Rumor Look Back: Oct. 16 - 22, 2022

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.

October 17, 2022

• For what it’s worth, Ronda Rousey claimed in a recent “Ronda on the Road” video that she gets to pick her opponents in WWE.
• This goes along with further rumor that she chose to be in the tag team scene (though her injury likely contributed to that as well).
• Cody Rhodes is a little ahead of schedule in his rehab from a torn pec, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. There’s still no firm date for a return.
• He returned at the Royal Rumble.
• Fightful Select says the Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson returned to WWE on a “big money deal.”
• I wonder how much that is. They’ve been pretty much off TV since AJ Styles went down with an injury at the end of last year.
• PW Insider says Omos and MVP will be appearing regularly on SmackDown going forward.
• I wouldn’t consider this accurate. Their feud with Brock was on Raw. They sold his feud with Braun Strowman on SmackDown but he didn’t stick around. (0/1)
• Per Fightful, Angelo Dawkins is receiving high marks within WWE for his development recently, and higher ups have been speaking highly of him recently.
• He’s definitely holding his own in the Street Profits team. Montez still has the higher ceiling, but he feels special in a way few others do.
• In the WON, Dave Meltzer writes that the idea behind replacing Elektra Lopez with Zelina Vega was WWE wants to get the women in the ring together against each other and they didn’t want to go to Lopez vs. B-Fab on the main roster.
• We don’t really see B-Fab vs. anyone at this point. Maybe we’ll see Hit Row moved in the draft or something, but it seems that it didn’t take too long for creative to realize they don’t work without Swerve Strickland.

October 18, 2022

• During a discussion on Wrestling Observer Radio about Ariel Helwani’s frustrating interview with Tony Khan, Dave Meltzer expressed his own frustrations about AEW being secretive with the media & the public. Meltzer finds the company’s official silence on anything and anyone associated with the post-All Out brawl to be unprofessional and unfair to AEW fans.
• There were likely legal reasons. But I can see how folks who want to report on this big story feel annoy getting nothing.
• At a minimum, Meltzer thinks AEW should “just say, ‘We have a legal situation, we can’t discuss it and until it’s resolved [CM Punk, Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks] aren’t going to be back.’ That’s fine, because as far as I know, that’s what it is.”
• The weirdest was when Tony stripped the world champion and brand new Trios champions of their titles on TV and never said why. Most of us in this bubble know, but I’m sure some of those 800K+ who aren’t in that bubble but watch Dynamite on the regular were confused.
• Meanwhile, Konnan said on Keepin’ it 100 he asked Omega for a video they could use at Triplemania XXX, Ch. 3 with the Hijo del Vikingo/Rey Fenix title match, since Kenny is still involved in the Mega Championship scene. Omega told him he still couldn’t “because of legal issues.”
• That had to be a bit frustrating for AAA.
• While covering Triple H missing Raw due to a positive COVID test, multiple sites reported that Road Dogg ran the show, and that Bruce Prichard had a previously planned night off.
• Dogg getting the call.
• Ex-G4 employees told The Washington Post that crew from Arena, the Xavier Woods-hosted show the network produced with WWE, quit last week before the channel was shut down. The Post’s story called Arena “part of a crucial deal with the WWE.”
• I wonder if they knew what was coming and decided to get started on finding something new or if there was any more to this. In the end, that was tough news for Woods, who wanted to do this very badly. At least he can say he got a chance to at least for a little bit.
• According to Fightful Select, AEW talent & staff were informed a behind-the-scenes documentary series will be filmed during the six weeks leading up to Dec. 14’s “Winter is Coming” edition of Dynamite. The show is probably an example of the “outside the ring” programming a Warner Bros Discovery exec recently said they were partnering with AEW on.
• I wonder if this footage used for their current show. I’m not aware of a Winter is Coming documentary.

October 19, 2022

• Fightful Select says that rumors of Becky Lynch returning from her injury early were unsubstantiated and those in WWE creative have said they’re simply hoping she can be back by the end of the year.
• She was back by WarGames, which fit the original time table. (1/1)
• Ringside News claims Bray Wyatt’s WWE return was being worked on even prior to Vince McMahon’s exit from the company.
• I’m not sure how much I believe that.
• PW Insider notes that “there was a lot of talk this morning” regarding Cameron Grimes making more appearances on Monday Night Raw in the coming weeks.
• Grimes has not been on Raw. (0/1)
• They also say that while Omos and MVP will appear on Friday Night SmackDown, they haven’t been moved to the brand officially. Omos vs. Braun Strowman is the likely plan for Crown Jewel.
• That was the planned match, which was better than it had any business being. As we said before, that wasn’t a brand switch for Omos. (2/2)
• Shotzi was put into the tag team with Raquel Rodriguez only because of Aliyah suffering an injury, says the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Funny enough, Rodriguez is now tag champs with Liv Morgan. If you include Dakota Kai in NXT, that’s four tag partners.

October 20, 2022

• In their report confirming Ace Steel’s release, Fightful Select’s AEW sources said Steel’s exit was a “no brainer decision” and expected it would have happened quickly after All Out if not for the possibility of legal action.
• Yeah, Ace was an easy decision to let go.
• That report also says the others involved in the post-PPV brawl are “more in contact” with AEW than they’ve been for a while, but it’s not clear what that entails.
• This situation is still rippling given it sounds like CM Punk is coming back.
• Some are taking that, Steel’s release, and this week’s Dynamite showing Punk (in the video package on ROH champs) & mentioning The Elite (Tony Schiavone acknowledging Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks as inaugural Trios champions) for the first time since All Out as signs the investigation could be winding down. There’s even some optimism they could be back soon — although Fightful stressed their sources were “vague” on returns, and possibly missing context from any recent conversations with Punk & The Elite.
• The Elite was back by Full Gear but Punk hasn’t been back. Though at this time, he was still injured.
• On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said MJF doesn’t want to turn babyface.
• I think they should have turned him before winning the title. I like him as a heel, but he could be a special babyface. Crowds just want to cheer him, despite him saying the most vile stuff to try to prevent that. (And when he does play to the crowd in his hometown, he does it very well.) Even though he’s still very good as a heel, I think babyface MJF chasing a big bad (whether it would have been Punk if they went that way prior to the incident or a heel Jon Moxley), would have been special.
• After his appearance on the brand this week, PW Insider reports that Shinsuke Nakamura will make additional appearance on NXT in the weeks ahead.
• This was a true one-off. (0/1)
• WWE’s filed for some interesting trademarks recently: “Lyra Valkyria” for a wrestler, and “NXT Deadline” for a show.
• They put both to use - Deadline was a December show and Valkyria is an Irish wrestler.

October 21, 2022

• WrestleVotes was told that “plans are in motion” for WWE Raw’s 30th anniversary show, which will take place in January 2023. Running the show from The Manhattan Center in New York City was a possibility under WWE’s old regime, but it’s unknown if that’s still an option.
• It ran in Philadelphia.
• During his appearance on The Roman Atwood Podcast, Goldberg said there are two months left on his WWE contract.
• He didn’t work any matches in that time. Bill G is a free agent now.
• According to Fightful, AEW management felt that Athena was too aggressive in her match against Jody Threat that aired on this week’s episode of Dark: Elevation. Officials spoke to them after the match. It sounds like Athena changed her approach in order to lean into the boos she was receiving against the hometown wrestler. Threat had no complaints about how the match played out.
• I remember this mini-controversy.
• While discussing the tension between AEW wrestlers Santana and Ortiz, Keepin it 100’s Konnan mentioned that they still aren’t talking to each other. Konnan also heard that things almost got physical between Santana and Eddie Kingston over this. Santana wants better booking and might leave AEW once his contract expires, while Ortiz is more laid back and happy to be getting paid.
• Unfortunately Santana is still out after his injury in Blood & Guts.
• On his Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross mentioned that Paul Wight recently had hip surgery and remains hopeful for a return to the ring in AEW.
• He hasn’t returned to the ring yet.

October 22, 2022

• The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports WWE’s planned changes to their premium live event lineup for 2023 include adding an annual UK event, and having fewer shows centered around a gimmick.
• This sounds accurate. Money in the Bank is in London this summer and shows like Hell in a Cell and TLC haven’t been on the schedule. (1/1)
• PW Insider said Triple H wasn’t at last night’s SmackDown taping because he’s still in WWE’s COVID-19 protocol. He’s feeling fine and is expected back at next week’s TV tapings, pending test results.
• After his heart scare, this was a bit more worrisome than it normally would be. But he was back very soon.
• CM Punk is not popular backstage at AEW, per the Observer Newsletter. Most of the talent are “decidedly anti-Punk” because of how he went after the “very popular” Hangman Page, made AEW look bush league by saying Page had done nothing in his career, and how everything Punk was involved in after All Out made the company look bad overall.
• It was a bad look. However, it really depends who is talking when it comes to how true this is in regards to how many people felt this way.
• F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer indicated that Ace Steel was surprised AEW released him.
• That shouldn’t have been too surprising. He was the most expendable guy in that locker room brawl.
• Despite reportedly being present for the post-All Out brawl, Meltzer notes that Ace Steel’s wife was never spoken to during the investigation into the matter.
• That was something that CM Punk’s camp mentioned.
• According to Fightful, WWE prepared travel arrangements for Billy Gunn to appear at the 25th anniversary celebration of D-Generation X on Raw. One of the ideas for mentioning that he works for AEW on air included a “lower third graphic with an AEW logo.” WWE ultimately decided not to do it.
• I think saying he worked for AEW would have been OK, but I understand why they’d reject the graphic with the AEW logo.
• The WON also says WWE is considering Vincent & Dutch, the former ROH tag team known as The Righteous, for Bray Wyatt’s faction.
• There is no faction. Those two are in ROH again. (0/1)
• It seems indie promotion GCW has “something going on with WWE,” as the Observer says “Joey Janela not only was plugging for people to watch Raw and also told everyone on the roster to do the same and promote Raw this week.”
• I don’t know if there’s anything official there.

This week: 4/8 - 50%

Overall: 4,530/7,941 - 57.0%

Have a great week, everyone.