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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.
- A source told PW Insider there was a ”minor freak out” backstage during the main event of Survivor Series due to concern they might run out of time.
- Is this mainly due to the few pay-per-view carriers? I figured on WWE Network and Peacock, they could run over.
- Given that the show was supposed to end at 11:35pm ET, there was some question why so much time was given to the entrances for the men’s elimination tag.
- Yeah, those elimination tags have a ton of entrances, and they can spend too much time on them.
- There were conflicted reports about the match order for Survivor Series. Sunday afternoon, Fightful Select had it that Roman Reigns vs. Big E would open with Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair main eventing, but that site & PW Insider reported the order before showtime. However, a source told Insider the match order we got was “locked in weeks ago”.
- Roman often main events.
- Karen Q, who had been working in NXT as Mei Ying, had her WWE name changed to Wendy Choo. PW Insider also reports three NXT referees have been given new names: Aja Smith is now Daphne Lashaunn, DA Brewer is now Dallas Irvin, and Tom Castor is now Derek Sanders.
- Karen Q went from mythical demon to sleepy gal backstage. Quite the transition. According to their twitters, the NXT ref changes seems accurate. I don’t know if they refer to them by name on the show. (1/1)
- Per Fightful, W. Morrissey’s Impact contract has expired. The former Big Cass is willing to re-sign with Impact but is holding out for an offer that would be considered big “by Impact standards.”
- He’s still working with them. He had a spot on AEW where I thought he also looked good. I hope he goes to AEW at one point. He’s looking great and needs a bigger spotlight.
- There was much speculation about Charlotte Flair & Andrade El Idolo’s relationship status yesterday after the couple stopped following each other on social media. Andrade also deleted several recent pictures of the pair together from his Instagram.
- That speculation (that they broke up) was inaccurate. They denied that soon after and just got married. (0/1)
- In other relationship news, Velvet Sky tweeted that she and Bully Ray have “decided to part ways amicably.”
- We’ll always have the time that Bully Ray gave a fan a stern talking to backstage because he heckled his girlfriend.
- WWE came up with the idea to build Survivor Series and last night’s Raw around Red Notice when WWE thought The Rock would appear on one or both shows, per Andrew Zarian. They stuck with the plan despite finding out in September that Rock couldn’t be there because they had a financial obligation to promote the movie.
- The plan being the golden egg theft. That led to Austin Theory’s big push.
- After Kenny Omega vacated the title yesterday, Wrestling Observer Radio says the next AAA Mega Champion will likely be decided in a multi-man. Luchablog tweeted that fans hoping that match will feature big names such as a “Danielson/Punk level replacement” should “take whatever your expectations are for the names and lower them. And then lower them again.”
- It was a five way that Hijo del Vikingo won. It included Bandido, Jay Lethal, Bobby Fish, and Samuray del Sol. I don’t know if any of those guys are Danielson/Punk level though, so lowering the expectations is accurate. (2/2)
- Danielle Moinet, who worked in WWE as Summer Rae, has been backstage at the past couple days of Impact tapings. The report came from PW Insider, and says it’s not clear if she’s returning to wrestling or just visiting.
- She has not wrestled for Impact.
- During a gaming stream on her Facebook page, Ronda Rousey was asked if she was still under contract with WWE and responded, “I technically — I don’t think I am. But who knows? That’s a question for the lawyers.”
- She returned at the Royal Rumble. That sounds like some deflection.
- Based on social media postings, Seth Rollins’ attacker appears to be a person with intellectual disabilities who was catfished and scammed out of money by someone who claimed to be Rollins.
- That’s all kind of sad. People pretending to be Liv Morgan did that to folks too.
- On The Battleground Podcast, Rocky Romero revealed Kenny Omega contacting New Japan led to KENTA coming to AEW. Even though there was bad blood over Omega leaving NJPW, Romero said Omega reaching out was a big step toward opening the Forbidden Door.
- They are working together now, even with a shared PPV.
- WWE has no plans to release the completed and previously announced documentaries Superfan: The Story of Vladimir and Icons: Lex Luger, per PW Insider.
- Looks like neither have dropped. (1/1)
- Jaxson Ryker was said to have had “an incredible amount of heat” in the locker room at the time of his release, says Fightful Select.
- Given all we’ve heard prior, that’s not terribly surprising.
- Johnny Gargano has signed a one-week contract extension with WWE that will take him through NXT WarGames on Sun., Dec. 5, says Fightful Select. As they were when Adam Cole did something similar, WWE sources have spoken highly of Gargano for doing this when he has other suitors.
- That’s good of both guys to make sure their feuds properly concluded before heading out.
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer speculated that WWE is using Doudrop in the role they’d planned for Nia Jax before releasing her. Jax said she requested more time off for mental health, but the company cut her instead.
- The do use her as the imposing women’s wrestler that the other women can beat so they look good. And that’s what Nia often was used for.
- Melissa Santos told Chris Van Vliet that her getting “spicy” online about her husband Brian Cage’s being “misused” in AEW led to Cage getting heat. She also said Cage loves Tony Khan & AEW.
- AEW ended up picking up Cage’s option for this year.
- Fightful Select also noted that prior to her WWE release, plans for Tegan Nox changed several times. She was one of the wrestlers who didn’t know what brand she was going to in the Draft, and found out via social media she was being split from tag partner Shotzi.
- Sounds extremely frustrating.
- WWE seems to be high on former Spirit Squad member Kenny Dykstra as a producer. Fightful reports he was the sole name listed on the production sheet for two dark matches in November, and even produced some talent older than him when the 35 year old Dykstra worked with Viking Raiders.
- I don’t think he’s been released. He may still have this gig.
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned that WWE brought in a bunch of potential advertising clients to Survivor Series, where Stephanie McMahon told them that WWE content is available in over 900 million homes, the company runs 500 live events in a normal year, and over 75% of the WWE audience is in the key 18 to 49 year old demographic.
- And that spells disaster for you at Sacrifice.
- Meltzer also said WWE is trying to sign Johnny Gargano to a multi-year contract, but a deal has not been reached. It’s not a given that Gargano is leaving the company, as his circumstances aren’t as “open and shut” as Adam Cole’s were when his WWE contract was expiring in late August.
- It sounds like AEW’s upcoming TNT special, Battle of the Belts, is scheduled to only be an hour long.
- That’s correct. Their second one was an hour as well. (1/1)
- There has already been some interest in calling up NXT wrestler Odyssey Jones to the main roster in WWE.
- He was not called up prior to January, when he tore his patellar ligament and has been out of action since. (0/1)
- WWE has filed to trademark the ring name “Sofia Cromwell.” They have also filed for a trademark on “ECW”, for the purposes of video games and merchandise.
- Sofia Cromwell is a PC wrestler but I don’t believe she’s appeared on NXT TV.
- During an appearance on Talk is Jericho, Kurt Angle said he was very interested in WWE’s pitch for him to manage Matt Riddle, but he turned it down because “the money was horrible.”
- Angle refereed the FIGHT PIT match between Riddle & Timothy Thatcher prior to this. Riddle eventually got a spotlight with a legend in Randy Orton.
- While recapping the news on Johnny Gargano’s contract status with WWE, Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes his wife Candice LeRae’s deal expires in May 2022. However, if they add on the time she’s missed while pregnant as they usually do when talent is out, she’ll probably be there almost all of next year.
- They didn’t add on the time. The contract ran out this month. (1/1)
- Though not official, the WON says it looks like AEW’s Revolution PPV will be on Mar. 6, 2022 in Orlando’s Amway Center. Dave Meltzer mentioned that AEW has plans for a major match between Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa in early 2022, and speculated it could happen on that card.
- That was the date, though it wasn’t at Amway. It was in Additional Financial in Orlando. Britt and Rosa had their title match on this card. Britt won and Thunder Rose it won the gold in a cage in San Antonio. (2/3)
- Wrestling Observer Live’s Bryan Alvarez heard that NXT 2.0 might already be backing away from Tiffany Stratton’s controversial daddy’s girl character.
- They seemed to have leaned into it instead. (0/1)
- WWE recently contacted the manager of mixed martial artist Kayla Harrison about an unknown role, per the Observer. Harrison made one appearance for AEW with American Top Team, but has been saying in interviews she has no interest in pro wrestling.
- I don’t think she’s done any work with WWE.
This week: 8/12 - 67%
Overall: 4,163/7,334 - 56.8%
Have a great week, everyone!
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