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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.
- Shane McMahon has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit against Ideanomics, where he’d been a top executive since 2010. The lawsuit alleges “unjust enrichment, abuse of control, gross mismanagement, waste of corporate assets.” The full complaint can be read at HeelByNature.
- It can’t seem to find any outcome to this.
- Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that AEW has held off peaking the push of some wrestlers right now without fans in the arena, because they don’t want “to do the Drew McIntyre thing” to them.
- They started allowing fans into the arena soon after, though they still don’t have the type of crowds they probably want for certain angles. I wonder if they waited on Hangman Page’s payoff because they really wanted a full crowd for it. It feels like they opted to tread water with him for awhile, though I like the Matt Hardy story they’re telling with him.
- On Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez said that Sammy Guevara threw the wrong chair at Matt Hardy on Dynamite, and that’s why the planned spot went wrong and caused so much blood loss.
- This feud has had too many mishaps.
- Eric Bischoff mentioned to WrestleZone that his appearance on Dynamite this week was nothing more than a cameo for AEW.
- He’s not working for them full time. (1/1)
- Eric Young told Sportskeeda that he is signed exclusively to Impact Wrestling.
- EY is back home.
- According to WrestleVotes, WWE is currently planning to start live programming on the SmackDown before SummerSlam. They apparently haven’t decided on fans yet and there is no exact location as of right now.
- This is accurate. There were no live fans, but that was the first ThunderDome episode. (1/1)
- NXT TakeOver, however, will still take place in Orlando.
- They revamped the Performance Center to become the Capitol Wrestling Center for NXT shows. (1/1)
- The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes the Shane McMahon return and Raw Underground idea were fleshed out in the middle of the week and Vince McMahon wouldn’t commit to anything else except for the Randy Orton story.
- Likely due to a Covid outbreak a couple months later, they stopped Raw Underground. Shane did show up on Monday to help Adam Pearce name the Elimination Chamber main event, which was odd. This has to be the start of Shane setting up a program for WrestleMania.
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, it was noted there was a lot of heat on Sammy Guevara for using the wrong chair in the angle with Matt Hardy on Dynamite.
- This was not a great time for Sammy.
- Scott D’Amore mentioned on Twitter wanting to put together inter promotional matches with AEW but that’s not expected anytime soon, if at all.
- It happened eventually given their current arrangement. I would say it’s soon enough since it’s been within six months. (0/1)
- There’s been a lot of talk of Big E wrestling for a title sooner rather than later, likely AJ Styles for the Intercontinental championship.
- Big E won the Intercontinental title on Christmas against Sami Zayn. He never had a match with AJ Styles, though given Omos eliminated E at the Royal Rumble, that’ll probably be a match that happens eventually. (1/2)
- The Observer notes that no one will say anything but there is a lot of internal unhappiness over NXT losing to AEW in viewership each week.
- I can imagine it’s frustrating.
- They also say the yellow brand has added two writers and is now up to five since the move to television.
- I guess they need to have more hands on deck with it’s a weekly live televised show.
- WWE developmental talent is expected to return to training at a warehouse near the Performance Center today, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. There will be frequent testing and mandatory masks for anyone not in the ring, with only two people in the ring at a time.
- This led to some COVID issues down the line.
- Dave Meltzer noted on Twitter that the hope is Will Ospreay will be back in New Japan for the G1.
- He was. (1/1)
- Raw Underground is Shane McMahon’s idea, per Sportskeeda’s Tom Colohue, who also says “people in the WWE are really quite high on some of Shane’s ideas recently.”
- It was unique but didn’t seem to have any purpose. There was nothing about it that made you think, “I need to see what happens on Raw Underground this week.” So it ended up being just something different for different’s sake. Maybe they were heading somewhere. Some guys on Underground were appearing on Raw towards the end. But then it went away.
- In an interview with Newsweek, MVP said he “understood” that Samoa Joe would be back in action soon.
- Joe hasn’t been back in the ring in a while. (0/1)
- After Mustafa Ali lost to Riddick Moss on Main Event, WrestlingNews.co speculated that Vince McMahon has given up on Ali.
- While we can’t know what’s inside Vince’s head, he gave Ali the spot as leader of RETRIBUTION, which while isn’t the most prestigious role, it is still giving Ali a good amount of TV time. (0/1)
- Dexter Lumis’ ankle injury happened on the July 29 NXT when he flipped over the top rope and landed on his feet, according to both Dave Meltzer & Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer. WWE heavily edited the spot for television.
- Luckily he was only out a few months.
- On Fightful Select, Sean Ross Sapp reported that some WWE coaches were “frustrated” that Performance Center recruits were getting paid even though they couldn’t train.
- So the coaches don’t want people getting paid during a pandemic for reasons outside their control? Seems rather shitty.
- Randy Orton taking out Ric Flair was his television write off, says WrestlingNews.co, and he’s done with WWE for now.
- While he wasn’t a weekly performance, the dude never went away. And he is a weekly performer now. (0/1)
- Per Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Kevin Owens was going to be in a program with Seth Rollins right now but that was changed when Rey Mysterio agreed to stay, and that’s why he hasn’t had his own storyline.
- Plans always changing.
- PW Insider notes the next NXT TakeOver after SummerSlam weekend will be on Sun., Oct. 4.
- That was TakeOver 31. (1/1)
- They also say the next NXT UK event planned for that month may not be happening due to the ongoing pandemic.
- It came back in September. (0/1)
- For whatever it’s worth, Bryan Alvarez mention on Wrestling Observer Live that the upcoming ROH TV tapings will be different than anything we’ve seen in pro wrestling.
- They are the best when it comes to covid prevention - testing and a true bubble. (1/1)
- SummerSlam won’t be at the Performance Center but there won’t be fans in attendance either, according to WrestleVotes.
- This is accurate. (2/2)
- The exact location wasn’t known, but the Twitter account says the location in the Northeast WWE was hoping for looks “iffy at best.”
- That did not happen. They stayed in friendly Florida.
- PW Insider indicates the show will happen in Florida after WWE dropped plans for Atlantic City. They don’t say where in Florida, however.
- This is accurate a well, all talking about the ThunderDome in Amway. (1/1)
- A Fightful Select report says the heat on Sammy Guevara for throwing the wrong chair at Matt Hardy on the Aug. 5 Dynamite was because people backstage thought he was “reckless.” Given that the show was pre-taped, the scene could have been re-shot when Guevara couldn’t find the right chair.
- Very understandable, though these guys are also trained to never stop. Tapings when they can edit stuff is more foreign to them. But safety should always be first.
- NXT taping was halted on Wednesday when Johnny Gargano “took a scary landing on his head” during his match with Ridge Holland for the Aug. 19 episode, per Post Wrestling. Gargano is believed to be okay. After a delay, trainers okayed him to finish the match, and he will be checked out again later.
- This was a scary bump.
This week: 10/16 - 63%
Overall: 3,645/6,486 - 56.2%
Have a good week, everyone. Stay safe out there.