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. Let’s jump right in it.
- Wrestling Observer Live’s Bryan Alvarez claims that John Cena’s final match in WWE will take place on a Saturday Night’s Main Event in December. One reason why it’s happening there is because WWE isn’t running any PLEs that month.
- That’s correct. (1/1)
- For whatever it’s worth, F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer adds that Boston’s TD Garden has nothing publicly scheduled yet for Saturday, December 13. Cena previously said his final match will take place in mid-December, and his father said it will be at the Garden.
- It was in DC because they were the highest bidder. (0/1)
- WrestleVotes says Roman Reigns is booked at WWE’s upcoming Clash in Paris PLE, even though he wasn’t originally planned for the show. It sounds like Roman will be part of another tag team match, which means there won’t be a singles match of Reigns vs. World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins on that card.
- It was one on one against is Bronson Reed. (1/2)
- WrestleVotes Radio indicates that any recent tease of Cody Rhodes turning heel was done just to work the hardcore fans. WWE still has no plans to turn Rhodes heel any time soon.
- He’s still going strong as a babyface. Though I still wonder if he’s who attacked Jacob Fatu. I believe Drew McIntyre when he said he didn’t do it. Cody would be an option if they did want to turn him heel and felt Fatu could be a babyface star. But they don’t want to risk what they have in Cody who is their full time top babyface and no one is close to that. (1/1)
- Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp mentioned there were “mixed emotions” backstage in WWE regarding Brock Lesnar’s return to the company at SummerSlam.
- It wasn’t even a worthwhile chapter in the Cena story. A squash of Cena was not what anyone wanted to see in John’s final 4 months. It didn’t do anything for Lesnar. It was just an excuse to bring Brock back after he was out for awhile after being referenced in the Janelle Grant case.
- According to Alvarez, Peacock’s losing bid to retain WWE’s PLEs was “in the neighborhood of about $275 million” per year. ESPN ultimately won the bid at $325 million per year.
- That live content is still king.
- Alvarez also noted that at one point, WWE was “potentially shopping around WrestleMania as a separate deal” from the rest of its PLEs.
- You already need four different things to watch all of WWE programming (and that’s not counting Tubi for Evolve).
- Sources told Deadline that former WWE star Dave Bautista is “closing in on two Amazon MGM Studios movies.” The movies are Road House 2 and Highlander (where Bautista is playing the role of The Kurgan).
- He’s in both. I cannot wait for this new Highlander movie. A lot of pressure with Cavill as MacLeod (Connor probably given the Kurgan is in so it’s drawing from the original movie but it but could be Duncan, Quentin, or a new one) and the director of John Wick. But I’m day one on that. (2/2)
- The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says one reason why Brock Lesnar was cleared to return by WWE legal is because it’s believed “there is no legal case against Vince McMahon.” If the ongoing Janel Grant civil lawsuit goes to arbitration or a settlement is coming, then “the Lesnar stuff is likely not a major factor.”
- He wasn’t being sued himself, which I’m sure played into their calculus, but definitely named as someone Vince was working to involve. Someone who was explicitly named is also returning to the wrestling world.
- Earlier this week, Turki Alalshikh (the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority) said the deal is done for a giant entertainment event to come to Saudi Arabia in 2027, but he can’t announce it yet. There’s been a lot of speculation that he is referring to WrestleMania or Super WrestleMania.
- Sigh… it’s WrestleMania. I’m certainly not looking forward to it. The Rumble experience was definitely worse because it was in Saudi. The start time of early afternoon was a big portion (and that show went past 1 am for those watching it locally). That late night for those in the crowd could have been a factor that the crowd was often underwhelming. I also think Nick Khan is full of it when he said he expects US fans to travel well for that show. I think they’d consider some place like London. Maybe they’ll get European fans though? (1/1)
- If WrestleMania is indeed coming to Saudi Arabia in 2027, F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer said there are people there who are “pushing for Dwayne Johnson to headline.”
- Oh I’m sure.
- According to WrestleVotes Radio, there are influential people in WWE who “absolutely love” Sol Ruca. There is a “growing sense internally” that she’ll be called up to the main roster and do very well.
- She was third in the Rumble. I’m excited to eventually see her in the main roster.
- On his Grilling JR podcast, AEW commentator Jim Ross said he thinks his contract expires this month. Ross said his agent is working on it and “I’m not planning on going anywhere.” JR also said Tony Khan wants him to call a couple of matches at the upcoming Forbidden Door pay-per-view in London.
- JR is still with AEW, though he’s constantly dealing with health troubles unfortunately.
- For whatever it’s worth, The Observer says “virtually all talk about NXT Europe is non-existent” in WWE right now.
- I don’t think that’s happening.
- During an interview on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast, Karrion Kross said, “everyone’s going to know exactly what’s going on very soon” regarding his status with WWE.
- As in they didn’t re-sign him?
- The Wrestling Observer claims top people at WWE were unaware of the new deal with PLE’s moving to ESPN, and many found out when everyone else did.
- $30 a month for PPVs, especially for a lot of people who already have their way to get ESPN so they’re just paying $30 for WWE pay-per-views.
- In the Daily Update, Dave Meltzer said the latest he heard on Karrion Kross was that “everyone was going with the idea he was staying” and that he hasn’t heard of Kross negotiating with anyone else. It could end up being something like an R-Truth situation.
- It was not like an R-Truth situation. I think people weren’t nearly invested like they were with Truth. (0/1)
- Cory Hays of BodySlam.net notes that Ilja Dragunov’s name has been brought up internally recently and his return to television should be near.
- He returned in October, which is near enough, and immediately won the US title. (1/1)
- Hunter Campbell recently said there are plans to expand The Apex to accommodate more fans, which could mean for WWE PLEs and NXT specials, via LVSportsBiz.com.
- That expansion is still undergoing, so we’ll have to wait and see. Though it’s possible WWE may be somewhat turned off on running Vegas often given WrestleMania ticket sales are going poorly.
- Jacy Jayne told The Collection podcast with Brad Gilmore that she wasn’t told she was going to win the NXT women’s championship until the last minute, and she was originally told the match would end in a disqualification.
- I figured most people don’t find out these things until pretty close to. I think folks who are higher on the card get that information sooner, but things often change last minute.
- Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE is planning the John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar match for September or October.
- It was the ESPN debut show WrestlePalooza, which was September. (1/1)
- WrestleVotes notes that “there are people within WWE corporate — with no ties to creative or anything storyline-wise — who are under the impression Karrion Kross and Scarlett are no longer with the company.”
- Which would make sense.
- Lola Vice has signed a new contract with WWE, per PW Insider Elite.
- She had a pretty good showing in the rumble.
- There is interest in TNA in bringing in Ashante “Thee” Adonis, according to Fightful Select.
- He has not worked anywhere since early 2025. (0/1)
- They also say Angelico has been working behind-the-scenes for AEW as both a coach and a producer for most of 2025.
- That man did some crazy stuff in Lucha Underground.
- According to PW Insider, “a lot of people who work behind the scenes for the company, as well as talents who are in-ring performers” are upset about how the Seth Rollins’ injury situation was handled because they were lied to.
- That’s the risk of running that angle. But they got two episodes of Unreal out of it!
- Sean Ross Sapp noted on his post-Raw show that while it’s unclear exactly what is going on with Naomi, he was told ‘it’s legit, whatever it is.”
- That was when she learned about her pregnancy. (1/1)
- Meanwhile, Bryan Alvarez said on Wrestling Observer Live that there is a rumor going around surrounding what’s happening with her and if it’s true, she’ll be out for a long, long time.
- That’s the case. (1/1)
- PW Insider says there were plans to turn Asuka heel as a slow burn but that was sped up on Raw this week to account for Naomi’s situation.
- They never really paid that off with Iyo like they should have. Maybe that’s around the corner.
- They also say Tyler Bate was backstage at Raw this week and he’s back to his original look.
- I wouldn’t know since he’s behind a mask.
- Matt Menard is sticking around in AEW for the long term, as Fightful notes he inked a new deal with the promotion.
- I enjoy me some Daddy Magic.
- Nothing confirmed, but Wrestling Observer Live’s Bryan Alvarez heard there’s “discussion” at WWE about moving the Saturday Night’s Main Event that’s planned for early December to Dec. 27. That would put a show that’s expected to feature John Cena’s final match head-to-head with AEW’s Worlds End PPV.
- That thankfully did not happen. (0/1)
- On Something To Wrestle, JBL announced that he’ll be on commentary for AAA Triplemania this Saturday on YouTube. He’ll join the team that called Worlds Collide, Corey Graves and Konnan.
- JBL does commentary on their weekly TV show too.
- Speaking of Triplemania, the odds in the AAA Mega championship match at sportsbooks like betonline have shifted in the past couple days. EL Hijo del Vikingo had been favored to retain as recently as Tuesday, but Dominik Mysterio is currently a slight favorite to win the belt on Aug. 16.
- Dom won it. (1/1)
- And while we’re on the subject of prop bets on matches with scripted outcomes, John Cena and Seth Rollins opened as big favorites for Clash in Paris.
- Pretty obvious, yeah. (2/2)
- In an interview with Daily Star, TNA President Carlos Silva said a new video game has been added to the promotion’s “goals list”.
- We’ll see if that happens.
- PW Insider reports that a new Indian promotion called Global League Wrestling that The Great Khali is involved in is headed up by Australian promoter Cam Vale
- Khali still doing his thing.
- Tony Nese has been working as a coach and agent in AEW, per Fightful.
- Good for him.
This week: 13/17
Overall: 6,127/10,461 – 58.6%
Have a great week, everyone!
