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.
- According to Jon Alba of The Takedown on SI, there have been discussions regarding TNA moving Impact to a WWE affiliated network and moving to Wednesday night to go head-to-head against AEW Dynamite. The CW apparently has legitimate interest.
- That did not end up happening. It’s possible it was bandied about it but it did not happen and TNA is still on Thursday nights on AMC (not a WWE affiliated network). (0/1)
- Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that if WWE views a talent as “marginal,” they will go into contract negotiations differently. They’ll typically wait until the last minute and then make an offer with a short time frame to take it or leave it. That’s how Karrion Kross was treated. In the case of the stars, they try to sign them six months ahead of time.
- None of this is surprising. It doesn’t mean it is right, but it feels like a tactic that is not unique to TKO/WWE.
- Per WrestleVotes, NBC wants John Cena’s last match to air on Dec. 13, despite previous rumored talk of moving it to Dec. 27 to compete with AEW. The network apparently has an NFL commitment that night and doesn’t want to compete with its own programming.
- That’s the night that it happen. (1/1)
- WrestleVotes Radio says CM Punk has been invited to the UFC 319 event on Aug. 16, though it’s unclear if he will have a role in the broadcast itself.
- He narrated the intro video for it.
- They also say WWE is considering a redesign for the AAA logo, with the hope of giving it a fresh new look.
- The redesign is really just adding WWE logo on top of the AAA logo. Wouldn’t really call it a “fresh new look” but a technical redesign. (1/1)
- What’s more, Omos could be making his AAA debut this weekend at Triplemania.
- He did have an appearance on that show. It was his only technical match but he’s around. (1/1)
- HOOK is under a long term deal with AEW, says Fightful Select. He apparently signed in 2024 for multiple years.
- It makes sense with his father working there. I don’t think he do any significantly better in WWE.
- According to PW Insider, there is internal hope in WWE that Liv Morgan will return to the ring in early 2026.
- It was in November, so a little earlier. (0/1)
- Fightful Select heard from TNA sources who claim that higher ups in the company do not expect Impact to move to Wednesday nights to go head-to-head against AEW Dynamite.
- Correct. (1/1)
- The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says there are some higher-ups in WWE who legitimately don’t know if Karrion Kross and Scarlett’s exit from the company is a shoot or a work. Either way, they expect that Kross and Scarlett will both be brought back.
- It was a shoot. Kross recently had a fight with Matt Taven in a super market.
- Per The Observer, “One person involved in independent wrestling” noted that Kross and Scarlett are “charging a very high price tag.” This person thinks their exit from WWE is all a work.
- That person is wrong. (0/1)
- BodySlam.net says there are several people in WWE and AAA who are pushing for El Grande Americano to win the AAA Mega Championship tonight at TripleMania.
- That did not come to pass.
- F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer mentioned there are “plans for another AAA show in the U.S. before the end of the year.”
- They’ve had plenty of AAA shows in the US in the latter half of the year, including a Worlds Collide in Vegas in September. (1/1)
- Wrestling Observer Live’s Bryan Alvarez says backstage morale in AEW “has really turned around” over the last six months. There used to be “a lot of really miserable people in AEW,” but now, “People are a lot more positive. They’re having fun.”
- That’s good.
- According to PW Insider, there has been some talk that the WWE premium live event being added in September could very well air on ESPN.
- That’s the case – Wrestlepalooza. (1/1)
- They also say WWE plans to unveil that PLE and its broadcast plans “sometime this week.”
- It was announced two days later. (1/1)
- Meanwhile, Wrestlevotes says the name of said PLE could very well end up being Wrestlepalooza.
- It was. A weird one to be honest. (1/1)
- BodySlam.net claims WWE has no current plans to feature the Crown Jewel championship at the upcoming 2025 event in Perth, Australia.
- They definitely did that bit again. Seth Rollins & Stephanie Vaquer won. (0/1)
- For what it’s worth, Jade Cargill told Metro UK that for both herself and Naomi wanted to use mace and razors for their match at Evolution but were shot down.
- Trying to get violent.
- Sami Callihan has been hurting badly following a string of serious injuries, says Fightful Select, and that, among other commitments like helping behind the scenes and promoting Pro Wrestling Revolver, led to his retirement.
- Retired before 40 but the business will wear one down.
- According to Bodyslam.net, there is some disagreement within WWE over who should win the John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar match.
- It was Lensar in a squash, which was a wasted Cena feud/appearance. Didn’t make the fans happen. Didn’t do anything for Brock. Just a meaningless squash. I’d argue this was worse than his heel turn. It was a way to try to get Brock back by indicating maybe Cena requested it (not what he make it seem like) and it was a wasted date.
- Bryan Alvarez posted to X that “the working idea” is the Sept. 20 WWE PLE will air on ESPN and it’s at least possible that every WWE PLE for the rest of the year will as well.
- That’s the case – this was beginning of the ESPN PLE era – one WWE’s five new eras we’ve gotten in the last year. (1/1)
- Per Fightful Select, Danhausen has had his contract with AEW extended due to injury time. It will now go “well into 2026” and apparently it was against his wishes.
- I understand why companies have the ability to freeze contracts for injury, but it really sucks for talent who aren’t being used. I’m talking about the Danhausens of the world. Not as much the Chris Jerichos (maybe).
- The main event of Forbidden Door is expected to be the Lights Out Steel Cage match, says Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. He also said several people in the match will be going in already injured, so that could play a role in how the match goes down.
- That’s the case. (1/1)
- PW Insider says former WWE producer David Sahadi has been released by MLW and his role in Real American Freestyle may have played a part in that.
- Probably should have stuck with MLW.
- On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said there has been a lot of talk within WWE of Chris Jericho making his return when his contract expires at the end of the year. There is apparently a belief that his return is inevitable.
- So far no movement on that front.
- Per Fightful Select, Naomi’s pregnancy has led to “huge creative shifts” within WWE.
- That makes sense given she was the world champion.
- It’s still not clear, however, how WWE will determine a new women’s world champion.
- They went with Stephanie Vaquer, who was already #1 contender, and Iyo Sky, who was the champion prior to Naomi.
- Folks have noticed that LA Knight’s profile on the WWE.com website now appears on the Raw roster, signifying his official switch.
- It was about time he got off SmackDown.
- On Lucha Libre Online, Hugo Savinovich claimed there are many people in WWE who want Alberto Del Rio to make his return, and Roman Reigns is apparently one of those people.
- I had to look up if they worked together and apparently they have. At one point, Del Rio was part of the League of Nations who were heels put together to feud with Roman.
- A fun one: TC at WrestleVotes says The New Day personally wrote the news article that appeared on the T-shirt Corey Graves showed on Raw this week.
- That’s not surprising.
- According to PW Insider’s Mike Johnson, Wrestlepalooza will have two main event-level matches. In addition to the previously-rumored headliner between John Cena and Brock Lesnar, Drew McIntyre challenging for Cody Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE championship is also planned for Sept. 20’s start of the ESPN PLE era, which will stream opposite AEW’s All Out PPV.
- That was the main event. (1/1)
- Speaking of Wrestlepalooza, WrestleVotes says WWE went ahead with using the old ECW event name “despite some negative pushback from higher-ups at Raw on Monday.”
- It’s a goofy name for a premiere ESPN PLE.
- On the topic of a possible Chris Jericho WWE return, Fightful Select’s sources told them Jericho’s name “hasn’t come up whatsoever around the creative process, so if conversations have happened regarding him internally, it wasn’t in that department.” One of those WWE higher-ups told the outlet that Jericho’s on good terms with the company, but another source said it was too early to tell on a return.
- I thought he’d return in the Rumble but so far, no Jericho. Maybe because of that rumor about his contract being frozen.
- Fightful’s AEW sources told them Jericho’s name hasn’t come up in creative there either, but that he usually speaks to Tony Khan directly. All sides confirmed that Jericho’s AEW contract runs through the end of this year, but the site couldn’t find out if there was any chance of TK adding the time off Jericho’s taken this year to the deal like injury time.
- He’s still on the AEW website on the roster page.
- Sports Business Journal reports that “WWE Chief Content Officer Paul ’Triple H’ Levesque and NBC Sports President Rick Cordella ran point” on the Saturday Night’s Main Event/Peacock deal, and that SmackDown episodes will continue to be added to Peacock on a 30-day delay as part of the deal.
- Just another app you need to watch all of WWE.
- While the SNME deal guarantees the WWE archive will remain on Peacock until the end of this year, SI’s Jimmy Traina posted that he “would be shocked if it didn’t end up on ESPN after that.”
- They’re actually on Netflix. (0/1)
- Netflix confirmed an AdWeek report that DoorDash will be the “presenting sponsor for the 2025-26 season of WWE Raw”, but still no word on what that entails.
- A bunch of ads that have food and DoorDash bags superimposed over WWE wrestlers apparently. “Let’s get ready to Doooor Dash….”
This week: 11/16 – 69%
Overall: 6,138/10,477 – 58.6%
Have a great week, everyone!
