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 to it.
- The Wrestling Observer Newsletter claims that “a big part” of Andrade’s AEW return is “wanting another Hispanic star to help build the company up in Mexico and on Fox Sports Mexico.”
- That makes sense.
- They also say Alberto Del Rio’s contract was inherited when WWE bought AAA but still nothing has been finalized in regards to whether or not he’ll ever be used by the company. Some backstage have pulled to use him but others don’t want to.
- Alberto back in the news this week with another awful accusation.
- Fightful Select notes that there was a lot of confusion among talent across multiple promotions regarding Booker T making a comment about Jade Cargill being “fresh off” her AEW run in the triple threat match on SmackDown. For his part, Booker has tweeted a response seemingly pushing back on it.
- That tweet response is kind of dumb because he definitely said what he said. But some wrestlers will get traction by dumping on the people who report on them, even if it’s accurate.
- Per Fightful, multiple TNA talent have contracts coming up after Bound for Glory, including Cedric Alexander. The company is apparently trying hard to re-sign top stars to keep things stable moving into the new year.
- Yes, ideally they wouldn’t lose much talent all at once.
- They also say there is some concern within WWE of TNA potentially having some struggles to obtain a new TV deal after recent changes to Nielsen’s TV ratings system.
- I know they have used TNA as a mini development, but I don’t know why they’d care too much about the TV deal.
- The WON on AEW’s plan for Hologram prior to injury: “The injury, to the same knee he had hurt last fall, took place on the 9/24 show in Pittsburgh. He’ll be out for the rest of the year. The plan was to end his winning streak and start a feud with Clon, his favorite career opponent.”
- He is still out. (1/1)
- According to the Wrestling Observer, GUNTHER will indeed be the final opponent of John Cena’s career. They could be announcing a tournament to determine his final opponent, with GUNTHER winning said tournament.
- That’s the case on both accords. There was certainly questions at the time if Gunther really needed to be the guy to beat him since he was already established. The amount of heat early on seemed to be beneficial but things have fizzled going into WrestleMania since for awhile, he didn’t have a direction until they suddenly booked a match with Rollins without any known reasons. (2/2)
- PW Insider claims WWE offered Santos Escobar a higher contract and he turned it down. Meanwhile, Fightful Select says it was more about creative dissatisfaction than money.
- He eventually returned. If it was a creative issues, that’s a tough gig because he’s not doing squat.
- While mentioning Killer Kross, Jazmyn Nyx, and Escobar turning down WWE offers, Sean Ross Sapp mentioned there “might be more coming too.”
- There seemed to be a bit of a developmental exodus. And then Ava left in January. (1/1)
- BodySlam.net notes NXT will tape next week’s episode of television tonight alongside running the “Showdown” special.
- It looks like that’s the case. (1/1)
- The Observer says that “most are of the belief that the Bandido injury is storyline.”
- He didn’t miss any real time. (1/1)
- Laredo Kid and Octagon Jr. have been removed from TNA’s roster page and appear to be done with the promotion.
- Neither of them have worked there for the better part of a year. (2/2)
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said Roman Reigns is currently slated to be in the War Games match again this year at Survivor Series. Because he’s also expected for the Royal Rumble, Meltzer speculates a possible match with Seth Rollins won’t happen until maybe WrestleMania next year.
- Roman was at WarGames. (1/1)
- Meanwhile, WOR agrees a multi-person match is likely to determine Rollins’ next world heavyweight title challenger, involving CM Punk, LA Knight, and Jey Uso.
- He got injured prior to that happening.
- Xavier Woods signed a new deal with WWE, per Fightful Select. His negotiations apparently “came down to the wire.”
- He’s unfortunately currently out injured.
- They also say Hikaru Shida signed a new contract with AEW for multiple years, and her visa issues have been worked out. She’s well respected within the company and will be welcomed back soon.
- She only just returned.
- The Observer notes that multiple people within WWE believe Santos Escobar is headed to AEW.
- He returned to WWE. (0/1)
- Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took a big pay cut to do The Smashing Machine, per Deadline: “Johnson took a $4M fee, significantly below his historical $20M+ paycheck plus points. Sources say he even gave a portion of his paycheck to Emily Blunt and [Mark] Kerr.”
- I just watched that the other night and thought the Rock was good in it. I had some issues with the how they told they story (felt like they did quick hits on a lot of things but never really got into one thing) but Rocky was good.
- After Xavier Woods seemed to confirm an earlier rumor that he recently re-signed with WWE, Fightful Select reported that Kofi Kingston also quietly inked a new deal earlier this year that will keep the former WWE champ with the company until 2030.
- They don’t use the New Day much but they can at any time and the New Day will deliver.
- Santos Escobar got “a lot of money” and “a lot of different” perks on the new WWE deal he signed days after his old one expired, per Wrestling Observer Radio’s Bryan Alvarez. Responding to anyone saying Escobar will be well paid to “sit in catering”, Alvarez said, “maybe he will… but historically I can’t think of one person… making that kind of money that’s sitting around in catering, so I think you’re going to see a lot more of Santos Escobar”
- He’s kind of just sitting in catering. (0/1)
- Alvarez also speculated that WWE re-signed Santos Escobar because they “didn’t want the perception of another [talent] leaving”.
- That makes total sense. So soon off Andrade leaving to go back to AEW.
- Records obtained by Wrestlenomics show the Texas governor’s office initially approved over $1 million in funding for AEW to cover expenses for this year’s All In event in Arlington. That was based on getting 32,500 spectators to the show, however. Certified attendance only included 21,973 spectators, and city officials confirmed to Wrestlenomics that AEW would now receive a prorated amount of approximately $700K instead.
- That’s kind of tough.
- The government records also showed that early plans for All In week included CMLL and New Japan shows, and a concert featuring Chris Jericho’s band Fozzy and Swerve Strickland.
- Did that not happen.
- PW Insider said the word at NXT this week is that WWE’s considering former Cruiserweight champ TJ Perkins/TJP in as guest coach at the Performance Center.
- Cool.
- That same site says Dark Side of the Ring has been renewed by Vice for a seventh season, and production has already started on new episodes.
- Man, that show is still going.
- Sources told BodySlam.net that WWE is “undergoing creative changes to their team to overall improve the product.” It sounds like changing things on SmackDown is a top priority. Road Dogg is still a lead writer for the show, but “there will be additions to the team to make the show more enjoyable moving forward.”
- Road Dogg has since been outed. Things haven’t really changed quality wise.
- The outlet also claims there was a plan at one point for Santos Escobar to beat El Hijo del Vikingo for the AAA Mega championship, to go along with Los Garza winning the AAA world tag team championship. Those plans changed due to the lack of progress in Escobar’s contract negotiations with WWE.
- Dirty Dom eventually won that title.
- TNA star Nic Nemeth (fka Dolph Ziggler) told Chris Van Vliet that he was never close to signing with AEW after being released by WWE.
- That would have been an interesting fit. He certainly could have had some fun matches there, but probably not champion like he was in TNA.
- According to Fightful Select, The IInspiration’s short-term deal with TNA is finished after this weekend’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view event. People in TNA expect that a contract extension will get done in the coming days for the current Knockouts tag team champions.
- They’re currently in AEW. I felt that WWE is better fit to their skills, but they just won tag titles in Japan, so maybe AEW gives them more freedom to work elsewhere.
- Paradigm Talent Agency has officially signed NXT star Kelani Jordan and WWE LFG season two winner Shiloh Hill, per Sports Business Journal.
- Paradigm has a lot of wrestlers.
- PW Insider notes that Ace Steel is in Orlando as a guest coach at the WWE Performance Center.
- No biting.
- According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE is planning to book Seth Rollins vs. CM Punk in a world championship match at Saturday Night’s Main Event on Nov. 1 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill for the WWE women’s championship is penciled in for that card as well.
- Punk/Rollins didn’t happen due to his injury. Jade won the title on this show. (1/2)
- Jacob Fatu vs. Drew McIntyre is also listed internally as a match for that Saturday Night’s Main Event lineup. The idea is the winner will challenge WWE Champion Cody Rhodes at Survivor Series, with McIntyre currently lined up to get that spot.
- That match did not happen on that show. (0/1)
- Per The Observer, WWE’s current plan for the women’s War Games match at Survivor Series is Charlotte Flair, IYO SKY, AJ Lee, Alexa Bliss, and Rhea Ripley vs. Lash Legend, Kairi Sane, Nia Jax, Becky Lynch, and Asuka.
- Accurate. (1/1)
- After multiple WWE stars went back to using their old theme songs on yesterday’s episode of SmackDown, WrestleVotes was told that, “Several superstars have been requesting music changes for some time now, including outspoken names such as Sheamus & Drew McIntyre.” Cory Hays of BodySlam.net adds that “Lots of people simply do not enjoy Def Rebel.”
- A lot of fans (including this one) do not enjoy Def Rebel.
- As of right now, it looks like Andrade vs. Kenny Omega won’t take place at the AEW WrestleDream pay-per-view on Oct. 18 in St. Louis. That’s because Andrade is booked on a show in Puerto Rico that night where he is challenging for the WWC Universal championship.
- He didn’t work either show due to the non-compete issues. (1/2)
- Fightful Select mentioned that Natalya hasn’t been backstage at recent episodes of Raw, but it’s not clear why that’s the case.
- She eventually brought her Nattie character to WWE – though it hasn’t gotten much TV time. I liked the gimmick but outside her Maxxxine feud, she’s been MIA. I felt like the killer Nattie character never got a chance.
- F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer claims that WWE expects “leading political figures to be invited and attend” the final match of John Cena’s career in Washington D.C. The current belief is “there will be a ton of people from the White House at the show, but Trump is undecided at the moment.”
- No one of note attended from the political world. (0/1)
- Independent wrestler Douglas Malo told TMZ that he heard Syko Stu’s in-ring career is over due to the injuries he sustained at the hands of Raja Jackson in the Aug. 23 incident at a KnokX Pro event. Malo is a friend of Stu who helped pull Jackson off of him.
- That’s sad.
This week: 12/18 – 67%
Overall: 6,228/10,610 – 58.7%
Have a great week, everyone!
