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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 get right to it.
This is a special Royal Rumble roundup
- Dave Meltzer said he’s been led to believe Edge will be a surprise in the men’s Royal Rumble.
- That’s accurate. A huge return. (1/1)
- Molly Holly, Beth Phoenix, Sasha Banks, Shayna Baszler, and Mercedes Martinez are all planned for the women’s Royal Rumble.
- All but Sasha, who surprisingly wasn’t in it. (4/5)
- As of now, Becky Lynch and Asuka are not.
- That’s accurate. They just had their title match. (1/1)
- Ronda Rousey had a shirt come out on WWE Shop recently, leading to speculation she could be returning soon. There’s been no word of that, however, so if it’s happening they’ve done a great job of keeping it secret.
- This is a bit too vague to grade either way. She was not in the match.
- Reports indicate Rousey was not at the walk through for the Rumble match.
- She wasn’t in the match so she’d have no reason to be at the walk through. (1/1)
- Shane McMahon has been brought in for the Royal Rumble event, though it’s unclear if that means he’ll be wrestling in the match itself.
- He wasn’t on the show, though there was rumor he was part of the team who put the men’s match together.
- Mark Henry, Christian, Pat Patterson and Ted DiBiase Sr. are all in town for the show.
- Like to chill in the back?
- There’s a photo making the rounds of MVP’s logo being displayed on the big screen during rehearsals at Minute Maid Park.
- That implication that he was in the match was correct. (1/1)
- Edge recently signed a three year deal with WWE for “significant money”, per WrestleVotes.
- Get that money, Edge!
- PW Insider’s heard talk Sting could return for a match at Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia next month.
- That thankfully did not happen. (0/1)
- According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, Matt Riddle and Brock Lesnar had what was described as a “tense encounter” and a “verbal altercation” backstage at Royal Rumble before the show.
- Riddle confirmed it, but the story wasn’t as much an altercation as Riddle getting a talking to. (1/1)
- Sasha Banks was slated to be in the Royal Rumble over the weekend but Kelly Kelly took her spot, Insider reports.
- There was rumor that Sasha was nursing an injury.
- Killer Kross recently met with Triple H and was “told he’d be fast tracked” in WWE, says Wrestling Observer.
- Fast tracked is another vague one. Does that mean right to the main roster? Just not spending time off TV to work on the character prior to the debut? He started in NXT but got a huge push right off the bat.
- Samoa Joe being removed from Raw’s tag title match for an injury was not a work, according to PW Insider. Medical personnel made the decision and the rest of the match was called in the ring.
- If this was legit, this one didn’t keep him off TV since he worked some matches in February. Though an injury soon knocked him out for a long time.
- Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler is the plan for WrestleMania, says Wrestling Observer. Charlotte Flair vs. Bayley is not (an update on plans for Flair can be found here).
- That’s accurate. (2/2)
- Multiple sites, including WrestleZone and Pro Wrestling Sheet, report Edge was cleared by an independent doctor and talked to AEW before agreeing to his new WWE contract.
- Using AEW to leverage his deal. I love it.
- Edge will work limited dates, per the Observer. Insider’s heard he’ll be treated as a “special attraction”.
- This feels obvious. (1/1)
- MVP has more dates coming up with WWE but won’t be a regular, according to Wrestling Observer.
- He’s pretty much a regular. (0/1)
- Per PW Insider, WWE found out late about Andrade’s Wellness Policy violation and the script for Raw had to be changed. They also say Zelina Vega is likely going to be off TV while Andrade is out.
- Zelina stuck around, managing Angel Garza. (0/1)
- The Observer says that Paul Heyman is really high on Andrade and he didn’t want him to drop the belt because it was too early in the feud with Humberto Carrillo to do that.
- The feud never got to a point where Carrillo was over enough to win it.
- The hope is that AJ Styles will be back in time for WrestleMania, notes Wrestling Observer Radio.
- He was. Worked the Undertaker in the Boneyard. (1/1)
- According to Dave Meltzer, there’s “a lot of heat” on Matt Riddle right now and the Royal Rumble booking may have been to “teach him a lesson.”
- Later, Riddle claimed he didn’t have heat with those who mattered.
- Meltzer also said it looks like Jerry Lawler, who was originally only supposed to work commentary for the short term, will be sticking around on Raw for the long term.
- Luckily he was eventually replace by Joe again, soon after his Ramen Noodle Moonsault line. (0/1)
- Sources told Tom Colohue that Vince McMahon wants to main event WrestleMania 36 with Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns, but Paul Heyman is lobbying for Brock Lesnar & Drew McIntyre to close the show.
- Well Wyatt vs. Reigns wasn’t even a match. Brock vs. Drew closed out night two. I wonder what would have been the main event at 12:30 am if it were a live one night show.
- He wasn’t mentioned specifically, but a Performance Center media class being told to not mention Raw or SmackDown talents on social media without their approval sounds like it was in reference to Matt Riddle. PW Insider says the mention “got a big laugh from the NXT talents in attendance.”
- Riddle’s gonna do whatever he feels like.
- The footage of Edge’s spear on Dolph Ziggler that WWE production didn’t broadcast live during Royal Rumble is being edited into the VOD version, per Wrestling Observer Live’s Bryan Alvarez.
- I went back and rewatched and they did re-edit it so they didn’t cut away from the spears. (Honestly, the directing was a huge fail on the original broadcast.) Anything to re-watch such a great return, though weird seeing all those fans there. (1/1)
- DDT Pro’s parent company Cyber Agent just announced their purchase of Pro Wrestling NOAH. NOAH is another promotion WWE tried to buy as part of their NXT Japan plans, according to Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer.
- They just had the press conference recently.
- Reports continue to come up about Taya Valkyrie’s future, and she continues to shoot down talk she’s headed to WWE or re-signed with Impact.
- She stayed with Impact, who has a hell of a women’s division, even without Tessa Blanchard.
- Undertaker isn’t currently booked for WrestleMania 36, notes the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, but he’s in discussions with WWE about participating.
- He came back to face AJ Styles.
- They also say the decision on Brock Lesnar’s WrestleMania opponent came down to Drew McIntyre and Aleister Black and the feeling was McIntyre is more over right now.
- It also sounds like Vince is more in on Drew than Aleister, if current rumors are to be believed.
- Per PW Insider, Hulk Hogan is scheduled to return to WWE for the upcoming Super Showdown event in Saudi Arabia.
- Hogan was not at the event. (0/1)
- There are no plans for Ronda Rousey to work WrestleMania 36 this year, according to the Observer.
- She did not. That was the way it was going prior to the pandemic too. (1/1)
- AJ Styles will hopefully only be out from 4-to-6 weeks, says Wrestling Observer Radio.
- He was out even less, back a few weeks later. (0/1)
- WrestleVotes says the vibe inside Titan Tower was uncomfortable after everything that happened with the two Co-Presidents being fired by WWE.
- That was a big change that seemed very sudden.
- On that note, PW Insider says an internal announcement was made that was even more direct than the public one and made clear Vince McMahon’s vision was different than George Barrios and Michelle Wilson’s so they were let go.
- Vince is the boss.
- Lastly, it was noted a lot of work came to a halt, and there is uncertainty with a lot of projects that were underway, like the launch of the tiered WWE Network.
- The tiered Network still happened.
- Shane McMahon, Jamie Noble, Abyss, and Lance Storm put together the men’s Royal Rumble, per the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Michael Hayes, Tyson Kidd, Adam Pearce, Mickie James, and Triple H put the women’s Royal Rumble together.
- Both matches were very good, but the men’s was one of the best in awhile.
- According to the Observer, WWE and Killer Kross look to have finalized a deal.
- He joined the company, though don’t know exactly when the deal was done. (1/1)
This week: 16/23 - 70%
January 2020: 57/88 - 65%
Overall: 3,425/6,091 - 56.2%
Have a good week, everyone. Stay safe out there. Wear a mask!