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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
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that NXT star Mia Yim was one of the RETRIBUTION members who appeared on Raw this week to attack the Mysterio family, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll be part of the group.
- She is still part of the group.
- Dominik Dijakovic and Dio Maddin are also believed to have been members of RETRIBUTION for that segment, per Wrestling Inc.
- That is accurate. (2/2)
- WrestleVotes says that WWE’s current plan is to induct the members of the 2020 Hall of Fame class during WrestleMania 37 as the class of 2021.
- That’s the idea that’s been reported, but WWE hasn’t officially announced such. And honestly, with their schedule booked from Wed through Monday (NXT, TakeOver, SmackDown, Mania Night 1, Night 2, Raw), I don’t know when they’d fit the Hall of Fame.
- PW Insider notes that WWE is conducting a job search for a new lead writer on SmackDown.
- SmackDown has been really good lately, though don’t know if this has anything to do with that.
- Jimmy Uso told Table Talk that he tore his ACL in the first minute of his match at WrestleMania 36, and he is targeting a return in January 2021.
- He hasn’t returned yet. (0/1)
- According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Roman Reigns return was kept a secret from nearly everyone, including the writers.
- Must have been a nice surprise.
- While there was talk of Edge vs. Randy Orton headlining WrestleMania 37, the Observer says the last word is there is no clear main event direction at this point.
- I wonder if Roman’s return threw a wrench into their tentative plans.
- The early expectation is there will be multiple title changes at Payback.
- Roman Reigns won the Universal title, Lashley won the United States title, and Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax won the Women’s tag team titles. (1/1)
- Per PW Insider, Austin Theory is officially off the Raw roster and no longer associated with Seth Rollins & Murphy.
- He returned to NXT. (1/1)
- Insider also says Cody may be off AEW TV for a while to do something with the Heels series on STARZ that Stephen Amell asked him to be a part of.
- Hew was off TV for less than a month. (0/1)
- According to PW Insider, plans call for SmackDown’s top heel to be Roman Reigns. The brand’s top face will be Bray Wyatt.
- Wyatt moved to Raw too soon for that to take place for him, not that he’s a top babyface on Raw either. Roman is top heel. (1/2)
- A source tells WrestlingNews.co that WWE is planning a long Universal title reign for Reigns, up until at least WrestleMania 37.
- It’s possible he loses it at Fastlane. I don’t think he will, but I’ll hold out to grade for sure in case something crazy happens.
- Speaking of next year’s WrestleMania, Charlotte Flair shot down a report (based on a quote from her father, Ric) that she would not be back for the show... while taking a well-deserved shot at the website reporting it.
- She’s back on TV and will surely be on the show. (1/1)
- Tom Colohue of Sportskeeda says that WWE was planning to run a Drew McIntyre/Randy Orton rematch at Payback, but it was thrown out as part of Vince McMahon’s late changes to last Monday’s Raw.
- Drew had Payback off. Randy lost to Keith Lee.
- In addition to this week’s show, according to USA’s schedule the NHL playoffs will bump NXT to Tuesday on Sept. 8, too. WWE will air replays both Wednesdays on SyFy. A source told Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer it’s because they don’t want Dynamite running unopposed.
- NXT did well on those Tuesdays and now may be moving there permanently.
- A source told WrestleVotes the situation between Brock Lesnar & WWE will be resolved once Lesnar lets WWE know he’s ready to work again, or when WWE needs Brock badly enough they offer a deal he can’t refuse: “Currently, it’s nothing more than that.”
- Going on a year with no Brock. While I don’t dislike Brock, I haven’t missed him either.
- Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT reports Vince McMahon asked Randy Orton to make Keith Lee a star at Payback. Vince wants to “push Lee to the moon.”
- I wouldn’t say Keith has been pushed to the moon, but it’s still early in his main roster run. He hasn’t been on TV for a bit now, and the reason is unclear.
- On Sunday Night’s Main Event, Dave Meltzer talked the Roman Reigns heel turn. It’s been in the works for a while, and is something Reigns has wanted for a while.
- It’s been fantastic.
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer said AEW’s second show for WarnerMedia is still a go and should launch before the end of the year.
- Still waiting on said second AEW show. (0/1)
- Per PW Insider, WWE has signed Evolve wrestlers Josh Briggs, Anthony Greene, Joe Gacy, Brandi Lauren & Curt Stallion and referee Jake Clemon.
- All of these are accurate. (6/6)
- There’s a lot of talk, from PWInsider’s Mike Johnson and others, that the IIconics break-up happened so WWE can give Peyton Royce a singles push.
- There’s been no singles push. Billie Kay has had more spotlight. And overall, it looks like they broke up an entertaining act where no clear direction for either woman, which is something they’ll do often and is extremely frustrating. (0/1)
- RETRIBUTION is only expected to be used on Raw going forward, per Post Wrestling’s John Pollock.
- Eventually, they were officially drafted there. (1/1)
- WrestleVotes says NXT considered two options for the finish of last night’s 4Way Iron Man title match: the tie ending they went with, and having Pat McAfee interfere to cost Adam Cole the belt.
- This was when they had to fill the vacant NXT title that Karrion Kross vacated.
- In line with yesterday’s rumor on Keith Lee, Sportskeeda’s Gary Cassidy says Lee’s in line for a “big, but steady, push.” Cassidy also says we should expect WWE to “tweak” things like Lee’s music and ring gear during the push.
- “Big but steady” is inaccurate. It’s been more stop & go. They did give him new music and he did tweak his gear. (1/2)
- Fightful Select reports Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir matches in Raw Underground that were filmed last week but cut from the Aug. 24 broadcast were well-received, so WWE decided to use Duke & Shafir again this week and incorporate them into the IIconics break-up story.
- What breakup story? There was no story? They randomly were put in a match that if they lost, they had to break up. I’m getting heated about this IIconics break up again!
- Dana White told TMZ he would be interested in booking Brock Lesnar vs. Jon Jones, but the expectation remains that Lesnar will come back to WWE.
- I don’t think Lesnar is ever fighting in the UFC again.
- WrestleVotes says there has been some discussion within WWE of moving NXT off Wednesday nights.
- That may be on the horizon. But no official announcement about anything.
- The Observer notes that Rey Mysterio’s injury isn’t serious and the belief is he won’t need surgery and may only miss a couple months.
- Mysterio was wrestling by November. (1/1)
- According to PW Insider, Nigel McGuinness is expected to return to work for WWE soon.
- He returned in September for the NXT UK tapings. (1/1)
- When MLW returns to TV it will have a new name and will not debut on Saturdays on BeIN Sport but rather a primetime slot on a weekday on Fubo Sports Network, per Insider.
- This looks accurate. Fubo on Wednesdays. (1/1)
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned that Brock Lesnar has not put himself in the USADA testing pool, which means he’s not interested in returning to UFC.
- I don’t think Brock is doing anything until crowds are back. Unless he shows up in AEW tonight. (He won’t.)
- Meltzer also notes that WWE is contemplating “cutting way back” on house shows when things return to normal.
- We’ll find out, but I bet this will turn out to be true.
- Tony Khan revealed the All Out pre-show bout of Big Swole vs. Britt Baker will be a cinematic match. Meltzer indicates it will take place at Baker’s dental office.
- That ended up being a pretty fun time.
- PW Insider says the upcoming NXT TakeOver schedule includes shows on Oct. 4 and Dec. 6 (both Sundays), but nothing is currently planned for the night before Survivor Series in November.
- That’s accurate. (1/1)
- Renee Young appeared on Sports Media with Richard Deitsch and said that she considered leaving WWE several years ago, but the company wouldn’t let her out of her talent contract.
- That’s tough.
- Per the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Roman Reigns is the one who asked to turn heel upon his return to WWE.
- You can tell how much he enjoys the role.
- Not surprisingly, PW Insider notes a lot of WWE talent reacted negatively to word from WWE that they must cease engaging with third parties using their WWE likeness. There was even talk of “pushing back” against it.
- Zelina Vega left instead of giving into it.
- Mike Rome seemed to indicate they’ll just have to use their real name and won’t be required to stop using Twitch or Tik Tok or YouTube altogether.
- This isn’t accurate. (0/1)
- The belief remains that WWE won’t be doing a show in Saudi Arabia this year due to the pandemic, per the Observer.
- Yeah, that didn’t happen to the surprise of no one. (1/1)
- For whatever it’s worth, Eddie Kingston told Chris Jericho on an episode of his podcast that WWE offered him a contract after he debuted on AEW television.
- I don’t think he would have fit in the WWE system at all.
This week: 19/26 - 73%
August 2020: 30/53 - 57%
Overall: 3,674/6,531 - 56.3%
Have a good week, everyone. Stay safe out there.