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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 just right into it.
- On Chris Jericho’s cruise, WrestlingNews.Co reports Cody Rhodes cut a promo after his match with Delirious claiming he won’t sign with WWE and plans to do everything in his power to make ALL IN 2 happen.
- I guess? I’m reluctant to call AEW “ALL IN 2” because ALL IN was very cooperative with many promotions while AEW is it’s own promotion competing with those promotions. He didn’t sign with WWE though.
- It seems Dean Ambrose’s heel turn might not have been the only thing sped up by Roman Reigns leaving WWE to resume his leukemia fight. Wrestling Observer Newsletter claims there were no definite plans to turn Braun Strowman face before last Monday, and he was supposed to be a heel at Crown Jewel.
- Instead he got punked by Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel - and kinda never recovered?
- Despite persistent injury rumors, WrestleVotes says they’ve heard Bobby Lashley is in line to replace John Cena at Crown Jewel.
- It was indeed Lashley. (1/1)
- Crown Jewel is set to run for four hours, per PW Insider, plus a one hour Kickoff show.
- It ran 3:40 with a one hour Kickoff, which is pretty close. (1/1)
- Per PW Insider, if Daniel Bryan is pulling out of Crown Jewel, expect an angle on SmackDown tonight to explain his not being in a WWE championship match with AJ Styles, or word they’ve filmed that in advance.
- They came up with an excuse to run the match prior to Crown Jewel and then quickly set up Joe vs. AJ in Saudi Arabia. (1/1)
- That could be a big if, though. Wrestling Observer says they’ve not heard confirmation from anyone that Bryan is or isn’t going, or how it will be addressed if he’s not doing the show. Wrestling Inc notes new ads have been taken out recently promoting Styles vs. Bryan for Friday, making it seem WWE is confident Bryan will work the show.
- He did not work the show. (0/1)
- Insider claims they heard a pitch for adding Drew McIntyre to Friday’s Braun Strowman/Brock Lesnar match was going around backstage last week.
- It wasn’t a pitch they went with.
- On Observer Live, it was reported Shayna Baszler hurt her ankle at Evolution, but the extent of the injury isn’t known yet.
- If she did, she didn’t miss any real time.
- Early advertisements from San Jose’s SAP Center for Dec. 16’s TLC have the top matches as Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins for the Intercontinental Championship, Ronda Rousey vs. Nia Jax for the Raw Women’s Championship, and Braun Strowman vs. Drew McIntyre.
- Despite card subject to change, this was pretty accurate. Braun vs. Drew didn’t happen, but the other two did. (2/3)
- Before John Cena backed out of Crown Jewel, the World Cup field wasn’t going to be sorted by Raw and SmackDown, according to PW Insider. The decision was made so the final could serve as a preview of Survivor Series.
- The final also set up the Shane McMahon/Miz feud.
- While they look to be done for now, Trish Stratus & Lita are expected back in 2019. Insider says there were plans at one point for Team Bestie at WrestleMania 35.
- They didn’t work again. (0/1)
- Even though it didn’t happen at Evolution, there’s still talk of Women’s Tag Titles, especially after reports WWE officials were handing out the “We Want Women’s Tag Championships” signs seen at the PPV.
- Those were announced in December and new champs crowned in February. (1/1)
- The ankle injury Shayna Baszler suffered at Evolution was minor, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Live. She’s not expected to miss TakeOver: WarGames.
- Shayna worked War Games against Kairi Sane in a 2 out of 3 falls match. (1/1)
- It wasn’t just the usual main roster sets and equipment that weren’t available forEvolution. PW Insider says the usual Raw and SmackDown production crew, including Kevin Dunn, were already in Charlotte on Sunday, so the women’s PPV felt like a TakeOver because the people producing it were from NXT.
- I liked the different feel.
- On PW Insider Elite audio, Mike Johnson speculated this could be why Evolution didn’t get a lot of play on Raw, as that was produced by Dunn who may have viewed Sunday’s PPV as being from “the other team”.
- That’d be some petty BS.
- Daniel Bryan tapping out to AJ Styles was the planned finish at Crown Jewel, per Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live. It wasn’t punishment for backing out of the Saudi Arabia trip, but it does likely mean he’s not in the WWE title picture for the rest of 2018.
- He won the title within the month. (0/1)
- Alexa Bliss is advertised for this weekend’s house shows. 411mania says her return from the injury that caused her to not wrestle at Evolution is “imminent”.
- It was another almost three months. (0/1)
- There’s a pitch going around backstage to pair Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper back up, according to Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
- That never happened. Recently, Harper asked for his release, but it sounds like it won’t be granted. (0/1)
- According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Daniel Bryan’s decision not to go to Saudi Arabia was made long ago and due to the country’s treatment of homosexuals and his feeling like it was racism that Sami Zayn wasn’t allowed to wrestle at Greatest Royal Rumble.
- Good on him.
- To that end, they also report that Bryan asked to lose to The Miz at Super Show-Down, but are sure to say it’s unclear if that’s because he thought the ensuing title match would happen at Crown Jewel or not.
- It’s wild any time you hear about talent asking to lose.
- The WWE World Cup tournament bracket was changed after John Cena pulled out, says the Observer. They were originally going to mix the brands, including a Cena vs. Rey Mysterio first round match where Mysterio would go over.
- It would have been the slightest revenge for the time Cena beat Mysterio for the WWE title the same night Rey won it.
- PW Insider notes that Lio Rush made the trip to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel.
- He was there with Bobby Lashley. Lio is in the news a lot lately, but not the reasons he’d like. (1/1)
- That site also says WWE has filed a new trademark for “Tough Enough,” leading to speculation the show may make another comeback in some form.
- Let’s give it another six months. The last Tough Enough actually gave us some current WWE talent such as Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Velveteen Dream, and Chelsea Green. The two people who actually won have already been released from WWE.
- PW Insider notes that Dean Ambrose was indeed backstage at Crown Jewel, he just wasn’t used at the event, and he accompanied his wife Renee Young, who did commentary.
- I remember it being odd he wasn’t used at all.
- The speculation going around is the Shane McMahon World Cup win will be used to set up a SmackDown vs. Raw match at Survivor Series.
- It did not. Instead it was the slow build between Miz and Shane. (0/1)
- Having said that, on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said it was also the start of a Shane O’Mac heel turn.
- This is true. A slow one, but it led to it. (1/1)
- Trish Status & Lita are planned for a tag team match at WrestleMania 35, says PW Insider.
- They did not work the show. (0/1)
- Coupled with that, there is continued talk of women’s tag team titles, at least in part due to rumors of WWE handing out signs for as much at shows and encouraging the women’s roster to tweet about it.
- Obviously, that did happen. (1/1)
This week: 10/18 - 56%
October 2018: 49/90 - 54%
Overall: 2,709/4,926 - 55.0%
Have a great week, everyone!