Rumor Look Back: Apr. 4 – 10, 2026

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.

April 4, 2026

• After WWE revealed Pat McAfee as Randy Orton’s mystery caller on SmackDown, F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer posted “Ari call” on X. He seems to be saying it was TKO CEO Ari Emanuel’s decision to insert McAfee into the WrestleMania 42 program between Cody Rhodes and Orton.
• Ari frickin’ loves Pat McAfee and that’s part of the reason that story sucked.
• PW Insider also says the belief in WWE is that this decision on McAfee came from the corporate side rather than the creative side, and could be related to WWE’s business deal with ESPN.
• Given it felt like shoving a square peg in a round hole, this makes sense.
• The Wrestling Observer Newsletter indicates there will be 14 total matches across both nights of WrestleMania 42, with seven matches planned for each night.
• It was 7 and 6. (0/1)
• In addition to the 12 matches that are official for WrestleMania, people in WWE confirmed to The Observer that The Vision & IShowSpeed vs. The Usos & LA Knight is also scheduled for the event. The 14th match is “penciled” in as Asuka vs. IYO SKY right now.
• That 6-man happened. Asuka vs. IYO was pushed to the next show. (1/2)
• Meltzer says the belief is that Chris Jericho is “back in AEW for the long-term,” and the idea of him going back to WWE “is now dead.” WWE apparently “only wanted to bring him in for a retirement tour and farewell.”
• I guess never say never but I can’t imagine he shows up in WWE again. Instead he’ll be the first member of the AEW Hall of Fame whenever that happens.
• The latest odds at BetOnline show that Joe Hendry, Lola Vice, Zaria, and Tatum Paxley are favored to win their respective matches tonight at NXT Stand & Deliver.
• Tatum & Lola won while the other two lost. (2/4)
• Fightful Select says the “working plan” is for Thunder Rosa to be offered a dual AEW and CMLL contract. Her current AEW deal is believed to expire some time in 2027.
• Looks like this had already happened by the time this rumor pubbed.
• During a virtual signing with Signed by Superstars, Road Dogg called Chelsea Green a “national treasure” who says yes to every creative idea presented to her. While working in WWE creative, Road said he tried to push Chelsea and “Make America Green Again.” However, “not everybody was a fan of Chelsea Green like I was,” and “they were sitting there getting hot at me.”
• His episode of Unreal had him going to bat for Chelsea. They framed him that his suggestions didn’t make sense because he wasn’t thinking through the idea of putting the US title back on her, but he was pushing for her there.
• At the same virtual signing, Daddy Ass said his son Colten Gunn was medically cleared this week, after suffering an injury last summer. It sounds like Colten is “good” to return to AEW.
• They returned to TV in May.

April 6, 2026

• BodySlam.net claims Cody Rhodes was told by “members of creative” to go “shoot from the hip” regarding Pat McAfee and TKO. The promo wasn’t listed on the rundown of the show because it wasn’t scheduled to take place until they saw the social media reaction.
• When it came to the match, they tried to pretty much write Pat & Jelly Roll off in the first 5 minutes, though McAfee did return at the end.
• What’s more, Rhodes and creative team members are legitimately upset about TKO getting involved in storylines close to WrestleMania multiple years in a row now.
• Understandable. It feels like a few years in a row, they get the rug pulled out from them. At WrestleMania 40, they first had the Rock take the main event spot against Roman, but in that sense pivoted due to crowd pushback and ended making the most of it. Then following year, the Rock came in for Elimination Chamber for the Cena heel turn but didn’t do anything else, but they still had to work in Travis Scott. And then last year, McAfee was shoehorned into it. All that said, creative should know how to make lemonade out of lemons.
• Meanwhile, Fightful Select says Pat McAfee’s return was done to boost interest in the show but also for “corporate synergy” with ESPN. There were “several” who weren’t in favor of the direction behind McAfee’s promo and the internal reaction to it was mixed.
• I don’t think it boosted any interested, but maybe they have certain numbers that tell them otherwise.
• Sticking with Fightful, they say Chris Jericho has indeed signed a new deal with AEW. He was allowed to talk to WWE but AEW offered more money and “a more favorable deal.”
• It sounds like he’ll have more freedom in AEW.
• On the Off the Top podcast, Rikishi and Joey TMD claimed Jacob Fatu had 11 teeth removed when he missed time for dental issues recently. That’s why he was out for so long.
• Damn.
• Thekla got a big raise from AEW after having professional representation negotiate on her behalf, says Fightful Select. There was a belief WWE would have had real interest but AEW never let it get to that point.
• Good for her. She’s a strong member of that AEW women’s division.
• EK Prosper, formerly known as Eli Knight, has a lot of support internally at WWE, says Bodyslam, and they believe he could be a key piece of NXT’s future.
• He was never going to be Eli Knight in WWE when LA Knight is around.

April 7, 2026

• Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that TKO wanted celebrity involvement at WrestleMania 42 and Pat McAfee was the original choice but he turned it down. They scrambled to get someone in the spot and ultimately were able to make a deal with McAfee. It was a very unpopular move internally and many are unhappy about it.
• There was already issues with the booking, but that certainly didn’t help.
• Speaking of McAfee, journalist Blake Avignon claims Netflix is a front runner to secure the rights to The Pat McAfee Show when they come up.
• We’ll have to wait and see.
• Per Fightful Select, the plan for the WrestleMania 42 Intercontinental title ladder match came together late and the participants didn’t learn about their involvement until the last minute.
• That was a good match.
• PW Insider says Mike Santana’s contract with TNA will come up this summer.
• He is in NXT now, which happened in July. (1/1)
• AEW’s Kyle Fletcher tore his meniscus in a tag match on the March 28 Collision, according to Fightful. The reigning TNT champ is also dealing with “other injuries”, but it couldn’t be confirmed whether those happened in the same match. Fletcher’s expected to be out for a while. Fightful also says Private Party’s Marq Quen will also miss “some significant time” due to an unknown injury.
• He was out about 6 months. Marq Quen wasn’t on TV much prior so it’ll be tough to gauge if he’s missing time due to injury or just they don’t use Private Party. (1/1)
• More from Fightful: They haven’t heard of any injury to Max Caster and they also haven’t heard any word of his being in the doghouse right now. He’s simply not being used on TV at the moment.
• He and Anthony Bowens are finished in AEW. Caster will debut for TNA at Bound for Glory.

April 8, 2026

• Bodyslam claims that CM Punk was given bullet points for his promo on Raw this week but no script. He allegedly spoke up for talent frustrated backstage.
• I would think he always gets bullet points.
• Meanwhile, PW Insider said Punk went against the plan WWE had for him and he cut a promo from the heart. They haven’t heard of any fallout from the promo, and actually his words mirror the frustration many feel backstage right now.
• These rumors kind of compete – one says he had light instructions and the other that he went into business for himself. (1/2)
• They also say “talents were throwing their hands up” over Pat McAfee being inserted into the Cody Rhodes/Randy Orton feud. It’s led to sympathy within the company for Rhodes.
• It was a bad hand. Those three main events that seemed to get somewhat derailed because of all the interferences all had Cody in them having to navigate it.
• Per Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live, Iyo Sky vs. Asuka will happen at WrestleMania 42 only if Nikki Bella is cleared to wrestle. If she is not, Asuka & Kairi Sane would be added to the Fatal 4-Way women’s tag team title match.
• Nikki Bella was not cleared but Asuka & Kairi were still not on the card. (0/1)
• La Catalina was unhappy with her booking in CMLL, says Bodyslam, and that’s why she left. There is a belief she could be AAA bound.
• She’s their current Reina de Reinas champion. (1/1)

April 9, 2026

• Following up on his report that WWE would be lowering ticket prices after CM Punk’s Raw promo, Wrestling Observer Live’s Bryan Alvarez said “immediately after this promo, the lower bowl tickets for WrestleMania dropped below $2,000 for the first time”. Alvarez added that price reductions this summer will only be “for shows where they don’t expect to sell out”, and “not every show”.
• That ticket price bubble burst sooner than they thought it would.
• Sticking with Monday’s Punk promo, it was “a major point of conversation backstage” per Fightful Select. The site also reported that Ben Saccoccio was listed as the promo’s writer internally at WWE, although it’s also been rumored that Punk was unscripted and off-plan.
• It was a good promo.
• PWInsider noted the “interesting timing” of TNA’s new policy restricting its wrestlers from working indies with AEW talent coming after “AEW Collision and TNA Impact went head to head for an hour that overlapped last Thursday, with TNA’s usual audience dropping specifically during that hour”. And sources close to MLP also told Fightful that TNA president Carlos Silva wasn’t happy Collision was head-to-head with Impact last week.
• Always some political drama.
• Fightful also brought word that a match between MJF and Bear Bronson in GCW was “blocked” by TNA last month.
• Even though the TNA/WWE partnership isn’t as strong as it once was.
• Prop bets are open for AEW Dynasty this Sunday at betonline, where in notable matches Will Ospreay is favored over Jon Moxley, MJF over Kenny Omega, and Cope & Cage over FTR. Thekla is a big favorite over Jamie Hayter.
• Only MJF & Thekla were winners here. (2/4)
• Previously reported odds for WrestleMania 42 matches continue to shift at sites like betonline, but no new favorites have emerged. In recently announced matches, Gunther is favored to beat Seth Rollins, as The Usos & LA Knight are The Vision & IShowSpeed.
• These are accurate. (2/2)
• Catalina will debut for AAA this Saturday, according to Luchablog. If they’re right, she’ll be the first wrestler to jump from CMLL since WWE bought AAA last year.
• That is accurate. (1/1)

April 10, 2026

• According to WrestleVotes, the opening match of WrestleMania Saturday will be LA Knight & The Usos vs. IShowSpeed, Logan Paul, and Austin Theory.
• That’s accurate. LA Knight just loves opening PPVs. (1/1)
• Votes says the opening match of WrestleMania Sunday will be Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar. Fightful notes that ESPN pushed for Brock’s WrestleMania 42 match to take place on the first hour of the show that airs on ESPN’s cable network, and WWE had no problem with that idea.
• Also accurate. They’ve done away with the free first hours. (1/1)
• For whatever it’s worth, Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer claims that Jelly Roll will be in Cody Rhodes’ corner in his main event match against Randy Orton (with Pat McAfee) at WrestleMania 42.
• That’s the case. (1/1)
• Per Votes, WWE has made some changes to its creative plans after the very negative reaction to McAfee’s return angle. CM Punk’s MAGAfee promo from Raw might be part of these changes, as that wasn’t planned when the angle began on SmackDown.
• I wonder the degree of plans that changed and then changed again when Jelly & Pat were like “Maybe not.”
• The outlet also says WWE is confident that Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez will both be cleared in time for WrestleMania, after their concussion scare on Raw.
• Liv was on Mania. Roxanne wasn’t but wrestled prior to it. (2/2)
• WWE star Trick Williams told New Rory & Mal that they’re getting Lil Yachty a trainer, and he’s excited to see what Yachty “can do in the business” after he gets in proper shape for pro wrestling.
• He got to work a 5 minute match with Baron Corbin at Saturday Night’s Main Event.
• Meltzer says there is “heavy speculation” that it’s “WWE forcing the hand of TNA” to pull its wrestlers out of scheduled indie matches against AEW stars. “Everyone in wrestling” thinks that’s the case, including “people who are involved.”
• That’s what I would assume too.

This week: 17/25 – 68%

Overall: 6,531/11,063 – 59.0%

Have a great week, everyone!