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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.
- According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there was “negativity and uncertainty” within Vince McMahon’s reaction to Shayna Baszler after her match with Kairi Sane on Monday Night Raw this week, apparently because Baszler didn’t come off like a WrestleMania headliner.
- I don’t remember much about this match. Did they give it much time? Usually Shayna & Kairi had very good chemistry. They definitely didn’t crown Baszler at WrestleMania and she was off TV for awhile. But she’s a tag team champion now so hopefully they haven’t given up on her.
- Ronda Rousey and Cain Velasquez were at WWE Headquarters recently, and there’s speculation it was to talk over their future with the company.
- Neither have one. Though Ronda could if she wanted. Cain was released.
- Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Nick Jackson missed Dynamite this week because his wife is giving birth soon, and Kenny Omega was out with a broken little finger.
- Can’t at all argue with Nick’s reasoning.
- The hope is still that Asuka will be able to work the Women’s Elimination Chamber match this weekend.
- She worked the match. (1/1)
- Jon Moxley was always planned to be the second AEW world champion, per the Observer.
- He’s been good, but not blowing me away.
- Don’t be surprised if WWE adds another match or two to Elimination Chamber before the show starts.
- They added a kickoff match, but that’s never a surprise. (1/1)
- PW Insider notes that Jeff Hardy was again backstage at SmackDown this week. He should be back anytime.
- It was in May, so a bit aways. (0/1)
- According to the Observer, Lana and Bobby Lashley have been off television because she’s filming a movie.
- Looks like she’s in a movie with Bruce Willis (probably a rather small role) but at the same time, they clearly had nothing for Rusev, and he’s no longer with the company any more.
- The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says Matt Hardy hasn’t signed a contract with AEW yet but he’s expected to.
- That he did. (1/1)
- Insider says Su Yung’s contract with Impact Wrestling has expired and she is now a free agent.
- She’s still with them so if she was a free agent at this time, she re-signed.
- Per TalkSport’s Alex McCarthy, the SmackDown Women’s title match at WrestleMania 36 will be a six-pack challenge featuring Bayley, Sasha Banks, Naomi, Lacey Evans, Carmella, and one other name.
- It was actually a 5-way with Carmella not in the match. (0/1)
- McCarthy also says the original plan was for Sasha vs. Bayley, but Banks injury caused them to change that.
- They probably wouldn’t have run it without live fans, but they didn’t know that was their future at this time.
- From the same report: Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross will be added to the Divas of Doom vs. Kabuki Warriors Women’s Tag title match in Tampa.
- Divas of Doom weren’t in the title match at all. It was just Bliss/Cross vs. the Kabuki Warriors. (0/1)
- Wrestling Observer noted that Vince McMahon made several late changes to last week’s Raw including having Riddick Moss beat Ricochet instead of R-Truth, having Aleister Black take his first singles loss, and revealing Erick Rowan’s spider.
- Erick Rowan’s spider will always be peak WWE.
- PW Insider reports Scott Steiner had a “cardiac episode” Friday night at the Impact taping in Atlanta and underwent a heart procedure over the weekend.
- He worked a show (but didn’t wrestle) just a couple weeks later. He cut a promo thanking folks for their prayers and then gave a Steiner Math style explanation about how he knew he was getting out of the hospital bed.
- The idea to have Shayna Baszler run through all five of her opponents at Elimination Chamber was one Paul Heyman originally wanted to use for CM Punk, says WrestlingNews.co. Vince McMahon shot it down then.
- Heyman was always going to pitch hard for Punk.
- The reason they went with it this time was because everyone was expecting Baszler to win anyway, so it was an attempt to make Baszler stand out as a “monster heel”.
- I get the reasoning, though then to do that at the expense of five other women and then not have her win at Mania and back off the push kills everything.
- Sportskeeda’s Tom Colohue claims John Cena lobbied to take the pin from Bray Wyatt at Elimination Chamber 2017 and again on the SmackDown fallout show. Should be a good sign for those hoping The Fiend goes over at WrestleMania 36.
- Fiend did go over, though it was in a weird cinematic. Haven’t seen Big Match John since. (1/1)
- WWE had a “no touching” policy at weekend meet & greets in response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, according to PW Insider & JJ Williams. It’s not known if this will be in effect for WrestleMania Axxess.
- There was no WrestleMania Axxess. These coronavirus rumors are going to really start coming. At this time, I think we still felt maybe it wouldn’t be that bad.
- New Japan will decide in the next few days whether or not to resume shows next Monday, per Wrestling Observer.
- They only just started back pretty recently.
- Undertaker was backstage at Raw this week, the decision was just made to keep him off television until next week.
- I wonder if it’s a pain for him to travel and then be told “We’ll use you next week.”
- Per Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, the current plan for the WWE women’s tag team titles is for The Kabuki Warriors to defend at WrestleMania 36 against Natalya & Beth Phoenix and Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross.
- As we mentioned before, the Divas of Doom weren’t part of this match. (0/1)
- According to Ryan Bass, there will be a meeting on Thursday to consider canceling or postponing “major” events in Tampa thanks to the coronavirus. This could apparently include WrestleMania 36.
- WrestleMania was canceled, though it took awhile to get there. (1/1)
- PW Insider says Nia Jax is cleared to wrestle and she should be returning soon, possibly this week.
- They waited until after WrestleMania. (1/2)
- For that matter, she could be wrestling on the SmackDown brand going forward.
- Nia is on Raw. (0/1)
- WWE is moving this Friday’s SmackDown from Detroit to the Performance Center due to coronavirus concerns, reports PW Insider. UPDATE: WWE has issued a statement denying this report, for now. You can read that here.
- Well they did move it so the denial was wrong. (1/2)
- Insider also says WWE corporate employees are currently rotating working from home to prepare for the possibility they all may have to self-quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- This all came on fast.
- The feeling among “several wrestlers” Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp heard from is that WrestleMania 36 will not go on as planned.
- It did not. At all. (1/1)
- Edge is expected back on the Mar. 23 Raw, currently scheduled to take place in Fort Worth.
- Edge was not on the show, which was in the WWE Performance Center. (0/1)
- Rezar suffered an arm injury during the main event of Raw on Monday, per Fightful. The extent of the injury isn’t known.
- He and Akam are still out.
This week: 8/16 - 50%
Overall: 3,474/6,182 - 56.2%
Have a good week, everyone. Stay safe out there.