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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.
- PW Insider notes that Eva Marie is still regularly going to Orlando to train for her return to WWE and she’s listed as a member of the roster internally.
- She discussed recently about how she was supposed to debut sooner than she did. But she’s on TV now. (1/1)
- The Observer notes that right now it’s looking like Daniel Bryan or Goldberg are the most likely opponents for Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 37.
- Daniel Bryan was part of a triple threat with Edge. Goldberg didn’t work Mania. (1/1)
- Insider also says that Paige is going against the WWE edict to stop streaming on Twitch, as opposed to working something out with the company.
- She’s still streaming. WWE doesn’t have much leverage in this situation.
- There’s some speculation that Ethan Page could be WWE bound due to his pulling merchandise but it’s unclear if that’s the case at this time.
- He ended up in AEW. (0/1)
- Konnan recently mentioned on his podcast that AAA likely won’t run any shows again until late January.
- Looks like early February.
- Things with last night’s Raw “fell behind schedule” from a production standpoint, per Fightful Select, but that didn’t have anything to do with advertised names like Candice Michelle & Carlito not being there.
- I can imagine that running a 3-hour variety show weekly would often lead to episodes that fall behind schedule.
- AEW will tape all their February shows in Miami, according to bodyslam.net. That includes the Revolution PPV. The report doesn’t specify a venue, but notes there have been complaints about cold working outdoors in Jacksonville.
- That did not happen. They stuck to Daily’s Place. (0/1)
- Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful tweeted that it was clear Marty Scurll was done at ROH when the company removed him from their roster page in September and reached out to his ex Deonna Purrazzo about returning while she Impact Knockouts champ.
- His career is probably done.
- On Konnan’s Keepin it 100 podcast, Rey & Dominik Mysterio said Dominik will be moving to Florida temporarily so he can train more, either at the Performance Center in Orlando or at Tyson Kidd’s gym in Tampa.
- Tyson is one of the best to learn from.
- More WWE trademark filings that seem to point to the new stable with Xia Li & Boa in NXT: “The Hand” and “Shou” & “手”. The last two both translate to “hand”.
- I don’t think any of these are used. I’ve looked back at some old videos and I don’t believe that symbol is one that’s shown on the video screens. (0/1)
- Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio said WWE just decided on having Goldberg challenge Drew McIntyre for the WWE championship at Royal Rumble this past Saturday.
- That was a decent match, which is Goldberg’s ceiling at this point.
- Not surprisingly, they also say the McIntyre vs. Keith Lee match went too long and McIntyre was supposed to cut a promo that Goldberg would be responding to, and that’s why Goldberg’s promo didn’t make a lot of sense.
- That was really weird. Goldberg talked about Drew disrespected legends when McIntyre didn’t say anything at all and it made zero sense.
- PW Insider says the show was originally planned to open with Hulk Hogan cutting a promo in the ring but they changed it to the cold open they ultimately went with.
- It was some taped bit with Hogan narrating talking about his hPhone.
- They also say original plans called for Randy Orton vs. Jeff Hardy to main event the show but that was changed late in the day.
- The main event was the angle where Drew won a big match and then Goldberg challenged him. I wonder if they didn’t figure out what the plan was for Goldberg until later.
- Inside the Ropes notes that despite reports going around that Mickie James was quietly moved to the Legends side of the WWE roster, she’s still an active performer for the company and has been cleared to wrestle.
- She’s since been released and working in NWA.
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed the build WWE had been doing to Roman Reigns vs. Goldberg. The late decision to have Goldberg challenge Drew McIntyre at Royal Rumble wasn’t a swerve, but presumably because “they have nobody ready.”
- It was a fine brief feud. It’s not good if they don’t have someone ready to face their champ though so have to call a 53 year old man.
- An NXT talent was scripted to debut on SmackDown last Friday in the main event segment with Roman Reigns, Jey Uso & Kevin Owens, per WrestleVotes.
- That was supposed to be Damien Priest, which Owens confirmed. (1/1)
- Fightful says that person was Damian Priest. WrestleVotes’ source didn’t know if the plan was scrapped or just delayed a week to allow for Priest’s match on last night’s NXT.
- It was scrapped. (1/1)
- Jeff Jarrett is “heavily involved” with WWE’s India project, reports Sportskeeda. Jarrett, who has experience in the region from working on TNA’s Ring ka King, is “tasked with searching for a native-born Indian WWE Superstar.”
- That makes sense given his past work over there.
- In a report on their Patreon Select site, Fightful says Ethan Page has already left Impact. His cinematic match for next weekend’s Hard to Kill PPV was filmed back in November.
- That cinematic was a source of some conflict.
- According to Fightful, some people in WWE were hopeful that Goldberg would improvise lines in his promo on Raw to make up for Drew McIntyre’s promo being cut, but Goldberg didn’t budge from the original script.
- That’s pretty funny. Just a dude saying words that don’t make sense.
- Fightful also says there is no heat from WWE on Snoop Dogg following his appearance on AEW Dynamite this week.
- It’s not like Snoop would give a damn. He claims they were pissed afterwards but got over it.
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez said that Nick Jackson was worried that he broke his leg during Dynamite’s opening bout, and that’s why he didn’t use a superkick during the Bullet Club reunion. It turns out that Jackson only has a leg contusion, and he won’t miss any time.
- Must have been a pretty painful contusion.
- PW Insider notes that Timothy Thatcher’s injury is a work. NXT decided to push the Fight Pit back, so they created a kayfabe Thatcher injury to explain that decision.
- Yeah, this was all a bit weird. That was a big drawing point for the show they ran and then they didn’t do it. I don’t know if we know for sure if he was banged up or was good to go.
- Insider was told that Carlito declined WWE’s offer to appear at Legends Night because he didn’t want to travel across the country just for a quick cameo.
- He appeared in the Royal Rumble and the night after looking jacked.
- According to Fightful, Seth Rollins and Matt Riddle have apparently squashed their beef after a talk backstage, apparently back at Survivor Series.
- Riddle just talked about this. (1/1)
- WrestleVotes mentions Jay White rumors of going to WWE and how some in the company “have gone out of their way to speak highly of him.”
- He’s not in WWE. (0/1)
- The Super J-Cast have said it’s 50/50 on whether or not White stays with New Japan.
- He’s still with them.
- The Observer confirms there have been talks of AEW moving to Miami to tape television in the near future.
- That never happen. Though their first show after Daily’s Place was in Miami. (0/1)
- Tony Schiavone mentioned on the AEW Unrestricted podcast that WWE wanted him to end his career in the company but then balked after he gave them a dollar amount.
- He was barely with WWE in his lifetime so it wouldn’t have made sense to end his career there.
This week: 5/10 - 50%
Overall: 3,795/6,756 - 56.2%
Have a great week, everyone!