Rumor Look Back: June 5 - 11, 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!

June 5, 2021

• Fightful Select says there were “significantly different” plans for Lana earlier this year before Charlotte returned. They also say Vince McMahon personally assured her that it wouldn’t be the end of the Lana character. In addition, she would often check in about her creative direction.
• She’s since been released.
• Per the Observer, NXT is going to start running house shows again in July throughout Florida.
• It doesn’t look like NXT has done any touring since returning. Hell, they haven’t worked outside the PC. (0/1)
• They also say the belief is the wrestlers will be asked to get vaccinated because of where they’ll be running shows.
• I think all they’ve done is ask/suggest. There was word that some of those released at one point this year were released because of their vaccination status, but that’s also been disputed.
• Chris Jericho’s deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling ended in Jan. 2020, says the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Harold Meij “was negative” on the cost of the contract.
• Jericho was a main reason I started paying attention to NJPW when he initially showed up. But I lost interest during his subsequent appearances. I wonder if others who were interested at first lost interest as well.
• The WON also reiterated that Molly Holly got a tryout as a Producer at WWE and added “there has been some talk about hiring women for that spot.”
• I believe she was hired.

June 7, 2021

• The Wrestling Observer says that Roman Reigns vs. Rey Mysterio in a Universal championship match is currently planned for WWE Hell in a Cell on June 20.
• That match happened on SmackDown prior to the PPV. (0/1)
• PW Insider says that WWE plans to ensure SummerSlam is finished in time for fans to either attend or watch the Manny Pacquiao fight taking place the same night in Las Vegas.
• The length of the show was 4 hours, 7 minutes long. It started 7 ET so ended at 11 PM ET. That would be 8 PM PT. It doesn’t look like the Pacquiao fight started until 9. (1/1)
• Andrade met with Tony Khan back in March after he was released by WWE, says Wrestling Inc. They say those negotiations hit a snag over Andrade’s contract demands including creative control and “veto power on losing.” Obviously, they reached a compromise on that and he will “have a limited amount of creative control on his finishes.”
• I think that was later disputed. Which is understandable. It’s crazy to give any act creative control in their finishes. Especially some one good but not essential like Andrade.
• BodySlam.net says Rey Fenix is currently out with a groin injury. He could be out for an additional month.
• It was another month until he was wrestling. (1/1)
• According to Wrestlenomics, AEW Double or Nothing 2021 garnered about 115,000 buys on pay-per-view.
• I actually ordered the last show on PPV instead of Bleacher Report because I don’t care for the B/R stream.

June 8, 2021

• The WWE Draft is scheduled for Aug. 30 & Sept. 3, per Mat Men’s Andrew Zarian.
• It was in October. (0/1)
• Sources told WrestlingNews.co the Usos/Mysterios feud will continue until SummerSlam. Jimmy & Jey will both embrace Roman’s vision, and they’ll win the SmackDown Tag belts by that Aug. 21 show.
• They had those titles by late July and a rematch was held at SummerSlam. (2/2)
• WrestleVotes says they heard “Eva Marie’s return include her having a “muscle” of some sorts by her side.”
• That would be Doudrop. (1/1)
• Mercedes Martinez & Piper Niven are being considered for the role, and Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp heard the plan was Niven “as of a few weeks ago, but plans do change, pal.”
• It was Piper, who underwent a name change. (1/1)
• While discussing Ruby Riott’s WWE release, Wrestling Observer Live’s Bryan Alvarez said Riott & Liv Morgan were scheduled to win WrestleMania 37 Night One’s Tag Turmoil match for a Women’s Tag title shot on Night Two. Plans changed the day of the show to have Natalya & Tamina win. Either way, Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler were planned to retain.
• I picked them to win night one in our predictions, so I like to think I was right but then plans changed.

June 9, 2021

• Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Total Bellas, and it likely ending soon, has not been a factor in whatever Daniel Bryan decides to do with his career going forward.
• I can’t imagine Bryan would have stayed with WWE solely because of that show.
• Ringside News claims Big E wasn’t on SmackDown this past week because Vince McMahon hasn’t decided what to do with him after Aleister Black’s release.
• He eventually moved to Raw to win the WWE title.
• If it wasn’t already clear, PW Insider notes they were told Jaxson Ryker will be a babyface going forward.
• The only time he had an alignment since this was his feud with Elias, and he was a babyface during that. He’s since been released. (1/1)
• Billy Corgan said on Talk is Jericho that NWA was offered to WWE and declined to purchase it.
• Interesting, though with their current cost cutting mode, not surprising.
• The Observer estimates that the Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul fight did 600-650K buys on PPV in the US, though that doesn’t include streaming numbers or anything international.
• That was some spectacle.

June 10, 2021

• ”WWE is 100% attempting to make SummerSlam this year’s WrestleMania,” according to WrestleVotes’ sources, who tell the Twitter account that “all resources will be tapped into.”
• It was a pretty big show. (1/1)
• Votes says WWE hasn’t decided, but they believe the company wants Roman Reigns vs. John Cena to headline the show. Florida sports reporter Jon Alba confirmed with multiple sources that match is “the targeted main event at this moment.”
• That was the main event. (1/1)
• According to PW Insider, there are those within WWE who are pushing to get Aleister Black re-signed. They’re arguing he was “cut too soon”, and was the victim of “broken promises” and “start/stop creative” more than anything he did.
• That did not happen. He’s working with AEW.
• Braun Strowman is asking “in the five figure range” for indie appearances, per PW Insider. “We are told that Strowman is pretty set financially and doesn’t need to immediately run out and do bookings, but if a promoter comes along and meets the right price, that’s a different story.”
• If he doesn’t need to do the indies, then set a high price and do the ones that are worth it. He recently worked an indie to help raise some money for the victims in the Waukesha, Wisconsin parade tragedy.
• In a correction to their initial report, Wrestling Inc now says Andrade’s AEW contract gives him no creative control. In fact, they now say “no one in AEW has creative control in their contracts, as [Tony] Khan has total control over creative.”
• Yeah, this makes some more sense. Here’s splitting the difference between these rumors. (1/2)

June 11, 2021

• Mat Men’s Andrew Zarian says that while Brock Lesnar was initially on the list of big names that WWE wanted for SummerSlam 2021, he is not currently scheduled for the event. Dave Meltzer indicates there are forces in WWE who want to hold off on Lesnar’s return for a feud with Roman Reigns.
• Lesnar showed up at the very end of the show but didn’t work a match. He had a match with Roman at Crown Jewel and will again at Day 1.
• Fightful and several other outlets claim that an NXT TakeOver event is scheduled for August 22, which is the day after SummerSlam. That TakeOver event will take place at the Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, Florida.
• They did. It was a prior era show where Samoa Joe won the title from Karrion Kross. It’s almost easy to forget this happened. Joe soon relinquished the title because he was hurt, leading to Tommaso Ciampa winning it. Kross was called up but soon released. (1/1)
• Following up on a recent rumor that NXT call-ups are coming soon to Raw and SmackDown, Ringside News was told that Vince McMahon is not looking for wrestlers. He’s looking for personalities.
• A good deal of folks called up have since been released.
• PW Insider was told that Bray Wyatt has “purposely been kept off TV” but it’s not because of any kind of backstage heat.
• He too has since been released.
• Wrestling Observer Live’s Bryan Alvarez heard that the Alexa’s playground segment with Lilly and Shayna Baszler that closed out Raw this week was the highest rated quarter hour of the episode.
• Wow.

This week: 11/15 - 73%

Overall: 3,974/7,035 - 56.5%

Have a great week, everyone!