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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.
- WWE is expected to load up its January episodes of television, both on Raw and SmackDown.
- Cena stopped by for a couple but outside that, I don’t recall some stacked January. (0/1)
- Chris Jericho mentioned recently on a podcast that The Elite tried to get Neville to work ALL IN but he wanted to debut in Dragon Gate.
- Neville’s devotion to Dragon Gate, and specifically their championship, has prevented work with AEW as well.
- Gran Metalik seems to have gotten himself into hot water for posting tweets, that have since been deleted, asking fans about promotions outside WWE he might work for.
- That’s an odd thing to tweet.
- PW Insider says that Aro Lucha commercials airing on Pop TV is not an indication the promotion has landed a deal on the network. It was apparently part of the deal with Impact.
- It’s not on Pop TV. Pop is out of the wrestling business. They did recently save the Netflix One Day at a Time though! (1/1)
- All Elite Wrestling filed for a trademark for “Fight for the Fallen,” leading to speculation it will be an event for the new promotion.
- That’s their July show. (1/1)
- Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are expected to be involved in a WrestleMania program, says Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
- They were not. (0/1)
- With WWE Network launching a similar show in Botch Club and the latest episode blocked on Vimeo for a copyright complaint, there’s a lot of talk Maffew’s popular Botchamania series may be in trouble.
- Botch Club didn’t last long. Meanwhile, it looks like Botchamania is still going. (0/1)
- WWE filed trademarks on the names of two of their other new Network shows, “Fashion Files: Cold Case Unit” and “WWE Kitchen SmackDown”. PW Insider says WWE is also opposing an attempt by another company to trademark “Sister Abigail” and “Halloween Havoc”.
- They haven’t done any Fashion Files content but the Kitchen SmackDown happened.
- On Wrestling Observer Radio it was said that Impact’s move to Fridays is part of a long-term plan and they hope wrestling fans will switch to Pursuit Channel after watching SmackDown when it moves to Fox next fall.
- They’d have to find the Pursuit channel first.
- Talk behind the scenes at the North Pole is that both WWE and wrestling fans made Santa’s naughty list this year.
- 20 years running!
- The women’s tag team titles could appear as early as the Royal Rumble.
- It was Elimination Chamber. (0/1)
- Because of his Hollywood schedule, there is still an expectation that John Cena, despite returning to TV next week, will miss Royal Rumble.
- He did not work that show. (1/1)
- Speaking of Cena, Page Six says recent interviewers in New York were told not to ask questions about Nikki Bella.
- Makes sense.
- Dave Meltzer mentioned on Wrestling Observer Radio that the Ronda Rousey vs. Natalya match that aired on Raw this week was called in the ring. Other major Rousey matches have been rumored to be laid out and practiced ahead of time.
- Nattie is the person to try that with given she’s such a pro.
- Darren Young is hoping to wrestle in New Japan or Ring of Honor in 2019 but there may not be interest from either promotion at this time.
- 2019 is early, but he’s not in either spot.
- It’s looking more and more that “John Cena’s return to television” is what was originally reported back in November. He’s around until his next movie starts filming on Jan. 20 and will work whatever televised dates he can until leaving, but that’s it right now.
- He only work two shows. (1/1)
- On the subject of Drew McIntyre and Finn Balor’s rumored pushes, Wrestling Observer Radio said WWE is focusing on Finn this month and Drew next month.
- Man, I’d say they didn’t really push either too strongly. Again, Finn had his feud with Brock, but it was like every feud with Brock. (0/1)
- The previously rumored plan that Lars Sullivan would be the subject of a bidding war between Raw and SmackDown looks to have been dropped with the McMahons running both brands.
- The bidding war stopped. They just advertised him on both shows. Then he disappeared because of rumored anxiety issues. (1/1)
- There don’t appear to be plans to call Undisputed Era up from NXT in the near future, based on talk started by a Dave Meltzer tweet saying their Garden debut shouldn’t be seen as preparation for the main roster.
- They’re still full NXT talent. (1/1)
- SmackDown’s crowd noise was heavily edited this week, says PW Torch. The Fresno crowd thinned out and those who remained were “exhausted” for the second taping.
- It’s hard to sit through four hours of wrestling. And there may have been 205 Live tapings as well.
- WWE’s post-Christmas house show at Madison Square Garden drew 11,900 fans, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. That’s the smallest audience in quite some time for this event, which is one of the most important live events of the year.
- Sounds like house show numbers aren’t great in general.
- The live event at Allstate Arena, just outside Chicago, only drew an audience of 6,000. These attendance woes really stand out considering the Chicago event would typically draw 10,000 fans during down times.
- Yeah, Chicago is a wrestling town. But when you can see WWE any time, it’s not as special.
- Per the Observer, Vince McMahon plans to promote John Cena as “the greatest of all-time” going forward.
- There wasn’t much promotion of him in general. I honestly don’t remember if they threw around that term often. Let me know if you all remember such below.
- The site also says the fact that Impact Wrestling landed on the Pursuit Channel, despite talks with other major networks, is not a good sign for the state of pro wrestling in the USA.
- I mean AEW landed on TNT so it’s not THAT bad.
- Kenny Omega has drastically cut down on media appearances prior to Wrestle Kingdom 13 because he anticipates most of the questions will focus on his future wrestling plans in 2019, and his answers would be distorted by social media.
- Yeah, that would be the most asked question, I’m sure.
- It’s at least possible there will only be one set of champions when women’s tag titles are introduced and said champs would just work both brands.
- Yes, there is one team. (1/1)
- Jason Jordan is still working as a producer for WWE and while PW Insider noted he was recently evaluated for his neck, there is still no word on a return.
- Still haven’t heard anything about him being close.
- The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that the expectation is SmackDown will air live on the west coast when it moves to FOX in October.
- We’ll have to wait and see. So 5 pm Friday SmackDown?
- The Observer says Vince McMahon is “very high right now on the idea of making Mandy Rose a star.”
- She’s gotten a good push for awhile but isn’t really in the picture right now. Rumor is she was supposed to face Asuka for the title at WrestleMania before they put the title on Charlotte.
- PW Insider notes that WWE would still “love” to have Mike Quackenbush working regularly for the company at the Performance Center.
- Not sure how much time he spends down there.
This Week: 7/12 - 58%
Overall: 2,797/5,068 - 55.2%
Have a great week, everyone!