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.
- Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful says one of the issues with Shane McMahon at Royal Rumble was numbers got mixed up and he got frustrated over the fact that Randy Orton told him he wasn’t entering to Shane’s theme song, so he better get out there.
- That’s a great line from Randy. But mixing up the music/numbers is bad.
- More on that: Both Vince McMahon and Brock Lesnar were unhappy after they learned of Shane’s original plans for the match, which we never ended up seeing because it didn’t happen.
- What we saw wasn’t good either.
- Fightful Select says there were nine total therapy sessions filmed for Alexa Bliss.
- Looks like only six made air before she came back to wrestle in the Elimination Chamber. (0/1)
- On his podcast, Kurt Angle claimed WWE was going to bring him in for a three week program but that changed at the last second and he doesn’t have a deal with the company anymore.
- They’re often reaching out to Kurt Angle according to rumors.
- The Observer says Laredo Kid has signed a deal with Impact Wrestling.
- Sounds like Laredo confirmed this prior to the rumor. It doesn’t seem like he works regularly with them despite that contract.
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said WWE officials spoke to Ronda Rousey after her promo on the Jan. 31 Raw. Rousey is being booked as a babyface, but her bitterness towards the fans for turning on her during her last run caused her to come across as a heel. Her work on SmackDown last week is how they want her to be going forward.
- I don’t know if she thinks she’s working, or if she really is angry that fans boo her but she’s gotta get over that.
- Regarding Tony Khan’s surprise debut for Wednesday’s Dynamite, Fightful Select’s sources on the AEW roster don’t know who it is but are expecting it be Keith Lee.
- It was. He also brought in Jay White to satisfy the Forbidden Door thing he promised. (1/1)
- Both Fightful and Wrestling Observer say it’s almost definitely not Jeff Hardy due to the amount of time left on his non-compete.
- It was not, though he signed there as soon as the time allowed. (1/1)
- Drew McIntyre is being kept strong for a feud with Roman Reigns after WrestleMania, per Meltzer.
- It wasn’t right after WrestleMania. It was six months after. It’s subjective but the feud after WrestleMania make me think something very soon after WrestleMania. (0/1)
- Marty “Boogeyman” Wright posted a video of him signing a WWE contract on social media. It does not show what type of deal it was.
- Probably some type of legends deal.
- WrestleVotes says the Shane McMahon match WWE had planned for WrestleMania 38 was in a top spot, and WWE is now looking for a “major attraction” match to replace it.
- I still want to hear the full story. Someone had to have been released who was around at the time and willing to talk all about it.
- They also say the whole WrestleMania card is still in flux just a couple months out from showtime.
- Sometimes Manias seem set in stone and other years completely in flux.
- For what it’s worth, Matt Hardy claimed on his Twitch that Jeff Hardy turned down WWE’s Hall of Fame offer at least in part because Jeff asked if Matt would be going in with him and they said no.
- The Hardys paint a story that WWE released Jeff prematurely and desperately tried to get him back. That could be the case. Unfortunately, he ended up having to enter rehab again, but we don’t know if that was something going on when he was still in WWE.
- Ringside News is now claiming that Kurt Angle was never in the plans for WrestleMania and the three-week idea he mentioned previously was just a pitch, and nothing that was ever approved by Vince McMahon.
- I wonder what that plan was.
- On the Fightful Grapsody podcast, Will Washington said he was told WWE put restrictions on the language used for Mickie James’ Royal Rumble appearance, namely that they could only say “Impact” instead of “Impact Wrestling” and they couldn’t use the term “Knockouts” when referring to her title.
- WWE and their restricted words. Though that may be loosening.
- On a recent PWTorch audio show, Wade Keller said his sources can’t confirm why Big E was moved from the main event scene to a midcard tag program, but he does know E is highly thought of in the locker room, and the sentiment there is that E doesn’t deserve his current treatment.
- It was bullshit is what it was. And then that program led to a broken neck. So shitty all around.
- WWE’s unused pitch for Kurt Angle would have seen him involved in the RK-Bro/Alpha Academy feud. Fightful Select says Monday’s Academic Challenge would’ve been called the “Three I’s Challenge,” and Angle would have served as special guest referee for a match at Elimination Chamber.
- That would have worked since he has the Olympian connection with Gable and history in NXT with Riddle (referring the first FIGHT PIT).
- WWE was trying out a new production technique during this week’s NXT, according to PW Insider. They had a cameraperson in the ring while some of the matches were going on.
- I could imagine that can be distracting to the wrestlers.
- Jackass’ Steve-O revealed he was at Royal Rumble for Johnny Knoxville’s appearance, but had to leave when he tested positive for COVID.
- That’s a shame. Fans would have loved that.
- Keeping the Shane McMahon/Royal Rumble rumor streak alive, Fightful reports Randy Orton gave Shane a “verbal cue” he wouldn’t be going out when their entry numbers got switched. That cue? Orton was “literally rolling on the floor, laughing his ass off.”
- I love the current stories we get about Randy.
- Someone who witnessed the backstage chaos involving Shane McMahon at Royal Rumble 2022 told Mat Men’s Andrew Zarian that “there’s a bigger story to this, and maybe one day it’ll come out.”
- Very much looking forward to it.
- Zarian claims to know for a fact that WWE is now interested in Jade Cargill after seeing her perform on AEW television.
- Why wouldn’t they be? She’s a star.
- Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer said Drew McIntyre is not 100% recovered from his neck issues. He’s still doing rehab and won’t work house shows for now. The idea is to keep him on television but with a lighter workload.
- He stuck around but he seemed to work a pretty consistent schedule. (1/2)
- Ringside News was told that WWE made a decision on Shane McMahon’s WrestleMania replacement as soon as they sent him home.
- Who was he supposed to face?
- WWE recently filed to trademark “Kelly Kincaid” and “WWE Sunday Stunner.”
- Kelly Kincaid is the former Quinn McKay. Sunday Stunner is a live event.
- The match with Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber is the final one on Goldberg’s current WWE contract, confirms Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Wrestling Inc notes he is not booked for any dates past the Feb. 19 show in Saudi Arabia.
- That was his last match as of now. (1/1)
- Big E was moved back to SmackDown on Vince McMahon’s order, says Fightful Select. McMahon “missed the magic” the New Day “created together.” In addition, Vince doesn’t want E & Kofi to be referred to as “New Day.” He wants them to be called “Big E & Kofi Kingston.”
- I mean the New Day are great together, but Big E as a singles star could have been special too.
- Xavier Woods has been removed from WWE’s inactive list, per Fightful. Presumably that means he’s cleared to return from injury.
- He didn’t wrestle for another month, that that doesn’t necessarily mean he wasn’t cleared.
- Despite some rumors to the contrary, the WON reports TJ “Tyson Kidd” Wilson is still with WWE. He’s taken some time off and missed Royal Rumble “to help heal up his neck,” but remains “on good terms with WWE.”
- He’s too valuable as a producer to let him go if they can at all avoid it.
- Per PW Insider, WWE told their employees that multiple commercials for WrestleMania will air during the Super Bowl on Sunday. This will be WWE’s first Super Bowl ad since 1999.
- Looks like that was the case - one during the pre-game and one during the game itself. (1/1)
This week: 5/8 - 63%
Overall: 4,252/7,483 - 56.8%
Have a great week, everyone!
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