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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. First let’s knock off some old rumors I’ve been sitting on since 2017.
- While talking about the rumors WWE threatened Paige over her relationship with Alberto Del Rio, Dave Meltzer said he thinks there’s a good chance Paige could be done with WWE - “the fact that that story is out tells me that she is probably done with the company”.The story being
- Paige is still with the company, having wrestled again prior to sustaining a career ending injury but still doing business with them. (0/1)
- Lucha Underground may be producing more episodes (possibly as many as 60) for season four when it films next year.
- They only had 22 episodes in their final season. (0/1)
- Brock Lesnar could have another fight in the UFC, or at least there’s a belief he wants another MMA fight before he retires for good.
- It looked that way for awhile, with a possible fight against Daniel Cormier, but he never fought again. (0/1)
OK, now onto this week’s rumors:
- The word is we’ll likely know Brock Lesnar’s Royal Rumble opponent by the end of Raw tonight.
- They opened the show by announcing he’ll enter the Rumble match. (1/1)
- Per the Observer, the Chris Jericho/Hiroshi Tanahashi AEW talk was just about creating intrigue for that match and there remains no deal in place between the two promotions.
- This sounds correct as they’re not working together in any capacity outside AEW allowing some guys work NJPW shows in Japan, which was already the case. (1/1)
- Dave Meltzer mentioned on Wrestling Observer Radio that Katsuyori Shibata will not be cleared and he will not wrestle ever again.
- “Ever again” is a long long time. Let’s set on it for a little while.
- He also said the goal for Bushiroad remains to bring in Io Shirai and Kairi Sane, and they’ll get big money offers for it. For that matter, Shirai may be brought to the WWE main roster to help avoid that happening.
- Shirai is not on the main roster but instead women’s champion in NXT. As of now, both Io and Kairi are still under WWE contract, but we’ll see what happens when they’re not. (0/1)
- PW Insider notes that Will Ospreay suffered some sort of ankle injury at Wrestle Kingdom.
- If he did, and with his style it wouldn’t be surprising, he didn’t miss any real time.
- Over the weekend, Paige tweeted that her “glory days are far from over” and that she has “a whole a lot of career left in me”, which prompted speculation she could make a return to the ring. There is no indication WWE would clear her to wrestle, however.
- So far, she isn’t cleared. But there are plenty of people who aren’t cleared and then eventually are. Well right now just Edge & Daniel Bryan, but that still seems like a lot more than we would have guess a few years ago given their injuries.
- Matt Hardy’s WWE contract is up on March 1, according to PW Insider. They also reiterated reports the hold-up was over creative, not money.
- That’s how Matt Hardy made it sound on podcasts. (1/1)
- Insider also confirmed Jeff Hardy’s deal was extended for injury and legal issues. WWE’s encouraged him to get help to deal with the issues which have led to his recent arrests, and it’s said he’s “been working hard to do so”.
- He finally came back, and they made it all a storyline.
- WWE is “very confident” that The Revival will re-sign, says Dropkick DiSKussions’ Tom Colohue.
- Their confidence was misplaced. (0/1)
- There’s been talk of Bret Hart as a future guest on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions, per Insider.
- That episode happened in March. (1/1)
- WrestleVotes notes that WWE is setting up Brock Lesnar’s WrestleMania opponent in the Royal Rumble match, and that’s why he was added to it.
- That’s accurate. Drew McIntyre Claymore’d Brock over the top rope, eliminating him from the match and setting up their WrestleMania match. (1/1)
- No word yet on who that opponent will be, but Dave Meltzer mentioned on Wrestling Observer Radio that he was told definitively it won’t be Edge.
- It was not Edge. I wouldn’t put Edge with Brock in his first match back. (1/1)
- Ruby Riott was at the Performance Center yesterday, per PW Insider. She’s still not expected back for a while though.
- She returned less than a month later. Seems pretty soon. (0/1)
- Ryan Satin says a source told him the moment on Raw when security tackled the officiant of the Lana & Bobby Lashley wedding was actually planned ahead of time.
- That wedding was so weird.
- WWE is loading up next week’s episode of Raw to try to keep ratings momentum going against the Clemson vs. LSU game, says the Observer.
- I mean they booked a show, but they didn’t load it up in a way that would make people not want to watch the championship game. (0/1)
- Nia Jax is filming for either a documentary or vignettes related to her return, another sign she should be back on television very soon.
- She returned in April, so not that soon. There’s been no documentary yet, but they sometimes sit on those. (0/1)
- Io Shirai is “not necessarily happy” with how she’s being used in NXT, according to Observer Radio. That could make her more likely to take the big money Bushiroad plans to offer her and Kairi Sane to return to Stardom.
- I don’t know when that would be. With her significant other, EVIL, over there, there will always be some pull for her to return home.
- Tom Colohue reports that WWE made “more than $13,000,000” from YouTube in 2019.
- That’s a nice chunk of change.
- Writing for Sportskeeda, Colohue also says a source told him WWE has a lot of interest in signing New Japan’s Jay White.
- Not knowing when his contract is up, I can’t say if he opted against jumping ship.
- There was a lot of speculation about why a tag match featuring Billy Gunn & his son Austin that happened before Dynamite last week didn’t air on this week’s Dark, but multiple sources report it was never supposed to air and was more of try out for Austin.
- So far, Austin has mainly been in the crowd with his dad.
- WrestleVotes claims that Tyson Fury will likely only be offered a deal to work WrestleMania 36 if he defeats Deontay Wilder in their boxing match on Feb. 22.
- He defeated Wilder but Fury didn’t have any hint of a wrestling match at Mania even prior to the pandemic.
- Shayna Baszler is looking likely to be on Raw “sooner rather than later,” says Observer Radio.
- She debuted at the Royal Rumble. She did not win the Rumble, lost to Becky at WrestleMania, and isn’t on TV any more. (1/1)
- They also note that Chelsea Green’s recent Raw match was a tryout of sorts and when she showed up on NXT that meant she won’t be called up.
- She wasn’t called up, though there’s rumor she may still be. However, with Heyman gone, who knows if that has changed, leaving her in limbo. (1/1)
- For what it’s worth, Kurt Angle told Chris Van Vliet that he believes Vince McMahon wanted him to wrestle for another year but Angle said he wanted to retire when he did.
- They didn’t do too much with him wrestling wise, but at that stage in his career, that’s OK.
- Wrestling Inc says Showtime has interest in MLW.
- MLW ended up with DAZN. (0/1)
- There continues to be speculation that Edge is indeed returning to WWE for a match, with hints from places like WrestleVotes.
- He did. He returned in the Rumble and then a series of matches with Randy Orton. (1/1)
- A report got around that Becky Lynch signed a new deal with WWE in 2019 but she said she hasn’t signed anything new in years and her deal is up soon.
- I don’t know where that status is. She’s currently on hiatus now that she’s pregnant. I don’t know if she’s under a new contract for whenever she may want to wrestle again.
- Matt Hardy is expected to leave WWE in March when his contract is up, per the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. They also note his name is coming up as the possible leader of the Dark Order in AEW.
- He went to AEW, but he is not the Dark Order’s leader. Brody Lee is. (1/2)
- PW Insider says the latest word on Marty Scurll is that he’s close to a new deal with Ring of Honor.
- He stayed with them. (1/1)
- The Observer says the deal he’s been offered is for WWE main roster level money, and roughly 40 dates per year while also allowing him to wrestle in New Japan, NWA, and possibly even AEW.
- Reports of the contract (which are rarely actually confirmed by either party) states he can wrestle in NWA (but it’s unknown about Japan or AEW) and he has booking duties. But since this, the pandemic put a pause on many promotions, including NWA and ROH, and Scurll has been named in the #SpeakingOut scandal, something he responded to (twice actually), and Ring of Honor promises to “investigate.”
This week: 11/18 - 61%
Overall: 3,390/6,033 - 56.2%
Have a good week, everyone. Stay safe out there.