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. It’s a shorter week, so let’s knock out a few outstanding rumors.
- Speaking of, they also say Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar is on the table for a future WrestleMania match with the Paul Heyman connection.
- That was the main event of Night Two of the most recent Dallas WrestleMania. (1/1)
- WrestleVotes says the current plan is for next year’s WrestleMania 38 event to go back to being one night.
- They never went back to one night. And that was absolutely the right call. (0/1)
- Speaking of which, Fightful Select says “a longtime WWE name” thinks Mark Carrano will be back with WWE simply because he knows where the bodies are buried.
- That did not happen. (0/1)
- Per the Observer, the idea for Roman Reigns is for him to end up being a top babyface.
- Was it the plan? Maybe. It’s been three years but he’s sure seems like a massive babyface now that he’s lost. (1/1)
OK onto this week’s rumors:
- Even though The Rock vs. Roman Reigns is no longer planned for WrestleMania 40, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter says “the idea from a company standpoint is that match will happen” at some point down the line.
- I’m sure it will. Rumor is it may be in years, with a Cody/Rock match happening first. Rock hasn’t been seen since the Raw after Mania and Roman only returned himself recently. Though it’s odd that a match they were so gungho to get to last year that they planned to push the prior planned Cody/Roman II match is now slated to happen in a year and a half. Maybe they think the juice will still be there. But a lot can happen in two years and Roman/Rock is the bigger of the matches.
- Bryan Alvarez said on Wrestling Observer Radio that while Finn Balor was selling his thumb quite a bit, and it was legitimately bleeding, he’s okay and didn’t suffer an injury at Elimination Chamber.
- Finn didn’t miss any time, though it’s tough to tell how true these types of rumors are since wrestlers work hurt pretty often.
- They also said on WOR that Raquel Rodriguez was “touch and go” for the women’s Elimination Chamber match due to her MCAS flare up on the flight over. There was apparently a practice match in Australia and she didn’t participate in it.
- She unfortunately has since been removed from the active roster due to the persistence of the disease. Raquel recently offered an overall positive update.
- According to Fightful Select, original plans called for Bronson Reed to challenge Seth Rollins for the world heavyweight championship at Elimination Chamber but said plans were scrapped when Rollins injured his knee.
- That’s a shame for Big Bronson, but he wasn’t at the show at all because his wife gave birth.
- The WON says they had a WWE star note to them that “a lot of news reporters have contacted female talent in the company to ask them about potential abuse.”
- It was a big story for a bit of time, but like even the biggest stories, the main stream and, to a lesser degree wrestling media, have lost interest.
- BWE on CM Punk being added to WWE 2K24: “I was told a few weeks ago he might make it in a late DLC.”
- He was part of a DLC later. (1/1)
- Not terribly surprising after what happened at Elimination Chamber, but Wrestling Observer reports WWE sources have confirmed AJ Styles vs. LA Knight and Logan Paul vs. Randy Orton for the WrestleMania XL card.
- Half right as they added KO to the US title match. (1/2)
- Giulia will leave Stardom at the end of March when her contract expires, per Tokyo Sports. Previous rumors have her heading to WWE later this year after helping former Stardom boss Rossy Ogawa launch his new promotion in Japan.
- That’s accurate. She still hasn’t shown up in WWE though. (1/1)
- Piper Niven injured her hand recently, according to Fightful Select. The severity of the injury hasn’t been confirmed, but some in WWE fear she could have a fractured bone or bones.
- She didn’t wrestle for a couple months, which she stated was related to a broken finger. (1/1)
- TNA management held a talent meeting at their taping last weekend, and Fightful heard it did a good job motivating the roster after Scott D’Amore’s firing. The general feeling was that no one wanted to abandon the work they’ve done to build the brand. One “top name” was looking to leave before the meeting, but is now planning to stick around based on what they heard.
- They’re still doing well for themselves.
- PW Insider says Alex Hammerstone has been in talks with TNA. The site can’t confirm that a deal is signed, but the expectation is the former MLW World champ will be back in TNA “sooner than later”.
- That’s where he signed. (1/1)
- After indie announcer & interviewer Arkady Aura posted on social media that she’d been hired at AEW, Fightful confirmed the news. It’s suspected Aura will help take some of the load off Renee Paquette and Lexi Nair who currently handle most of the interviews for AEW and ROH shows.
- She does work for them, like she said she did. She does some interviews so by that means, she does take the load off others. (1/1)
- Indie wrestler Patrick Scott tweeted that he’s started work at WWE, confirming a recent report from Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net that Scott was hired as a writer’s assistant for SmackDown.
- Indie wrestlers often had to book their own stories over multiple promotions so I could see some of them having a knack for creative.
- According to PW Insider, Cody Rhodes will be headed to SmackDown this week to make an appearance on TV. Expect more of this in the weeks to come.
- He was on there frequently to build their match. (1/1)
- BWE says Drew McIntyre has signed a new contract with WWE but other outlets maintain it’s not yet official.
- It was after WrestleMania. (1/2)
- Speaking of McIntyre, Insider also says the injury he said he suffered, a burst eardrum, is legitimate. But, like he said, he won’t be missing any time because of it.
- Ouch.
- The Wrestling Observer notes Tama Tonga, who just left New Japan Pro Wrestling, is headed for WWE.
- He’s the Right Hand Man of the new Tribal Chief. (1/1)
- On his vlog, Sammy Guevara claimed AEW is going to unveil a new logo and set for Dynamite soon.
- That’s the case. (1/1)
- Nick Bonanno, a writer and producer for NXT dating back to April 2022, has left the company, says PW Insider.
- I wonder how much stories like this impact the overall product. I would think one writer not too much, but it’s tough to know from the outside looking in.
- WWE went to great lengths to keep Shawn Spears’s return to NXT a secret, per Fightful Select. Spears was not listed on internal run sheets or documents leading up the show, and Shawn Michaels stood in for him when his debut segment was rehearsed on Tuesday afternoon.
- A lot of work for a Shawn Spears surprise.
- Fightful’s sources at Warner Bros Discovery expect AEW will be holding a PPV or “special show” in April. This could be tied to their recently filing a trademark for “Dynasty”.
- That was the name and date. (2/2)
- As some fans continue to speculate that a YouTube account that posts Bray Wyatt-like videos is part of a storyline related to the WWE return of Uncle Howdy, Sean Ross Sapp posted on X that “Dreadmare isn’t a WWE thing, and that channel isn’t Bo Dallas, affiliated with Bo Dallas or their family.” WWE’s Rob Fee recently asked the same person to clearly label another of their accounts, ItBeginsAgain, as fan-created content.
- Interesting.
- TNA’s long-term goal is to air live every Thursday from a set location, says Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer. NXT’s former home at Full Sail University was at one point considered, with Scott D’Amore and his team visiting the campus in Orlando to scout it out before D’Amore was fired.
- They have not gotten to that yet.
- The odds from online sportsbooks like BetOnline favor Samoa Joe, Toni Storm, Christian Cage & Eddie Kingston retaining their titles at AEW Revolution, while The Young Bucks and Roderick Strong are currently favored to dethrone Sting & Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy.
- The only one wrong here is the Bucks. (5/6)
- As many as 19 CMLL wrestlers are in danger of losing their U.S. work visas due to a communication breakdown with the Texas-based indie that sponsors them, according to a PW Insider report. The issue could impact several WrestleMania week shows in Philadelphia.
- Damn. I don’t see a specific resolution to this, but visa issues are an issue that rears its ugly head frequently for international performers.
This week: 17/20 – 85%
February 2024: 52/77 – 68%
Overall: 5,250/9,098 – 57.7%
Have a great week, everyone!
