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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 into it.
- The early expectation is that a team from the Raw side will win the women’s tag team championship at Elimination Chamber.
- It was Bayley and Sasha Banks, who were Raw superstars at the time. (1/1)
- The Revival asked for their release from WWE because they’re unhappy with how the promotion books its entire tag team division, says Pro Wrestling Sheet.
- They’re still there and they are tag team champions on Raw. But the tag division booking is still spotty.
- According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, The Revival’s contract doesn’t come up until April 2020, so if they aren’t released they have over a year remaining with WWE.
- I don’t know if they’ve been convinced to stay or if this booking is trying to entice them to.
- Meltzer also says Akam had knee surgery that is expected to keep him out for a couple months and that’s why the Authors of Pain haven’t been on television lately.
- A couple of months have morphed into about six. AOP has worked house shows recently but not back on TV yet. Knocking off a point for “a couple months.” (0/1)
- Shane Strickland will likely be coming to WWE soon, per the Observer.
- He faced Drew Gulak on 205 Live on Tuesday! (1/1)
- Early indications are John Cena’s injury is likely kayfabe. PW Insider says he’s filming his next movie from Feb. 4 - April 1.
- He was never really around anyway. But there was no real injury. (1/1)
- No surprise, but according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE is trying to control the narrative about wrestlers wanting to leave the company. They want to maintain “the perception that they are the... major league and everything is indies.”
- I think they’re losing that battle. Especially after Jon Moxley left. There are still wrestlers who write off AEW as not competition in interviews, but Vince himself addressed them as such at the quarterly meeting.
- An email from WWE Network promoting the addition of Superstars to the service listed Undertaker as a Hall of Famer, and sparked a round of talk that he’ll headline the 2019 class. WWE has since corrected and re-sent the email.
- He was not inducted last year. (0/1)
- Last Monday’s dressing room segment with Alexa Bliss was her idea, says Ryan Satin of Wrestling Sheet Radio. Bliss envisioned it as a tribute to Trish Stratus, based on similar scenes from Stratus’ heyday.
- That was such a weird little segment.
- According to NFL reporter Ian Rappaport, WrestleMania 33 Kickoff star Rob Gronkowski is considering retiring from the New England Patriots after the Super Bowl, but will likely pursue a movie career over a WWE one.
- He did retire. He hasn’t been in WWE but haven’t seen anything about movies yet. The retirement is new though. (1/1)
- Alexa Bliss refuted reports that it was her idea to do the bit with someone walking in on her in her dressing room by tweeting that the story was “false.” She did delete the tweet not long after.
- It would be a weird thing to pitch.
- Dave Meltzer mentioned on Wrestling Observer Radio that the original plan seemed to be to have Lars Sullivan injure John Cena and that would explain his absence going forward. He may not work either of the two shows after Royal Rumble and before WrestleMania 35.
- Cena did not work those shows. But he rarely works any shows. (1/1)
- He also said WWE has been telling its tag teams they will be promoting the division more.
- I would say comparatively, they have. But that was a very low bar to hurdle. (1/1)
- Per PW Insider, Sin Cara has been at the Performance Center working toward his return and there’s been talk of putting him with Rey Mysterio on SmackDown when he comes back.
- He was never with Mysterio on SmackDown. (Rey’s on Raw now anyway.) (0/1)
- Insider also says Mike and Maria Kanellis have been pulled from the road by WWE or, at the very least, not scheduled.
- They weren’t really off TV for long.
- A discussion about possible Royal Rumble surprise entrants on PW Insider Elite Audio mentioned Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, Matt Hardy, Tye Dillinger and Bray Wyatt as being available to wrestle Sunday in Phoenix.
- None of those guys were in the Rumble. Rowan did return this show as Bryan’s heavy, but it was not in the Rumble. (0/5)
- An “upset” Vince McMahon nixed the original plan to film a backstage segment showing Lars Sullivan attacking John Cena for the Jan. 21 Raw which would explain Cena’s injury and start their WrestleMania feud, according to rajah.com. It’s not clear yet if the entire feud is off.
- It was off due to the reports of Lars having anxiety issues
- Early speculation on Sonjay Dutt’s role with WWE is that he could be involved in opening a Performance Center in India.
- We’re not there yet if that’s the case. Triple H has made it know he intends to open a PC in India though.
- Ring announcer JoJo Offerman has been off television for several weeks, and PW Insider says she’s taking time off from WWE for personal reasons. JoJo is still employed and there’s said to be no heat on her.
- She was pregnant with the
Fiend’sBray Wyatt’s child. (1/1) - A Twitter user shared what they believed to be evidence All Elite Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Tees filed a copyright violation complaint against a CM Punk shirt design on redbubble, sparking rumors of Punk working with AEW. Pro Wrestling Tees has since said there’s no connection other than both All Elite & Punk sell merch through them and they were filing takedown notices for both clients at the same time. But some fans still want to believe...
- Still no Punk to AEW. Not that I wouldn’t pop if he showed up at ALL OUT.
- Per the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Undertaker is not currently scheduled for a match at WrestleMania 35.
- He did not work Mania 35. (1/1)
- They also say there’s still the possibility of Becky Lynch losing to Asuka and entering the Royal Rumble and winning to set up a WrestleMania match with Ronda Rousey. If the title match happens before the Rumble, it will be something to look for, at least.
- This is pretty much how it all happened. (1/1)
- Wrestlers in WWE are being told that when new TV deal money comes in the new contracts the company gives out will be much better, according to the Observer.
- They are handing out pretty big contracts to get people to stay in the company.
- The latest word on Lars Sullivan appears to be that WWE is still high on him and whatever issues he is going through won’t affect his push once he’s ready to come back.
- This is true. He was pushed the same when he came back, though then he got injured so he wasn’t back for long. (1/1)
- The Observer notes that MLW tried so hard to sign Rush because the promotion wants to hit the Hispanic market with the idea that it hasn’t been tapped into well enough in the United States.
- Rush probably would have done better anywhere than ROH, which appears to be floundering right now. He’s undefeated, but there’s less interest in ROH now than there has been in a long time.
- Wrestling Observer reports WWE is planning a big push for the tag division to counter All Elite’s presumed focus on a Young Bucks centered tag scene.
- I still don’t know if I’d call it a “big push.” I’m reticent to say we’re there. (0/1)
- A bayface team of Andrade & Rey Mysterio is being discussed as part of the tag push, says The Observer. PW Insider says Sin Cara may be part of that stable, and it’s not clear if Zelina Vega will be kept with Andrade after he’s turned.
- That hasn’t happened, but a Rey/Andrade team would be awesome. (0/1)
- Kurt Angle, Bray Wyatt, and Velveteen Dream are the names coming up the most in backstage conversations about surprise Rumble entrants, per WrestleVotes.
- Kurt yes, but the other two no. (1/3)
- Abyss and Sonjay Dutt are expected to work as producers on the main roster shows and not NXT, a WWE source told PW Insider Elite Audio.
- Yes, they’re main roster guys. (1/1)
- WWE is “also looking to add another couple of other producers so there may be some others coming in.”
- Jarrett eventually was brought in. (1/1)
This week: 13/25 - 52%
Overall: 2,834/5,129 - 55.3%
Have a great week, everyone!