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.
- WrestleVotes Radio mentioned that WWE has considered using the name “The Rock and Soul Connection” for The Rock’s new pairing with heel John Cena. The “Soul” part of the name is more of a tribute to The Rock’s father than Cena selling his soul to the Final Boss.
- Given they Rock was never on TV, they never used that name. (0/1)
- For whatever it’s worth, The Rock’s head writer Brian Gewirtz responded to that rumor by saying “Your sources are drunk.”
- Seems accurate. (1/1)
- Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp indicates that a lot of AEW’s top talent only cut promos on this week’s Dynamite because they were “beat to dog shit” at AEW Revolution.
- I know AEW does a lot of wrestling because that their hook, but they’ll often have some very good promo segments.
- Sapp also says late changes were made to Dynamite because “there were some people that couldn’t quite do what they had anticipated them to do on the show.”
- After a show where people get banged up, it makes sense to dial it back the next show.
- A “well-placed source” told WrestleVotes that WWE has discussed running a post-WrestleMania event in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 20, that would be “‘The Roast of WrestleMania,’ featuring comedic megastar Tony Hinchcliffe.”
- They did that. I don’t know how it did sales wise, but they canceled the SummerSlam version. And that really was not the show to do it after. The Vegas shows ended early given the time difference (unlike SummerSlam in NJ on the East Coast), and NJ is just hard given the location was a good 20-30 minutes away. And if folks have ever been to the Meadowlands, you should budget an hour for exiting the parking lot. (1/1)
- According to Fightful Select, Luchasaurus aka Killswitch was backstage at AEW Revolution. This had led to some speculation that AEW had plans for him to be involved in the main event’s alternate ending.
- We don’t know that, but he’s finally healthy enough to have returned, which is good news.
- The outlet also says WWE has shown strong interest in signing free agent Jeff Cobb. In fact, one source claims that Cobb is “already on WWE’s internal roster.”
- He’s there now. But goes under the name JC Mateo. He barely wrestles and it pretty much being wasted as part of Solo’s MFT. That man was great outside WWE and he’s got zero aura since joining Solo and co.
- WrestleVotes Radio indicates that Rey Fenix’s WWE debut is imminent. WWE is planning to present Fenix and Penta as “The Lucha Brothers.”
- He debuted in April but has not yet teamed with his brother. (1/2)
- The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says Drew McIntyre was originally moved over to SmackDown for a series of WWE championship matches. However, those plans will likely fall apart if John Cena beats Cody Rhodes for the belt at WrestleMania 41.
- If it was the plan, it was put on hold (until now) until Cody won the belt back.
- Sources told Dr. Chris Featherstone that AEW star Eddie Kingston thinks he will be cleared to return to the ring “around mid-May or early June.” Kingston will be “seriously evaluating his future in the pro wrestling business” at that time.
- He’s back just now in September, defeating Big Bill in his return match at All Out. (0/1)
- Earlier this week, WWE filed to trademark the term “Grande Americano.” There is speculation this will be the name of the mystery luchador on Raw that is being played by Chad Gable.
- That’s correct. Now he’s played by Ludwig Kaiser (and maybe Pete Dunne and also someone else?) (1/1)
- The Observer says Mauro Ranallo was backstage at AEW Revolution. At one point years ago there was “preliminary talk” of him working in AEW, but it sounds like those talks never got that serious.
- He wasn’t everyone’s favorite but I always enjoyed Mauro.
- Fightful Select mentioned that Mark Davis is one of the AEW stars who was banged up at Revolution. Davis needed staples after the steel cage match between Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher.
- Damn – not even in the match and needed staples.
- PW Insider notes that NXT wrestler Lucien Price is “currently out of action with a hand injury.” That’s why Out the Mud hasn’t been on TV in recent weeks.
- Looks like he was out a few more weeks.
- Fightful Select says San Diego is currently under consideration to host Survivor Series this year.
- That’s the case – at Petco Park. (1/1)
- PWNexus claims Aleister Black is expected to make his return to WWE on the first episode of SmackDown following WrestleMania 41.
- That is correct. His run has been solid – upper midcard. (1/1)
- Although she worked the NXT “Roadblock” special, Fightful notes that Roxanne Perez is expected to continue her feud with Bayley on the main roster.
- That did not happen. (0/1)
- They also say that while Mickie James is exiting WWE LFG, she has other promotional appearances scheduled in the future, so she will still be working with WWE going forward.
- It’s possible. I don’t see her advertising anything on her Twitter, though she will tweet about a show here and there. But if she had a deal with them, that would still
- Despite some talk of his being injured, Fightful says Scorpio Sky is fine and simply waiting to be used by AEW.
- He’s an AEW original but is barely on TV. A handful of Collision matches this year.
- Per Fightful Select, WWE was “ecstatic” over the reception John Cena got for his appearance/promo in Brussels. They apparently loved how the entire segment played out.
- The first few heel promos he cut I really enjoyed. But the story lost juice without connecting it back to the Rock and then there was that abysmal main event of Mania and it never recovered from there. And now that we’re getting some prime Cena, it feels like we wasted months of his retirement.
- Asked about the WWE statuses of potential Bloodline members Hikuleo and Lance Anoa’i on a recent Fightful Select Q&A podcast, Sean Ross Sapp said both are signed. Not long after joining the company, Anoa’i suffered an injury that will keep him out until later this year. Hikuleo’s situation is less clear. Sources in WWE creative said they’ve known for months Hikuleo is on the internal roster, but they’ve never been told to factor him into plans.
- Hikuleo is on the main roster as Talla Tonga.
- On that same podcast, Sapp said Jeff Jarrett’s feud with MJF was supposed to last longer but Tony Khan ended it to start building to MJF’s feud with Hangman Page. Regarding AEW ending Jarrett’s World title chase angle without resolving it, Sapp said, “It wasn’t good, it didn’t work, and they moved away from it.”
- It wasn’t great, but I would have liked to see a quick resolution to the baby face Double J angle.
- The Wrestling Observer says that while there may indeed be a WrestleMania roast on 4/20 after WrestleMania 41, it will be “more of a Tony Hinchcliffe show than a WWE show.”
- I guess that’s the case, but given there were a lot of WWE guys there, I’d say it’s 50/50 at best.
- Mustafa Ali dislocated his jaw during the main event of Sacrifice, but reset it, finished the match, and isn’t expected to miss any scheduled appearances, per Fightful Select.
- God damn.
- PW Insider received word from WWE that John Cena will not be receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award over WrestleMania weekend as some promotional materials had stated. However, you can still book a lunch with him for $25,000.
- That lunch better be a full lobster. I wonder if that is a one on one thing or if you have to share your time with him.
- Some noticed Fanatics Events tweeted word to a fan that Alexa Bliss will no longer be attending WWE World during WrestleMania 41 weekend. It’s unclear why.
- She was not on the Mania card either.
- In an update on Lance Anoa’i and his status with WWE, Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that “there has been criticism of Anoa’i that he may not make it.”
- I see something about him maybe being on the Evolve roster but can’t find anything official on that. He has not wrestled at all in 2025.
- Tyler Bate should be returning to action soon, says PW Insider, and when he does he will be a member of the Raw roster.
- He’s wrestled this year on Main Event but has not actually wrestled on the main roster. (1/2)
- Fightful Select noted that announcer Alicia Taylor missed recent WWE shows due to an illness.
- She didn’t miss much time. She’s a great announcer.
- Frankie Kazarian told JBL & Gerald Brisco that the current internal focus for TNA is to secure a better TV deal on a bigger network.
- That hasn’t happened yet.
- According to PW Insider, Homicide personally picked his retirement match in Brooklyn on March 20.
- Homicide is an all timer.
- WWE either has or is planning to ask about having Sting serve as Lex Luger’s inductor at the Hall of Fame ceremony after Luger told them Sting is his “preferred choice”. That from Fightful Select, which also heard that Sting is telling people he doesn’t think he’ll be able to because he’s under the AEW equivalent of a Legends deal, but it’s not clear if his contract would prevent him from appearing at the WWE event.
- He was not the inductor. DDP was, and given the work they’ve done together to try to get Lex in a better place physically, that makes some sense. But the best choice would have been Sting. Tony Khan was asked about it prior and gave a bit of a non-answer. (0/1)
- John Cena’s Raw segment going more than 30 minutes “affected other things on the show”, per WrestleVotes on a Backstage Pass Q&A podcast. Votes isn’t sure the Jey Uso/Austin Theory match was one of those things, but said it was listed for 11 minutes on production documents and was turned into a quick squash.
- How long did he go over?
- Discussing the weather issues that effected AEW Dynamite on Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez said there were “several individuals” who opted to drive to the venue when a blizzard cancelled flights to Omaha. Alvarez added, “I believe Jon Moxley’s one of the people that drove like 11 hours to get to the building because they couldn’t fly in.”
- That’s some drive.
- Josh Alexander is still expected to debut in AEW, but a source told Fightful Select Alexander’s arrival is “likely” delayed as the Canadian wrestler gets his visa “squared away”.
- He debuted as part of the Don Callis Family. (1/1)
- In an interview about his promotion’s upcoming Chris Bey benefit show, FSW owner Joe DeFalco told Fightful that CM Punk, Rey Mysterio and TJ “Tyson Kidd” Wilson wanted to work the show, but WWE’s current tour made that impossible. Mysterio was even going to tag with the long-retired TJ “Tyson Kidd” Wilson. Now a WWE producer, Wilson promised to “just do mat stuff” to protect his surgically repaired neck.
- Everyone came together to try to support Chris Bey.
- According to PW Insider, it’s expected Eddie Kingston “will be cleared to return to the ring this summer”.
- I guess it’s technically Summer until the 22nd. (1/1)
This Week: 9/13 – 69%
Overall: 5,847/10,015 – 58.4%
Have a great week, everyone!
