Rumor Look Back: Oct 24 - 30, 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 jump right to it.

October 25, 2021

• PW Torch is now saying that the heat on Charlotte Flair is such that no women in WWE want to work with her right now.
• That seems excessive given she’s still one of their top women so working with Charlotte means a spotlight. But rumors of her heat had become more frequent around this time. And they will dominate this Look Back.
• Furthermore, Fightful Select says Charlotte has been outspoken about WWE creative for some time now, and there are those within the locker room who doubt the story about her wanting to lose to Bianca Belair.
• If true, and we really don’t know, that’s tough if her own coworkers think she’s full of shit.
• Sticking with Fightful Select, they say Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt were pursued heavily by Impact Wrestling but deals weren’t able to be made.
• I don’t know how heavily they were pursued but neither of them have done any work for them.
• Bronson Reed was originally booked for Bound for Glory but that was changed and he never worked the show, per Fightful. It’s unknown why.
• JONAH eventually worked with them. He recently lost to Tomohiro Ishii at Rebellion.
• The Observer notes that Lance Archer was very angry backstage about the way his match with Eddie Kingston was cut short because of the injury he suffered on a moonsault.
• That type of thing happens and talent is often pissed. (Bryan Danielson was once pissed at Triple H for a match being stopped due to an injury he sustained in WWE.) But they have to prioritize safety over what the talent wants. Because the talent is always going to try to power through.

October 26, 2021

• WWE is building Roman Reigns up to be the greatest champion of all-time, sources told WrestlingNews.co. As part of that, he’ll break Brock Lesnar’s record for longest Universal title reign. Speculation, from Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio and elsewhere, is that Reigns vs. Lesnar is the planned main event of WrestleMania 38.
• Roman passed Brock’s title record. They were the main event of WrestleMania as well. Title vs. title in that match. (2/2)
• A source discussing the Charlotte Flair situation with Meltzer noted that WWE is in “a tricky situation”. If WWE were to fire her, AEW would sign her. And if they discipline her, they’ll have to do the same with others over their backstage behavior. “They have their hands full with this situation.”
• I can’t imagine they’d ever fire her. I still think most of the rumors about this were pretty hyperbolic. Maybe people were pissed at the time. But they were never firing her. It was always going to pass.
• PW Insider says on internal lists, WWE has undrafted talents assigned as follows: Asuka, Elias & Lucha House Party on Raw, Dakota Kai on NXT, and Brock Lesnar on SmackDown.
• Elias never returned. Brock was more of a free agent, working both brands this last 6 months. Lucha House Party was soon released so they never touched Raw. Asuka just returned six months later, but she did return to Raw. I’d count the recently released Dakota as correct. (2/4)
• Regarding the Sept. 3 or 4 dates on WWE’s 2022 PPV schedule, Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp tweeted that tentative plans call for that to be held in the United Kingdom. That means that if the show is the same days as AEW All Out (which always runs Labor Day weekend), the two events would air at different times.
• That’s accurate. Sept. 3 in the UK with a pretty baller name. (1/1)
• AEW and Impact’s partnership ended after Bound For Glory, per Ringside News.
• That seemed to be the case. (1/1)

October 27, 2021

• WrestleVotes claims Halloween Havoc was meant to launch the Bron Breakker era. There were apparently talks of his winning the title but that obviously didn’t end up happening.
• They waited a bit longer. He won at New Year’s Evil. He lost it to Ziggler and then won it back on the Raw after Mania.
• On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned there’s a real strong sentiment that all WrestleMania shows going forward will be two night events.
• That looks to be the case. Even with a weaker feeling card this year, that still is the right choice. Those marathon shows were brutal, though this is speaking as someone who goes to them. May feel different if you’re watching from the couch at home. (1/1)
• Meltzer also said that the two Saudi Arabia shows in 2022 will indeed happen in February and October they just haven’t nailed down exact dates yet.
• One happened in February. They haven’t announced the likely October show yet.
• Sticking with Meltzer and WOR, a fun conspiracy theory come to life: There was talk that MSK has been getting booed at NXT tapings because Izzy’s parents led a concerted effort to work against them after they spoke out against a spot Izzy did years ago. Meltzer says that’s actually what has been happening.
• The Starbucks hold sway over the vast NXT crowd.
• Per the Observer, Chad Gable leaving WWE has been talked about, and he’s had friends tell him he should go, but it’s unclear if it will actually happen.
• I don’t know when his contract is up. He’s still in WWE and he’s killing it with his current iteration.

October 28, 2021

• ROH COO Joe Koff “told talent he had multiple meetings trying to fight for ROH, but ultimately Sinclair made the call” to release wrestlers from their contracts and go on hiatus, tweeted Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp. “Talent was told there was some type of TV show that will be in place after Final Battle but weren’t told what that would be.”
• Tony Khan ended up buying the promotion.
• While speaking with the MCW Cast, Doc Gallows claimed that during his time with WWE he heard the company’s plan was to “control all the indies and have everything self-produced through them. This was before AEW had officially launched and that was kind of the plan.”
• Triple H did announce a plan for global domination.
• The tag teams of Veer & Shanky, T-BAR & MACE, Natalya & Tamina, and Shotzi & Tegan Nox all found out they were being split in the WWE Draft via social media, according to Fightful Select.
• I mean at least shoot them a text first or something.
• Fightful also says Adam Pearce & Molly Holly produced last Friday’s controversial Charlotte Flair/Becky Lynch title exchange segment.
• That segment was doomed to fail. The idea of swapping titles is inherently dumb and they didn’t have to book themselves into this corner.
• MLW recently released some wrestlers, according to PW Insider. The site says Bu Ku Dao, Beastman, and Leo Brien are confirmed, but there may also be more names.
• Looks like these three haven’t worked MLW in six months, though some hadn’t worked for them even longer than that. (1/1)

October 29, 2021

• Mat Men’s Andrew Zarian said the narrative that WWE released Bray Wyatt due to budget cuts is “utter bullshit.”
• I believe this. Bray’s release, especially after a bunch of very negative things were leaked by WWE, sounds like much more than money.
• In the aftermath of the backstage incident with Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch, Sean Ross Sapp mentioned that WWE pulled Flair from her media appearances this week.
• This all seemed to blow over. Was there actually fire that matched the severity of this smoke? Were things really heated enough that they had to pull her from media?
• Sports Illustrated says the ROH video library is available for purchase and will go to the highest bidder. They have been trying to sell the Sinclair archive (content from 2012 on) for over a year. The library includes the All In event from 2018.
• That library went to Tony Khan alongside the entire ROH.
• Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer said the reason Toxic Attraction is getting pushed so hard in NXT 2.0 is to attract young male viewers.
• I don’t think that’s worked. They pulled a 0.14 last week. I don’t have the break downs for young males but in general, the ratings aren’t great for NXT.
• AAA tag team champions FTR are heading to Mexico for AAA’s taping on Nov. 4 with Vickie Guerrero as their manager, per Meltzer. AAA also wants to book FTR for a tag title match at Triplemania Regia on Dec. 4, but it’s not clear if that will happen.
• They worked against the Lucha Bros and won to retain those titles.

October 30, 2021

• WWE has a new directive when it comes to hiring referees, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter: “they should be shorter to make the talent look taller.”
• I guess that makes sense. Like Earl Hebner was never towering over anyone. I don’t think it is essential, but if they want to make wrestlers who are no longer all over 6’2” seem larger than life, then this would be a way about it.
• The WON also discusses heat on Charlotte Flair in the women’s locker room, noting that it’s a case of a lot of little things piling up. One of those is that despite the fact she’s a heel, Flair gets to do crowd-pleasing moves like dives and her moonsault to the floor. Those are seen as making it harder to get over as a babyface working against her.
• That’s an understandable complaint. Though that is an issue that can be levied against plenty of heels.
• Vince McMahon flew back to Saudi Arabia after Crown Jewel for a previously planned business meeting, reports the WON.
• Maybe just instinct to get the hell out of there ASAP.
• The Elite’s original plan for Wednesday’s Dynamite was to wear Squid Game costumes, but Fightful Select says TNT didn’t like the idea (probably because its a Netflix property), so they switched to the Ghostbusters.
• They worked the Squid Game costumes into a BTE.
• Jimmy Yang, who as Jimmy Wang Yang was a member of the WWE roster in the aughts, started working as a producer on Raw this week, per the Observer. PW Insider also says Petey Williams is getting a tryout as a producer on SmackDown.
• Jimmy was released by the end of the year.

This week: 8/10 - 80%

October 2021: 31/55 - 56%

Overall: 4,139/7,299 - 56.7%

Have a great week, everyone!