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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 stated. Let’s jump right in, shall we?
- Brock Lesnar isn’t expected to lose the WWE championship anytime soon, so expect some sort of schmoz finish at Crown Jewel.
- Brock held the title until WrestleMania. But Crown Jewel wasn’t a schmoz finish. Cain Velasquez got punked out. (1/2)
- Randy Orton’s recent social media behavior is being seen largely as his publicly trying to position himself well for negotiations for his next contract.
- That was probably it.
- PW Insider notes that while Tyson Fury’s deal with WWE is just for Crown Jewel he’s hoping to come back for more later.
- He won’t be coming back until there are some fans to perform in front of. Having defeated Deontay Wilder, he probably would have been back at one point.
- According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there’s nothing definitive about what happens next with Kenny Omega and the AAA title.
- He defended it once in AAA and still holds the gold.
- The Observer notes that La Parka was “able to speak and identify people after his surgery.” He’s breathing on his own now.
- He unfortunately ended up passing months later.
- Per the Observer, the New Day were expected to be the top babyface team on the SmackDown brand to feud with The Revival before Xavier Woods got hurt. That may still be the plan.
- The lost the titles to the New Day, so this would be correct. The Revival has since been released (at their own request). (1/1)
- Apparently Shayna Baszler announced at an NXT house show in Jacksonville this past weekend that NXT will hold an event exclusive to women on Dec. 5 when the promotion returns to the city.
- Not a rumor since she announced it. But it happened.
- PW Insider says they’ve heard WWE won’t be releasing original documentaries on DVD anymore, instead making it Network exclusive content.
- On a cursory look online and on their website comparing it to what’s on WWE Network, I believe this is the case. (1/1)
- Riho vs. Emi Sakura for the AEW women’s championship is expected for Full Gear next month.
- That was the match. There wasn’t much build but they ended up putting on a good match. (1/1)
- The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes the goal with Impact Wrestling is to build to Tessa Blanchard winning a men’s championship.
- That’s what’s happened. Tessa is the Impact World Champion. (1/1)
- Should go without saying, but this is wrestling and the talk is out there. Dave Meltzer tweeted the Jordan Myles/Albert Hardie Jr. situation is not a work.
- Very accurate. (1/1)
- A source told wrestlingnews.co that some wrestlers in WWE will turn down more money in order to leave and sign with AEW.
- Some people probably know they’ll just never get a real chance in WWE and want that creative freedom, some want it more than the money.
- Multiple sites reported Triple H was not backstage at Raw last night.
- Cool.
- Jay Lethal suffered a broken arm during ROH’s Honor United show in the UK over the weekend, but PW Insider says the company hopes he’ll be back in time for their Final Battle PPV on Dec. 13.
- He worked Final Battle, winning the tag championships alongside Jonathan Gresham, defeating the Briscoes. (1/1)
- The new version of The Stone Cold Podcast for WWE Network looks to be called “Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions”, according advertising that’s been taken down. Those ads said it would debut Thursday, but it’s not clear if that’s still the case.
- The ads were accurate about the name, but it didn’t debut until later November. (1/2)
- There’s been talk of WWE setting up Paige for an in-ring return with the segment with Asuka on Raw this week but it doesn’t appear as though anything has changed with her potentially wrestling again.
- She has not returned to the ring. (1/1)
- PW Insider says Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart had trouble with their flight to Saudi Arabia and, through luck, were picked up by Brock Lesnar on his plane.
- This was the smallest problem when it came to Saudi Arabia travel.
- The Rock is going to make an announcement at the UFC press conference on Friday but the Observer notes it’s not expected it will have anything to do with him fighting.
- It had to do with making a movie about Mark Kerr. (1/1)
- Lana, Natalya, and Lacey Evans all were seen boarding flights for the trip with WWE to Saudi Arabia.
- I don’t think Lana was on the show even as Lashley’s valet. Natty and Lacey had their match.
- WrestleVotes says those within WWE expected last week’s episode of SmackDown, which aired on FS1, to do similar viewership numbers to what it was doing on USA Network. They fell way short.
- That remains their worst showing, even with numbers getting worse for their empty arena shows.
- For their match at Crown Jewel today, Natalya and Lacey Evans will be wearing full body suits similar to the ones Sasha Banks & Alexa Bliss wore for their 2017 match in Abu Dhabi.
- That was the case. (1/1)
- That’s according to a sources of Tony Maglio at The Wrap, who also said Evans and Natalya were chosen “because they can do the match with no potential cultural backlash.”
- Being two blonde white women?
- Ric Flair telling Corey Graves on After The Bell that he’s medically cleared for action started some speculation he might take a bump at Crown Jewel, but there are thankfully no plans for that.
- I don’t recall any bump. (1/1)
- World Cup winner Shane McMahon was spotted in Riyadh ahead of today’s show.
- Best in the World needs to be in Saudi.
- Sticking with the Middle East, Bill Apter reported Eric Bischoff’s next gig will be as General Manager for QPW in Qatar. The deal is just for one show, but they’re talking about a two year contract.
- He was, though I don’t see anything about a contract. (1/1)
- There’s some speculation that the Bray Wyatt Universal title win could be a set up for a big trade between Raw and SmackDown.
- It wasn’t a trade. Brock just left and went to Raw. (0/1)
- The huge news Renee Young has teased for WWE Backstage isn’t expected to have anything to do with CM Punk.
- If I recall correctly, she never dropped any news on that SmackDown it was teased for at all. (Probably because of the changes with the travel issues.) But Punk debuted just weeks later. (0/1)
- The Observer notes that there may be some movement on the AEW-New Japan relationship front, and it could mean the two sides working together.
- It’s really the same. AEW lets some of their guys work Japan but there’s no working together. (0/1)
- Per PW Insider, Kazarian didn’t suffer an injury after a bad bump on his head as some had feared.
- That’s always good.
- They also say Joey Mercury is gone from Ring of Honor.
- It was most definitely NOT amicable. (1/1)
- The Observer says there were “a ton of issues” and “uncertainty” with the wrestlers stemming from this tour, and many wrestlers are apparently saying they won’t go back but WWE wants to keep the deal with Saudi Arabia alive.
- Most went back.
- Sean Ross Sapp mentioned there are “rumors among talent that Vince McMahon got in some kind of disagreement in Saudi Arabia.” No word on what that could be.
- There were many rumors about payment issues.
- Meanwhile, Wade Keller said the wrestlers were speculating there was something more than mechanical issues going on that was keeping them from leaving.
- A lot of conspiracy theories and we’ll never know the truth for sure.
- The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says the reason the Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez match was so short and featured so little action was because they wanted to protect Velasquez’s knee, which he’ll likely be getting surgery on.
- He has since been released.
- They also say that originally WWE was going to have Tyson Fury wrestle Lesnar but that changed when it was clear they were getting Velasquez.
- It was easier to make Fury look good this way.
This week: 14/18 - 78%
November 2019: 58/83 - 70%
Overall: 3,286/5,868 - 56.0%
Have a good week, everyone. Stay safe & healthy.