after his request for a raise was turned down.
- This is apparently still going on.
- The Observer noted that the wrestlers who showed up at the Upfront presentations wasn’t indicative of anything beyond WWE wanting star power. So Ronda Rousey at the FOX Upfronts to promote SmackDown doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll be working that show.
- Ronda isn’t on any show so it didn’t mean anything. (1/1)
- Per Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Baron Corbin is being built up for a match with Seth Rollins.
- How about three? (1/1)
- Speaking of which, advertisements indicate that match is happening at Extreme Rules. Kofi Kingston vs. Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton and Roman Reigns vs. Shane McMahon & Elias is also being advertised.
- It was Kofi vs. Samoa Joe (which I forgot about). Reigns ended up teaming with Undertaker to face Shane and Drew McIntyre. (0/2)
- PW Insider notes there are wrestlers within WWE who don’t want to make the trip to Saudi Arabia for Super ShowDown on June 7.
- I think there will be more next time.
- New Japan World is at its highest level of subscribers ever after Dontaku, says the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
- I wonder if it’s still holding steady.
- Take this with a few extra grains of salt, but a caller to PW Torch’s Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-Show claiming to be friends with three WWE writers said, “The most frustrated person in the back every single night is Triple H.”
- Goes along with him liking and unliking a tweet criticizing Vince.
- WrestlingNews.co had that story, along with another instance of Trips liking (then unliking) a fan tweet which was critical of Vince McMahon.
- Still think it was a calculated ploy.
- Andrade has a lot of backing in WWE right now, according to Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer. He says Andrade will continue to feud with Finn Balor for the Intercontinental title after Money in the Bank.
- They feuded at Super ShowDown so looks like it. (1/1)
- Meltzer also reported that AEW plans to hold some of their PPVs in the UK to cultivate their market there.
- Still waiting on that.
- The Observer said that following Silver King’s death at a show in London last weekend, MLW and AEW plan to have their referees trained in CPR.
- That’s definitely is a good thing for them to know.
This week: 8/11 - 73%
Overall: 3,001/5,399 - 55.6%
Have a great week, everyone!