What is the story about?
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. But let’s knock off some old rumors to start.
- Per Fightful, Darby Allin has been shooting content for a WarnerMedia reality show titled “Darby’s Day Off” that involves death-defying stunts. There have also been talks of additional WarnerMedia reality shows for other AEW wrestlers.
- Maybe the content was being filmed, but nothing came of it. There was one reality show (AEW All Access) they did run. (1/2)
- Discussing Wade Keller of PWTorch’s claim that “everything is pointing in the direction” of AEW buying out Punk’s contract, Alvarez stated, “I don’t expect to see CM Punk in AEW again.”
- They did not buy him out. In fact they kept working together after this and it went swimmingly. Just kidding! (0/1)
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Wrestling Inc’s Nick Hausman said he’s spoken to people close to CM Punk who say he’s never going to wrestle again now that his stint in AEW is up.
- Untrue. (0/1)
- CM Punk still has “the wrestling bug” after his AEW run, a source told Fightful Select — so he may not be done as was recently speculated. Their story mentions that WWE would “likely be interested” in “possibly” bringing him in, and that reps of several other companies said they’d at least be interested in talking to him.
- This is accurate, but his AEW run was not over and he’s still wrestling. Current WWE world heavyweight champion even. (1/1)
OK, now onto this week’s rumors.
- AJ Lee signed a multi-year deal with WWE, says BodySlam.net, and she is expected to be positioned as one of the leaders of the women’s division moving forward.
- Leaders of the women’s division is an interesting one. She is popular but not often there, though that may change as she holds the intercontinental championship. That’s a subjective one.
- They also say Joe Tessitore is off commentary for WWE right now because he’s focusing on covering college football during its season.
- He has multiple jobs.
- What’s more, the NXT commentary team is expected to go back to being Vic Joseph and Booker T now that Corey Graves is doing both main roster shows alongside Michael Cole.
- That’s correct. Oh yeah, man. (1/1)
- Per Fightful Select, AEW bringing back LED boards for the barricade and ring apron has led to concern among talent due to wrestlers getting banged up via collisions with the much harder surfaces.
- I don’t remember hearing about that, but that would make sense.
- Fightful also says that while Andrade has been missing from television of late, there is no word on any kind of injury.
- He’s since gone back to AEW, where he’s pretty well positioned.
- For what it’s worth, Ronda Rousey told Yahoo Sports she can’t see herself returning to WWE to have another run with the company.
- She did not have a good time the second time around. That said, this is a ‘never say never’ business. Next she’ll be fighting Gina Carano in a MMA match in a Jake Paul promoted match.
- Jon Alba of SI notes that AJ Styles put out feelers for options outside of WWE before signing his latest WWE deal earlier this year, notably getting “major interest on the convention circuit from promoters.” The interest, apparently, was mutual.
- He retired and is now working some behind the scenes with WWE on a new contract.
- PW Insider says that as of right now, Wrestlepalooza will only be streaming on the ESPN App and will be archived for viewing after the live stream is over.
- That’s correct (within the US). (1/1)
- They also noticed Valhalla has been moved to the Alumni section of the WWE website, indicating she is now a free agent.
- The War Raiders are barely on TV as it is. Valhalla/Sarah Logan is a free agent but has not worked in the business since we last saw her on WWE TV. She is a mother of two so could just be focusing on that instead.
- Superluchas notes that Triple H isn’t as involved in the AAA creative direction as many would believe. Instead, Jeremy Borash and Konnan are running things.
- I would think Triple H wouldn’t be involved in the nitty gritty. But I’m sure he signs off on bigger things like title changes.
- They also say The Undertaker isn’t involved in creative but attends the shows out of passion and simply to support the product.
- This differs from the rumor last week, so we’re going to split them. (1/2)
- Video from a recent AAA show seems to indicate Octagon Jr. may have suffered an injury, leading to speculation a change could be in order for Worlds Collide.
- He was on the show in that advertised match. (0/1)
- While some fans on social media wondered if CM Punk may have injured himself during an exit from the ring at Raw, PW Insider says that is not the case after they asked around.
- He’s been healthy in general though tough to know if he didn’t tweak something minor that wasn’t a big deal after the moment.
- Fightful Select notes that “a number of people in WWE” were “frustrated and upset” about the recent pictures of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon on vacation being published online. There are issues related to privacy drawing concern.
- Because of the reveal that Triple H hasn’t bought a new bathing suit since the Attitude Era.
- They also say that Raw talent were all confused regarding the Stephanie Vaquer situation and why the contract signing segment was changed at the last minute. She’s still on for the match but confusion reigns.
- Didn’t end up being a thing after this.
- Rob Van Dam claimed to Inside the Ring that he was talking with WWE to be a part of John Cena’s retirement tour but he got injured.
- I would have been very surprised if he was a match even if healthy.
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer also said Wardlow tore his pec and is expected out for six to eight months, and maybe more.
- He’s still out. (1/1)
- For what it’s worth, Doctor Odiseo said on Instagram that Octagon Jr. is okay and will be wrestling at Worlds Collide.
- He did. (1/1)
- A source at WWE told Fightful Select that Triple H’s recent comments about how the company’s helped change Saudi Arabia on Pat McAfee’s show may have been “prelude” to the announcement that WrestleMania 43 is headed to the country. The official announcement could come Friday in Las Vegas, ahead of the TKO & WWE-supported Terence Crawford vs. Canelo Alvarez fight being put on Saturday by Turki Al-Sheikh & Riyadh Season.
- It unfortunately was a prelude to that. They indeed made the announcement that Friday in Vegas. (2/2)
- Fightful also reported that WWE wants to establish the WrestlePalooza brand to create additional marquee events they can spread out on their international schedule, and charge more site fees from host cities.
- I guess we’ll have to wait and see, though if I have to venture a guess, we won’t get another.
- And right on cue, this week at a Goldman Sachs conference TKO COO Mark Shapiro said they hope to make Wrestlepalooza “an annual recurring franchise”, and “another WrestleMania or another SummerSlam”.
- Again, I don’t believe it will. They just wanted to hype it up because it was their premiere on ESPN.
- There‘s been “internal discussion” about reintroducing Ilja Dragunov on WWE television by having him feud with Rusev, per Bodyslam.net.
- He returned as part of the US Open challenge. Though a feud with Rusev (who I think they should utilize more) could be entertaining given their styles. (0/1)
- Fightful Select ran down MJF’s schedule after the news of his casting in Violent Night 2 hit: He got married last Friday, did Collision the next day, and then flew to Vancouver to film the movie. He missed Dynamite for that, but will be back in Philadelphia for tomorrow’s Collision taping. He’ll leave from there for another flight to Vancouver before he heads to Mexico City for his showdown with Mistico on CMLL’s big Anniversary show next Friday, after which he immediately flies to Toronto to face Mark Briscoe at All Out… followed by another flight across Canada to continue work on the movie.
- I overall enjoyed Violent Night, though not a movie that I thought needed a sequel.
- Speaking of MJF’s wedding, according to Wrestling Observer Radio’s Bryan Alvarez people at AEW were “not particularly happy” that photos showing Hangman Adam Page and other AEW babyfaces were in attendance at Friedman & Alicia Atout’s wedding got out. It apparently happened because fans found them in Facebook family albums. The leak ultimately isn’t a big deal (Tony Khan explained the faces were there for Atout) but some still didn’t like it, “especially” people who take keeping kayfabe seriously like MJF and Page.
- I completely understand where they’re coming from, but at the same time, we know they’re playing characters.
- Along with news that Jerry Lawler has cancelled “several upcoming conventions and signing appearances”, PW Insider added that Lawler did so “to focus on some health issues”.
- No word lately on him doing poorly, which is good.
- Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer indicated that The Undertaker, The Rock, Steve Austin, and Shawn Michaels are some of the WWE legends who will be offered a huge pay day to return to the ring at WrestleMania 43 in Saudi Arabia in 2027.
- We’ll see who is too old to perform on that card but does so anyway. If I had to venture a guess, Rock will be on that show in a wrestling capacity. I’d be surprised if Taker and Michaels do – they already had a bad Saudi match. (That was a time where I thought afterwards HBK should have a mini-run but now, I imagine he’s too old to get a good match.) Maybe Austin, who is also too old, because his style lends more to being old than HBK’s. Who do you think?
- Meltzer says WWE originally planned for WrestleMania to go to Saudi Arabia in 2028, but Turki Alalshikh had WWE change their plans to do it in 2027 instead because that’s the 300th anniversary of Saudi Arabia’s founding.
- No better way to celebrate than a WrestleMania.
- For whatever it’s worth, multiple outlets believe the Saudi Arabia show will be the only WrestleMania event in 2027.
- There’s not going to be an American Mania as well that year. (1/1)
- According to The Wall Street Journal, Paramount Skydance is preparing a bid to purchase the entire company of Warner Bros. Discovery. This is notable in the pro wrestling world because Paramount is the new media partner of TKO’s UFC brand, while WBD is AEW’s media partner.
- They lost the bid to Netflix, but that wasn’t the end and eventually Paramount did end up winning the final bid. There’s a lot of moving parts.
- Meltzer “was told by WWE” that Stephanie Vaquer missed the contract signing on this week’s Raw due to “a minor injury,” but now she’s cleared. However, F4WOnline’s Bryan Alvarez “was told the exact opposite, she has no injury.” Vaquer addressed the issue herself by telling Adrian Hernandez she’s good to go for Raw and there are “no injuries.”
- Maybe injured. Maybe not. (1/2)
- PW Insider confirmed that WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler was released from the hospital in Florida on Thursday following last week’s stroke, and is back home in Memphis to recover.
- Looks like he’s back to making appearances.
- Insider also mentioned that Rey Mysterio will be at the WWE Performance Center next week as part of the final steps in his rehab. It sounds like his return to WWE is imminent.
- It was in November, which was a month and a half later. I wouldn’t call that “imminent,” which I look at as “any week now.” (0/1)
- Per Wrestle Radio Australia, AEW is in the middle of a 5-year deal with TEGSport to continue running shows in Australia through 2029.
- They have their Grand Slam Australia down there which have been good shows.
- PW Insider heard that WWE is getting paid a “mindblowing” amount of money to run WrestleMania 43 in Saudi Arabia in 2027.
- I’m sure they are.
- A higher-up in WWE told Fightful Select that no talks have taken place when it comes to booking specific talent for WrestleMania 43, and any names brought up are just hypothetical at this point. This contradicts yesterday’s story about The Rock closing in on a deal to work the event.
- Contradicting stories – (1/2).
- In fact, it sounds like barely any serious planning for the event has begun, which is one reason why a date for WrestleMania 43 was not mentioned during WWE’s huge announcement about it.
- It was a pretty early announcement for a Mania.
- People in WWE told Insider that WrestleMania week in Saudi Arabia is expected to include the usual events like Raw, SmackDown, and the Hall of Fame ceremony in Riyadh. However, it’s not currently known if NXT is included in the package.
- I’m sure it’ll be all those shows.
- TC of WrestleVotes says WWE has “established a permanent office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia” over the last week.
- Cool.
- The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says WWE “failed to get an agreement with NBC” to move the date of John Cena’s final match to Dec. 27, in hopes of going head-to-head with the AEW Worlds End pay-per-view.
- Dec. 27 would have been a harder sell right after Christmas.
- Regarding Cena’s last match, The Observer notes that WWE asked the city of Boston for a site fee “similar to the $7 million that New Jersey paid for two nights of SummerSlam.” The city of Boston “didn’t believe less than two weeks before Christmas that such a show in an arena would generate anywhere near the level of tourism to justify the cost.” WWE then shopped around for other bids on the show before choosing Washington, D.C. for the location.
- Reasonable thinking.
- WWE commentator Joe Tessitore told ESPN that John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar is “gonna be your main event” of Wrestlepalooza. That seems to indicate it will be the final bout of the night, rather than AJ Lee’s return match.
- It was neither match. It was Drew vs. Cody. (0/1)
- F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer claims that “TNA talent is not allowed to work on Scott D’Amore’s Maple Leaf Wrestling shows” because “TNA management considers AEW as the enemy and D’Amore is allowed to book AEW talent.” TNA President Carlos Silva denied this is true, telling Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp that TNA wrestlers are allowed to work MLP events.
- The politics.
- Per Fightful Select, Athena is getting some time off after reaching the 1000 day milestone as ROH Women’s World Champion. She’ll be out of the ring for five to six weeks.
- I’m still surprised they don’t use her more on Dynamite.
This week: 10/17 – 59%
Overall: 6,176/10,536 – 58.6%
Have a great week, everyone!
