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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!
- There’s a lot of speculation, including from the Observer, that Randy Orton suffered a shoulder injury during his match with Riddle on Raw this week.
- He didn’t miss any time if this is the case.
- Ringside News claims Vince McMahon wanted “fresh eyes on the product and on management” and that’s part of what led to so much change within the company recently.
- Shake ups can be good. Fresh eyes are good. But the feeling I get is the same old sets of eyes are still making the top decisions.
- Speaking of which, Fightful Select says “a longtime WWE name” thinks Mark Carrano will be back with WWE simply because he knows where the bodies are buried.
- Nothing yet. Maybe I’ll give it another six months, but I’d be somewhat surprised if he were brought back.
- Per the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Kalisto was released after he was troublesome for repeatedly trying to get out of Lucha House Party and publicly unhappy about his TV usage.
- In a time where they had no problem releasing folks, speaking up about frustrations became more dangerous.
- For what it’s worth, Snoop Dogg claimed during an interview with Peter Rosenberg that WWE said they were going to distance themselves from him for appearing on AEW but then later asked him to be in the upcoming video game and he asked for double their offer for it, and they gave it to him.
- Can’t distance themselves from the Dogg. (I don’t know if I believe this story 100% but it could be true.)
- The Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan title match on SmackDown next week is expected to lead to Reigns vs. Cesaro, though it’s unclear exactly how. The Observer noted there are many possible directions that are on the table.
- Cesaro got his shot after Daniel Bryan was forced to leave SmackDown forever. (1/1)
- Ringside News says SmackDown looked the way it did this week because Vince McMahon was tied up with everything going on within WWE this past week.
- I don’t recall anything specific about this SmackDown. Granted it was six months ago.
- For whatever it’s worth, someone claiming to be Mark Carrano’s ex girlfriend made a series of allegations against him ranging from stealing WWE belts to trying to kill his ex’s cat.
- Oh that was f’n wild, man. Wild. As you can see if you click the link in the rumor, that Twitter account doesn’t exist any more so take that information as you will.
- The Observer says advanced orders of Impact Rebellion were “way ahead of any Impact PPV show in a long time.”
- AEW’s partnership did help buys. Sounds like that partnership has come to a conclusion.
- Former Lucha Underground star Marty the Moth is teasing debuting for AEW, with speculation that’s where he’s headed.
- I loved Marty in Lucha Underground. He had three AEW Dark matches, two which happened prior to this rumor. But that wasn’t his destination. In fact, those three Dark matches were the last matches he had. Prior, he documented a difficult return from injury. Maybe those injuries proved tougher to overcome? (0/1)
- Turner Sports looks to be the winner of the final NHL rights package, a $225 million dollar deal that will influence future contracts for live sports like wrestling, and that could cause scheduling conflicts on TNT Wednesday nights.
- It’s to the point that they’re moving them to TBS. There have been some hockey related changes recently, such as western time zone Dynamites airing live (so at 4 & 5 pm) to get the hockey on live. (1/1)
- On the Good Brothers’ Talk’n Shop podcast, The Young Bucks said Triple H offered them “$500,000 each guaranteed” when they were free agents in 2018.
- Is that a good initial offer? Bad?
- Randy Orton suffered “a deep bruise” to his shoulder in his match with Riddle last week, per Fightful Select. Obviously, he didn’t miss any time as a result.
- Ouch.
- That site also says the plan after WrestleMania 37 was for Riddle’s program with Sheamus to continue. Obviously, plans changed. “Those backstage in WWE said Orton was in favor of working with Riddle, and the changes made.”
- Orton certainly has some pull. And they’re still working together.
- Moving Riddle into the angle with Orton, and the Drew McIntyre & Braun Strowman vs. MACE & T-BAR storyline were both decisions that were made last Monday hours before the show started.
- It’s kind of wild that it’s been less than six months since Strowman has been released.
- WrestleVotes says the sold out UFC show from over the weekend was a big topic of discussion backstage at Monday Night Raw this week and “nearly everyone” feels live crowds can return in some form right now for WWE.
- They waited a few months. It’s easy to forget how hard shows were to watch without a live audience.
- Although Rhea Ripley was booked alongside the heels on Raw this week, Bryan Alvarez mentioned on Wrestling Observer Live that fans in the ThunderDome were instructed to cheer for her.
- Who knows if she was a heel or face in that awful feud with Charlotte. They were both maximum unlikeable.
- He also said that everyone is available to be used on Raw and everyone who has been missing is simply because they haven’t had anything written for them. That would apply to the Raw tag team champions, AJ Styles & Omos.
- Not every can be used with the size of their roster.
- Drew McIntyre is still pushing a match with Tyson Fury, leading to obvious speculation WWE still hopes to put that together in the near future.
- There’s probably still money to be made there given Fury hasn’t lost. But with that, he’s not going to want to take a big risk in the wrestling ring and certain not going to lose.
- Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that “the early things that I’ve been told” is the new NHL deal with Turner isn’t going to affect AEW.
- It affected them in the sense they moved to TBS. (0/1)
- After David Bixenspan shared the latest clip of NXT referee Drake Wuertz reciting conspiracy theories at local government proceedings, Fightful Select reported Wuertz recently had his duties reduced and was “either formally or informally suspended earlier in 2021”.
- He was eventually released. It’s tough to know if his very public politics played a role, but I’d be they did to some degree. But WWE waited for a mass release so it didn’t look that way.
- Fans interpreted tweets from fellow NXT referees D.A. Brewer and Darryl Sharma as meaning the Wuertz situation was a hot topic backstage at the WWE Performance Center yesterday.
- It’s not good when your coworkers aren’t hiding their disdain.
- Fightful’s reports says Wuertz has “substantial heat” at the PC, and many of their NXT sources are surprised he hasn’t been fired. They also fear his extreme views are why he’s still around.
- Now Drake is running for local office in Seminole County. Here’s his campaign ad from this summer if you’re interested.
- Based on WWE describing Friday’s Universal title match by saying “if Bryan loses, he’ll be banished from SmackDown”, speculation is Daniel Bryan will lose and move to another brand.
- He moved to another company. (0/1)
- Probably nothing to this, but a new SEC filing revealed that Triple H recently sold $2 million in WWE stock. He still owns almost 50,000 shares.
- This type of thing is beyond me.
- WWE planned to not feature Sasha Banks for a while after WrestleMania, according to Ringside News. Their source says it’s “to let [Bianca] Belair and Bayley have the spotlight” and so “when Sasha attacks Belair, it’ll mean something.”
- They set it up for SummerSlam but then Sasha had to miss more time.
- Adam Pearce has been promoted to Director of Live Events, per PW Insider. Historically, this has been one of Michael Hayes responsibilities. Hayes has been more involved in producing matches, specifically for Roman Reigns. Pearce will continue to produce matches, and along with Jason Jordan oversee the other producers.
- This was before live events came back full time.
- This is seen as another sign WWE is inching closer to touring again.
- In July.
- Insider also reported that Road Dogg was at the Capitol Wrestling Center working on this week’s NXT. It was his first time back since being hospitalized after a cardiac incident in March.
- Road Dogg hasn’t been in the news lately. He and Shawn Michaels are the two guys likely stepping in for Triple H while Trips is recovering from his heart procedure, though we hear more about HBK filling in for him.
- W. Morrissey, formerly known as Big Cass, has signed with Impact “for the foreseeable future”, according to Fightful Select.
- He’s still working there. (1/1)
This week: 3/6 - 50%
April 2021: 19/35 - 54%
Overall: 3,921/6,952 - 56.4%
Have a great week, everyone!
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