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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 to it.
- Fightful Select says Vince McMahon met with talent who were very unhappy with The Hurt Business breaking up but McMahon insisted on it despite it being a blow to locker room morale.
- Probably one of the worst creative decisions of the year. Not the only, but definitely one of the worst.
- They also say that both Bobby Lashley and MVP personally lobbied for Vince not to go through with the breakup.
- It looks like they may be back together. At least for now.
- The Observer notes there won’t be a women’s battle royal at WrestleMania 37.
- They did not have a battle royal. They used the Women’s tag gauntlet match to get most women on the card. (1/1)
- For what it’s worth, Paige recently mentioned on her Twitch that she’s going to try to get cleared to wrestle again.
- I’m not sure where she is on that process. She had to retire way too young.
- Andrade posted a tweet that has led to speculation he’s signed a new deal somewhere.
- He soon showed up on AEW.
- Ringside News claims WWE already has the match order set for each night of WrestleMania 37, though lineups that have been rumored are incorrect.
- I’m unsure what lineups have been rumored at this point.
- They also say finishes for each match are already set as well.
- That makes sense. The show wasn’t too far out from this date.
- The Observer says that WWE didn’t mandate any quarantine for wrestlers leading to WrestleMania this week but some wrestlers have chosen to do so on their own out of an abundance of caution.
- That makes sense. This was before the vaccines was as widespread as it is now. So many or most of the talent probably didn’t have the opportunity yet.
- During the Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T mentioned Logan Paul is rumored to be a special referee or special enforcer for the Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens match.
- That did not happen. He was just in Sami’s corner. (0/1)
- Current odds have multiple titles changing hands at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver.
- Technically only two changed hands (Kross winning the NXT title from Finn Bálor & Raquel González defeating Io Shirai). That is multiple so this is correct. There was a new tag team champ (MSK) but that title was vacated prior. And the cruiserweight title was unified. (1/1)
- No champions are currently favored by Bet Online to retain at WrestleMania 37 this weekend. The Intercontinental title match is a push; all other champs are underdogs. Edge is the favorite to win the Universal title Triple Threat.
- Roman retained, Bobby Lashley retained, and Shayna Baszler & Natalya retained. So the idea that they’d all change hands is wrong. (0/1)
- According to Wrestling Observer, TV schedules list tonight’s WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony as 90 minutes long. Both nights of TakeOver are listed for slightly over two hours, and Saturday and Sunday’s WrestleMania’s are shown as ending at 11 p.m. ET.
- 89 minutes on Peacock for the Hall of Fame, so that’s right. The first night of TakeOver was 2 hours but the second was 40 minutes longer (because of that way too long Cole/O’Reilly match), so wrong on NXT. Both nights of WrestleMania went at least 20 minutes past 11 p.m, the first longer because of the rain delay. (1/3)
- On Pardon My Take, Triple H said WWE had “conversations” about bringing Rob Gronkowski in for WrestleMania 37, but he wasn’t sure (or wasn’t admitting) where those discussions ended up.
- They ended up with him not coming back.
- The promo Riddle forgot on Raw last week was scripted “to talk about everything from Mt. Fuji to underground robot fighting in Japan”, per Fightful Select.
- There was no way it was going to be better than what we got.
- Bea Priestley has finished up in Japan. Speculation from Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio and others is she’s signed with WWE and will be on the NXT UK roster.
- She is working under the name Blair Davenport. (1/1)
- Per WrestleVotes, before Tag Team Turmoil was announced WWE originally had an idea to have the Women’s Battle Royal at WrestleMania 37 on night one with the last two being crowned winners and forming a team to challenge for the titles the next night.
- That would have been interesting. WWE loves their rag tag teams as well.
- According to PW Insider, Money in the Bank will take place on May 16 and Backlash will take place on June 20 of this year. Both events will be held at the ThunderDome at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida.
- These are wrong. Backlash was May 16 in the ThunderDome. Money in the Bank was July 18 in front of a live crowd. (0/2)
- On Wrestling Observer Radio it was said that the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal was moved to SmackDown to make sure each night of WrestleMania 37 stays under 3-and-a-half hours.
- The rain delay ensured they did not.
- Ringside News claims Logan Paul had issues backstage in WWE the last time he was there but he’s been great to work with since coming in for on-screen work.
- The time prior just being a time he stopped by as a guest?
- Davey Richards is close to finalizing a deal to return to pro wrestling with Global Syndicate Wrestling, says PW Insider.
- It looks like he had one match with them but that wasn’t his return match. He worked a ton of promotions prior to them. (0/1)
- WWE’s calendar shows no live events outside of ThunderDome or house show touring dates through July, according to PW Insider. All Raws, SmackDowns and PPVs through July will be in Tampa’s Yuengling Center.
- They moved out mid-July. (0/1)
- A list of word WWE told promotional partners not to use ahead of WrestleMania was recently reported on by Fightful Select. Banned words included: Babyface, Belt, Blood, Card, Choke, Curb Stomp, Diva, DQ, Head shot, Heel, House show, Kayfabe, Kill, Mofos, Murder, Needs a push, Spinal injuries, Strangle, Strap, The Anti-Diva, To be over, To job/jobber, Trauma, Victim, Violence/violent, Wifebeater, Wrestling/wrestlers.
- Lame.
- Luke Gallows has spoken to “higher ups” at AEW about bringing in Big Cass, per Fightful Select.
- W. Morrissey has not been to AEW, but it looks like he’s been killing it in Impact. I’m rooting for the big man.
- That site also says pods and dividers have been removed from Capitol Wrestling Center to increase seating at NXT tapings. Masks are still required, and attendees must pass a COVID screening.
- I’m looking at an episode from the end of April and I can’t tell. There seem to be a low number of people there. I also see some clear barrier between the fans and the ring but can’t tell if there are clear pods.
- Peacock told PW Insider the WrestleMania 37 streams will have rewind and pause functions, but only on Apple iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs.
- Slowly but surely.
- According to Fightful, Andrade has been contacted about potential non-WWE appearances on WrestleMania weekend, but it’s unclear if any agreements were reached.
- He didn’t have any matches but could have still appeared. He didn’t show up in AEW until June.
- The site also says that Io Shirai’s main event match on night one of TakeOver: Stand & Deliver was cut for time, because one of the earlier matches in the night went long.
- Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly went 40 minutes in a meandering match that added 40 minutes to the card. But because the women’s night was on USA, they didn’t have the luxury.
- Ringside News was told that there have been no conversations in WWE about concerns that live fans might cheer or boo the wrong wrestlers this weekend at WrestleMania 37.
- Fans were great at that show.
- Chris Jericho recently mentioned on Talk is Jericho that the TNT network wasn’t happy with Sting’s surprise debut on Dynamite in December, because the network prefers ratings over surprises. That’s why Paul Wight’s signing was announced on social media, and why they teased out Christian as a mystery signing.
- For fans, it’s sometimes more fun to have a surprise debut. But I see TNT’s position too.
- On the Getting Over podcast, Drew McIntyre mentioned that the face paint he wore at Fastlane was his idea, but he didn’t get it approved by Vince McMahon until the show was already on the air at 7 PM ET.
- I wonder if it took cajoling or if he was just like “Hey, boss, can I wear this facepaint?” “Sure.”
This week: 4/11 - 36%
Overall: 3,906/6,924 - 56.4%
Have a great week, everyone!