Rumor Look Back: May 1 – 7, 2020

WWE.com

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 get right to it!

May 1, 2020

• According to PW Insider, WWE is opposing some trademarks the Revival are trying to claim, such as “No Flips, Just Fists” and “#FTRKO”.
• I don’t think FTR has been marketing either thing. Though why they’d run with FTRKO without Randy Orton is beyond me. That seems like one WWE didn’t really have to worry about.
• Insider also says that Tony Khan wrote the last four episodes of Dynamite by himself “in a matter of minutes.”
• That must mean an overall outline. But hearing Jericho talk about AEW, they don’t get scripted promos so it could be pretty easy to draft an outline of a month of TV.
• AEW is not currently interested in signing Heath Slater.
• Slater is in Impact. But that doesn’t mean AEW wasn’t somewhat interested. Right now, Miro is the only guy they brought in full time from .
• It was noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that regular training at WWE’s Performance Center has been shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
• It started back up. The PC has had numerous outbreaks.
• Excalibur said that AEW’s management team insisted on having on-site medical testing at next week’s Dynamite tapings.
• They talking about an x-ray machine and things like that so they don’t have to take them right to a hospital for something not too serious?

May 2, 2020

• Per the Observer, Sami Zayn was supposed to appear on SmackDown last week but he chose to stay at home.
• He stayed home until August.
• The Street Profits vs. Viking Raiders Raw tag team title match was apparently set for Money in the Bank originally but moved to Raw next week. It’s possible WWE does a rematch at the pay-per-view.
• That was not on the PPV. (0/1)
• Becky Lynch is receiving a lot more interest from the entertainment industry of late, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• This was before she announced her pregnancy, but they may still be interested in the Man down the road.
• They also say The Young Bucks vs. The Revolt is going to be starting “sooner rather than later.”
• It’s a match that happened last night. “Sooner rather than later” is so vague. I’ll give it to them because they ran the program within six months. (1/1)
• Oklahoma apparently wants to bring pro wrestling shows to the state in the very near future, says the Observer.
• That is tough to tell. I found one local promotion that ran in September, which isn’t that soon. I’m going to mark this as incorrect, but if someone knows of some wrestling that happened spring/early summer, let me know. (0/1)

May 4, 2020

• According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Roman Reigns’ name still isn’t allowed to be mentioned on WWE television.
• Again, still not too surprising.
• Kris Tapley says Becky Lynch will be in an upcoming Marvel movie.
• I’ll sit on this for a bit, but there’s nothing on her imdb.
• The Observer notes that Kevin Owens is expected to be out “a few more weeks” with his ankle injury.
• He was back on May 18. (1/1)
• WWE could begin allowing fans into shows in the next couple weeks.
• There was word that friends and family were allowed in about a month later (prior to the first big WWE outbreak). Are we counting them as fans? Even if so, I think the time table is too soon here. (0/1)
• Konnan has apparently been booking AAA from home during the coronavirus pandemic.
• Shouldn’t be too tough for the big ideas but working with the talent has to be harder.

May 5, 2020

• According to Dave Meltzer on Sunday Night’s Main Event, WWE wanted to keep AJ Styles out longer to sell what happened in the Boneyard Match. The speculation is that names like Styles, Edge, and Randy Orton are being brought back early due to WWE’s ratings struggles.
• That makes sense. He only sold it for about a month.
• On Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer also said Forgotten Sons call up happened because of Jimmy Uso’s injury.
• They’ve been forgotten since Jaxson Ryker’s very ill advised tweet.
• A source told WrestlingNews.co that WWE plans to turn Apollo Crews heel.
• That has not happened. Cedric Alexander turned, but Crews is still a babyface. (0/1)
• The Revival-related trademarks WWE opposed last week were actually handed over to the company as part of the deal Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler negotiated to get their release, per Fightful.
• The ones mentioned above aren’t things they’d likely be using outside WWE anyway.
• Lio Rush, one of the Superstars released by WWE last month, tweeted ”I legitimately might not ever wrestle again”.
• He was just announced for the US Super-J cup. (0/1)

May 6, 2020

• On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned the Money in the Bank ladder matches were actually taped weeks ago.
• That makes sense.
• PW Insider says the rest of the show will air live the night of the event from the Performance Center.
• The rest of the show was live. (1/1)
• For what it’s worth, Cesaro mentioned on his Twitch stream that he won’t be working Money in the Bank.
• He lost to Jeff Hardy on the kickoff. (0/1)
• Per PW Insider, Brendan Vink is in line for a big push on Raw even while he’s still listed as an NXT star.
• Yeah, no. He’s not even named Brendan Vink any more. (0/1)
• The Observer notes that Paul Heyman is a fan of Akira Tozawa, and that could be why he’s been booked on Raw as much as he has.
• He still got decent time after Heyman left the role.

May 7, 2020

• Because Becky Lynch was promoted for next week’s Raw to call out the Money in the Bank winner, it’s expected Asuka, Shayna Baszler, or Nia Jax will win the briefcase Sunday.
• Asuka did win. Though she was given the title as opposed to challenging Lynch. (1/1)
• Otis denied a Ringside News report that WWE now considers him a singles wrestler. He told CBS Sports’ Brent Brookhouse his Heavy Machinery partnership with Tucker is “full tilt”.
• I’m going to say this is wrong. Ever since winning the briefcase, Tucker was his sidekick until turning on him. (0/1)
• There’s a backstage push to give MVP a stable of wrestlers, according to WrestlingNew.co‘s source. The site speculates this could tie in to the Apollo Crews heel turn plans they reported.
• He did get a stable, The Hurt Business, but Crews was not one of them. (1/2)
• Chris Cruise posted documents on his Facebook page showing his complaint resulted in the Maryland State Athletic Commission fining AEW $10K for Jon Moxley & Kenny Omega’s bloody main event at Full Gear. More on this here.
• That was a bloody one.
• On his podcast, Arn Anderson implied Vince McMahon made the call to bury The Ascension back in 2015 shortly after they were brought to Raw from NXT.
• Ascension never had a chance.

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This week: 5/14 – 36%

Overall: 3,532/6,289 – 56.2%

Have a good week, everyone.

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