Rumor Look Back: May 14 - 20, 2021

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!

May 14, 2021

• According to the Mat Men Podcast, it looks like WWE has live events with fans planned for the main roster from July 16 through July 19. This could theoretically include Extreme Rules on July 18, based on previous rumors.
• The dates are accurate, but the show was Money in the Bank. Extreme Rules was in September. (1/2)
• Wrestling Inc learned that Zelina Vega’s return to WWE has been in the works since before WrestleMania 37. Fightful adds that Vega was filmed walking into the Performance Center with the Rock’s daughter, Simone Johnson.
• Zelina worked with the Rock when she played AJ Lee in Fighting with my Family, which he was heavily involved in. Been a little less than two years since Simone officially signed. I wonder when we may actually see her on TV.
• In an update on the health of Orange Cassidy, it sounds like he passed concussion testing, per Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live.
• He ended up competing in the triple threat title match at the upcoming Double or Nothing show. (1/1)
• F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer said the reason why Santana missed this week’s (May 12) episode of Dynamite is because he is currently sick.
• Hopefully it was nothing too bad - he was back in time for Stadium Stampede so likely not.
• There’s speculation that the reason why Christian was dumped into a battle royal at AEW Double or Nothing is because he was originally supposed to wrestle against Ricky Starks on the card, but plans changed after Starks suffered a neck fracture.
• Starks has only had a handful of matches since his fracture, most being in the last few months. It makes sense given the severity of the injury, though it’s surprising he wrestled so soon after.

May 15, 2021

• WrestleVotes says there’s been talk in WWE about giving Damian Priest a big push and moving Aleister Black over to Raw. The idea is that the top of the Raw roster is weak and needs some fresh faces now that Randy Orton and AJ Styles are competing in the tag team division.
• Priest has gotten a push. Black was moved to the unemployment line (then quickly to AEW where he’s been doing very well). (1/2)
• Regarding the whereabouts of Bray Wyatt, Fightful Select reports that he’s been backstage at more than one episode of Raw since WrestleMania, but not in the last couple weeks. The talent and staff they spoke with believes that he wants to be on television.
• Probably the most shocking release in this past year.
• According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, AEW has been in talks with Andrade.
• He debuted a few weeks later. (1/1)
• The Observer also says that a segment for Throwback SmackDown involving Pat McAfee impersonating a younger Vince McMahon was scrapped because Vince thought it looked stupid.
• I bet Pat would have made it work. He’s been a fantastic addition to SmackDown.
• Bea Priestley will almost certainly be joining the NXT UK roster, per the Observer.
• She did as Blair Davenport. (1/1)

May 17, 2021

• Along with last night’s Hell in a Cell announcement, Mat Men’s Andrew Zarian is “hearing Money in the Bank [will be on] July 18th with [a] live audience”.
• That’s accurate. (1/1)
• While specifying he hasn’t gotten a clear answer regarding Keith Lee, on PW Insider Elite Audio Mike Johnson said he’s “been led to believe” Lee’s absence from WWE television is “more of a creative thing than an injury thing”.
• It was a health issue for a long while. According to him, there were three or four months of waiting to be cleared after being pulled in February. (0/1)
• “Many people within Impact have kinda been hinting to” Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer “that they figure that Don Callis is going to wind up as a full-timer in AEW as Kenny Omega’s manager.”
• This sounds about right. (1/1)
• Contrary to a previous rumor, Ringside News claims a source told them “the plans for the SmackDown Tag Team titles do not include The Usos at the moment.” Jimmy & Jey will be focused on “the Roman Reigns ‘soap opera’” and not the tag division.
• They won the titles not too far from this. (0/1)
• Performance Center talent Joe Gacy, Daniel Vidot and Cal Bloom were the zombies who took bumps at WrestleMania Backlash, according to Fightful Select.
• The zombies that took the Miz out for the first time.

May 18, 2021

• According to Wrestling Observer, the script for last night’s Raw was “torn up several times” during the day on Monday, and was still being rewritten in the late afternoon.
• I don’t know why they bother writing a script before 5 PM.
• The WWE title Triple Threat was originally supposed to main event WrestleMania Backlash, says Ringside News. The Observer confirmed that, and added “the entire order of the matches were changed the day of more than once.”
• The main event ended up being Roman Reigns vs. Antonio Cesaro.
• Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Podcast hinted that WWE will refreshing their set designs soon.
• They’re not drastically different than pre-COVID, but they had new ones when they hit the road. (1/1)
• Miz suffered a knee injury at WrestleMania Backlash, per the Observer (Update: Word is he has a torn ACL).
• It was an ACL, but he wasn’t out for long. At least not as long as you’d think. Much like Ricky Starks with that neck injury. Though it’s as possible that the initially reporting/prognosis was more drastic than needed to be before they learned more. Meaning less very fast healing and more expecting worse early on. Or a combination of both. (1/1)
• Fightful Select reports Indus Sher’s Saurav wasn’t called up to work with his old partner Rinku and Jinder Mahal on Raw because he was deemed “not television ready.”
• That’s a reason to not bring them up.

May 19, 2021

• Ringside News says there still aren’t any plans in place for SummerSlam.
• Probably took them some time to arrange the stadium.
• AJ Styles worked the match against Elias on Raw as a babyface but Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio said the ThunderDome was instructed to boo him.
• Whatever happened to Elias?
• Alvarez also said the Damian Priest vs. Miz match with the zombies at WrestleMania Backlash was pre-taped.
• Make sense. Harder to do something like that live.
• Sticking with Alvarez, he mentioned on Wrestling Observer Live that fans will indeed be back starting on the July 16, 2021 episode of Friday Night SmackDown.
• That’s accurate. It was so good to have fans back. (1/1)
• Fightful Select says The Miz was widely praised backstage for finishing out the match against Priest despite suffering a torn ACL.
• All signs point to the fact that Miz is well respected in the locker room.

May 20, 2021

• In the renegotiation of their deal with WarnerMedia, PW Insider says, “the word making the rounds is that... AEW is receiving in the area of an ‘eight figure payday’”.
• Glad they’re doing well. It’s very important to the landscape.
• WWE currently plans to bring Zelina Vega back to the main roster and not NXT, according to Ringside News.
• She did not go to NXT. (1/1)
• Per Insider, Drake Wuertz has already contacted independent promoters to let them know he’s available and ready to work.
• He’s had a handful of appearances but it is mainly focusing on his... sigh... political career.
• Fightful Select reports AEW will hold Full Gear in St. Louis on Sat., Nov. 6. The plan is to run Rampage there the night before, as well.
• Full Gear was in Minnesota on the 13th. (0/2)
• In the latest sign that his time there is winding down, Fightful says Don Callis was only at the first day of Impact’s recent three day taping. He left with Kenny Omega after the pair filmed all the content needed for this batch of episodes.
• His creative Impact run, when I was watching, was solid. Some good stuff but some meandering stuff.

This week: 11/17 - 65%

Overall: 3,945/6,991 - 56.4%

Have a great week, everyone!