Rumor Look Back: June 7

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 in it.

June 7, 2025

According to Fightful Select, Triple H was filming backstage at SmackDown for “upcoming promotional materials” in WWE. A black SUV was part of the shoot, and one of his lines was “Anything worth doing, is worth doing twice.”
Sounds like that was for the second consecutive Vegas Mania.

Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp indicates that AEW was originally planning to book FTR vs. Adam Copeland & Christian Cage at All In Texas. However, it sounds like there was an issue with turning Christian babyface, as he apparently wants to continue doing The Patriarchy gimmick a while longer.
It would have been a bit rushed, but given Cope had to leave to film Percy Jackson, we’re still waiting for them to do this. And this current delay, which has completely thrown water on the angle, is probably worse than running it too soon.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says R-Truth’s WWE exit was “a financial decision by the company.” More specifically, “his last contract was so high that for the level they were using him they felt it made no sense.”
On a pure numbers basis, I get it. But there was a personal aspect that no one seemed to think about.
After PW Insider reported that former WWE champion JBL will be in the building today at Worlds Collide, WWE sources reached out and said he won’t be there.
He wasn’t on the show but we can’t know for sure if he was backstage or not. (1/2)
The IInspiration’s (aka IIconics) new deal with TNA is short-term, but can be mutually extended if both sides are happy, per Fightful.
They’re still over there and are current champs.
Along with confirming last week’s report that Harley Cameron’s bloody nose on the May 28 Dynamite was a work to cover for an earlier injury, PW Insider Elite reports Cameron’s actual injury happened months ago and requires surgery. There’s no word on when she’ll be back as of yet.
She was wrestling again by August. She and Willow just became the first pair to hold AEW’s women’s tag team titles.
The same report says that Tay Melo, who is replacing Cameron in her program with Anna Jay, will again be a fixture on AEW programming after her return last week.
This led to a debate in the Cageside offices on what would constitute a “fixture.” And we were leaning to being on TV nearly every week, which Tay Melo was not in the whole time since this rumor. (0/1)
Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer notes that tonight’s WWE Money in the Bank PLE “has to” go off the air prior to the start of UFC 316’s pay-per-view card at 10 pm ET. That might be why WWE only has four matches announced for the card.
It started at 7 and the Peacock replay has it as exactly a 3 hour show. (1/1)

June 9, 2025

On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said WWE “tore apart what they were going to do” at Money in the Bank in the main event to do R-Truth’s big return. The moment “was more important than the original story.”
Sometimes it’s only about the moment in WWE, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.
BodySlam.net is claiming Truth signed a new deal that “isn’t a normal active working talent deal but it gives him the opportunity for one true final run.”
Again, which never happened.
The Observer notes that Truth asked to have his name changed to Ron Killings as part of his new deal. This way he’ll be able to use the name once he actually does finish up with WWE and it will have a lot more value.
He went back to R-Truth quickly. He addressed why.
According to Fightful Select, R-Truth actually ignored WWE calls all throughout the week and then Nick Khan personally took the reins and worked out a deal with him.
It was all damage control – obvious since they’re not even doing his big Ron Killings run. I guess he’s backstage currently and that’s good for folks there. But fans pretty much see him the same amount as they would if he stayed released. That “We Want Truth” sentiment only went so far. They wanted him to be treated better, and in that sense, he got a contract which is good. But they didn’t want to see him on TV that badly because he’s not and there’s not a peep about it.
PW Insider notes Undertaker was backstage at the Worlds Collide event.
May he was hanging out with JBL. Maybe he wasn’t.
They also say there is already talk within WWE of how to push merchandise for AAA’s Mr. Iguana.
You can buy a $60 iguana on WWEShop if you want.
Sean Ross Sapp noted he spoke to folks who put Corey Graves over “big time” for his work on commentary on the WWE/AAA Worlds Collide event this past weekend.
That was pretty much the end of Graves being the doghouse.

June 10, 2025

PW Insider says Jade Cargill is in for a big push in the coming weeks, and the current plan is for her to wrestle Naomi at Evolution 2 in Atlanta.
That was the match. (1/1)
Cory Hays of BodySlam.net says LA Knight is expected to feud with Seth Rollins heading into Night of Champions.
It really started after that show. (0/1)
After Roxanne Perez was doxxed and threatened on social media last weekend, Fightful reports that WWE did have security measures in place at Perez’s meet-and-great on Sunday, as they’ve “taken online threats against her very seriously”.
That’s scary.
Matt Riddle was interviewed on Going Ringside and said CM Punk is “a bitch to work with” behind the scenes. Riddle also claims he’s heard from his “boys that still work there” that Punk “is a headache”.
Known reliable source who’s respected by all Matt Riddle.
Fightful’s Corey Brennan spoke to someone on the European indie scene about Mercedes Mone’s title win in Austria last week. The source said that while the appearance was a surprise to most, booking Mone is a “no brainer” for promotions after RevPro saw subscriptions to their online service jump following Moné’s April appearance for that UK indie.
RevPro was one of her earlier titles.
According to Fightful Select, there will be a push for NXT to use Mr. Iguana for appearances. He got a lot of praise for his performance at Worlds Collide and he was apparently even popular with the WWE roster.
He’s in NXT pretty often. (1/1)
A PW Insider report said there were no injuries coming out of Worlds Collide on Saturday, which hopefully means concern about Vikingo hurting his leg in the main event was unfounded. The site says Vikingo attended Money in the Bank Saturday night.
Always good to hear.

June 11,

2025

Dave Meltzer mentioned on Wrestling Observer Radio that CM Punk has been planned to work the Night of Champions show in Saudi Arabia for months now.
At this point, talent woud have to miss major shows to stand against going to Saudi. And that’s hard when one of the shows is WrestleMania.
Meltzer also said “most people in WWE on the top side are in fear of” fans hijacking the show in the wake of the R-Truth situation.
This is after they re-signed him, which seemed to cool things off.
Fightful Select notes that Danhausen’s current AEW contract expires in July unless the company extends it due to injury time off.
He’s been wrestling but not in AEW. But it’s possible he’s still under contract since they can work certain shows.
They also say he was welcomed back during his return at Final Battle and the expectation then was he would be worked back into storylines but “communication dried up” after that show.
He was a friend of Punk, but that doesn’t mean much because other Punk friends still work there.
An angle from a Battleground Championship Wrestling event last month is in the news again for Jinder Mahal, now working as Raj Dhesi, walking out of a match and his opponent, MASADA, claiming he had a list of restrictions ahead of the match. However, Fightful notes sources close to Dhesi are calling the entire thing a work.
I wonder how much he can reliably charge on the indies. He’s a former WWE champion but does that carry a ton of weight for promotors? I think “former WWE” is big.

June 12, 2025

Goldberg will return on Raw next week, per bodyslam.net’s Viper. Speculation is that he will confront Gunther to set up his long-rumored retirement program, possibly at July 12’s Saturday Night’s Main Event in Atlanta.
That he did. He looked like he still needed to get into a bit more shape. (1/1)
Also from Viper, this time reporting with Cory Hayes, WWE is now talking about holding the Draft after SummerSlam and tying it into their “season premiere” shows in September.
This Draft rumor keeps popping up and never happens. (Completely reshuffling the rosters doesn’t make sense anyway.) (0/1)
Eric Bugenhagen (known as Rick Boogs in WWE) and former TNA and current OVW wrestler Jessie Godderz are “currently slated for the upcoming revival of American Gladiators”, per Fightful Select. The Miz will host Amazon’s reboot.
Looks like that’s the case. He’s a great fit for it. (1/1)
Asked on a Fightful Select podcast this week about Thunder Rosa’s challenge to Britt Baker for All In Texas, Sean Ross Sapp said that Rosa hadn’t necessarily “gone rogue” but was “certainly cutting her own angle” and didn’t pitch the match or hair vs. hair stipulation to AEW before issuing the challenge to Baker on Busted Open Radio.
I don’t think we’re going to see Baker in AEW until her contract is done or she’s released early.
Sapp also posted that Kommander was written out of his scheduled match for AEW at last night’s Summer Blockbuster show because of a legitimate injury. No word on what it is, when it happened, or how long Komander will be out.
He started wrestling again in late September.

June 13, 2025

BodySlam.net’s Cory Hays says WWE is working with a “mainstream artist” to create a new entrance song for Seth Rollins.
Certainly didn’t happen before his injury. (The legit one, not the fake one.) (0/1)
Hays also mentioned that Rollins’ faction with Paul Heyman, Bron Breakker, and Bronson Reed is expected to receive its official WWE name soon.
That happened in August. (1/1)
Following up on the story of Goldberg returning to WWE next week to kick off his retirement angle, PW Insider says he is expected to make regular appearances on Raw leading up to WWE’s weekend of events in Atlanta in July.
There were three Raws between this and his retirement. One was a sit down interview, one he wasn’t there, and one he was on live TV. I think “regular appearances” implies he’s actually there. So since he only showed up live once, I’m saying this isn’t really accurate. (0/1)
Insider also notes that WWE hopes Bianca Belair will be able to return to the ring in time for SummerSlam.
Unfortunately, that hand injury is costing her a lot of time. (0/1)
In an interview with People, Nikki Bella suggested that she’s back in WWE for an extended run rather than a one-off match: “You’ll definitely see me for a bit. It’s not a quick in and out.”
She wasn’t lying.
Speaking of Bella, WrestleVotes heard that WWE is “hopeful to get Brie Bella back in the fold, with a creative idea for a Women’s Tag Team Title match at Evolution currently on the table.”
Maybe that would have happened if Liv Morgan didn’t get hurt? Looks like they were setting something up with both Liv & Raquel Rodriguez where Brie would have slotted in perfectly.
According to WrestleVotes Radio, there is a plan for Natalya and Maxxine Dupri to wrestle as a team going forward, possibly using the name “The Dungeon Dolls.” WWE is working to get the name legally cleared right now.
That name didn’t happen. Nor did that tag team. (0/1)
The outlet also claims that WWE strongly believes Mr. Iguana can connect with a younger audience, and there is significant interest in regularly featuring him as part of their programming.
As we noted before, he’ll show up on NXT TV not too infrequently. (1/1)
After Xavier Woods posted this reaction video to Jey Uso dropping the world title to GUNTHER on Raw, there’s been a lot of speculation about the Usos reuniting as a team to go after the New Day’s world tag team championship.
That did not happen. The Usos just reunited as a tag team but it’s long after the New Day lost their titles. (0/1)
Fightful Select indicates that AEW is planning to book the Young Bucks vs. Will Ospreay & Swerve Strickland at All In Texas on July 12.
For the right to be EVPs. (1/1)