The WWE men’s tag titles should never have been split

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.

March 29, 2024

• Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer says Vince McMahon’s name is “not allowed to be mentioned” on WWE television. There was a backstage reaction of “Oh god!” when CM Punk made a reference to him during his promo segment with Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins on this week’s Raw.
• That’s understandable. They want to distance themselves as far as possible from his terrible actions.
• Their segment went over its allotted time, but there was “no real heat on anybody for anything they did” during it. In fact, Triple H anticipated it would go long, and “everybody was thrilled” when it popped a big rating.
• That was a fun segment in general.
• Per Meltzer, Drew McIntyre wasn’t in a rush to re-sign with WWE because “he wanted to do this new character, and if the new character didn’t work out and the booking wasn’t strong...the idea was maybe go back [home] and spend time with the family and take time off.” Drew’s asking price should theoretically be higher now than six months ago because “he’s a much bigger star and he’s got big programs to come back to.”
• Drew definitely elevated himself in the last year.
• PW Insider notes that MJF is still recovering from his “multiple injuries.” The belief is that he is locked into an AEW contract despite being removed from the roster page on its web site. The former AEW world champ was in Boston the day after Big Business for a meeting with AEW officials, but a timeline for his return to the ring remains unknown.
• He eventually put the “biggest free agent” angle to bed.
• WrestleVotes heard the NXT Battleground premium live event “will be moving off May 26th to June 9th,” which means it is no longer going head-to-head with the AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view. The location of NXT Battleground is also moving from Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia, to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• That’s accurate on date and location. (2/2)
• Fightful Select says AJ Francis aka Top Dolla signed a TNA contract that will keep him with the promotion through the end of 2024. The deal allows Dolla to keep working in NWA, MLW, and NJPW, but not in WWE or AEW.
• We’ll see what happens at the end of the year.

March 30, 2024

• This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter says even though “one would think [Cody] Rhodes almost has to beat [Roman] Reigns” at WrestleMania 40, WWE can actually do “whatever they want” because “business will be exceptional no matter what the finishes are.”
• It would have really hurt Cody if he didn’t win I think. Business may have been OK, but making a top guy look worse isn’t good business in the long term. Luckily, they did the right thing.
• In the aftermath of Cody Rhodes blading on this week’s Raw, The Observer says blood “will be used very rarely” in WWE going forward. There are “no plans to turn it into AEW where it’s used more liberally.” In this specific case, the bloody angle is an example of how The Rock “will get to do pretty much what he wants” in his angles and matches.
• There was some legit blood in last night’s Hell in a Cell match.
• According to F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer, “it looks more likely than not that Kenny Omega will be getting surgery on his intestines.” Kenny has “largely been dealing with a good amount of pain for months now,” and “he will probably have to get rid of the perforated sections of his intestine and colon” if he wants to “get into condition to resume his career.” Two different doctors have told him that surgery is the best option at this point.
• He did eventually undergo surgery. (1/1)
• Regarding Jack Perry’s reported claim that he hasn’t cleared anything he’s done in NJPW with Tony Khan, Meltzer says “there is no way that anything with an AEW contracted talent working in New Japan is going to be done without the approval of AEW, let alone an angle where he supposedly tore up his AEW contract.”
• That was obviously all approved by AEW.
• Ryan Nemeth told Sportskeeda that he was staying in character last year when tweeted that CM Punk is “the softest man alive.” As a heel, he thought it made sense for his character to say that after top babyface Punk hypocritically called others soft during his return promo on AEW Collision despite the reality that CM “gets injured more than anyone who’s ever wrestled.”
• It was unlikely Ryan Nemeth was sniffing a program with CM Punk and knowing how Punk is, it wasn’t a wise calculation.
• Meanwhile, Punk “continues to get all positive reviews” from PWTorch’s WWE sources “regarding how he is carrying himself amongst colleagues and management” since returning to the company.
• Likely a combination of it being his last chance and him appreciating a bit more of a structured environment.

April 1, 2024

• The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says they were told “not to read into” anything related to John Cena or Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 40 in relation to the main event matches. There is a “mystery slot” on the show, however, but it’s unknown who it’s for right now.
• I don’t know what the “mystery slot” went to. Maybe Damian Priest cashing in on Drew McIntyre?
• Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits vs. The Final Testament is expected to be added to WrestleMania 40, per the Observer, and “as of last week it was booked to be billed as a Philadelphia Street Fight.”
• Man, I already forgot about that match. (1/1)
• They also say Pretty Deadly was listed in the lineup for the Six-Pack Ladder match for the tag team titles at WrestleMania 40 and Grayson Waller & Austin Theory could be removed from the match.
• A Town Down Under won while Pretty Deadly were not in the match. (0/2)
• Big Bill & Ricky Starks were originally slated to win the tag team tournament match on Collision this past weekend, according to Fightful Select. The injury to Ricky Starks changed things.
• I don’t think we’re going to see Ricky Starks in AEW again.
• Said injury, per Wrestling Observer Radio, was a stinger and not a concussion as originally feared.
• I’m not sure how long he has on his contract.
• Fightful notes Parker Boudreaux is still under contract to AEW for at least a number of months.
• He had a very brief run on AEW TV.

April 2, 2024

• AEW talent that Fightful Select spoke to about CM Punk’s bombshell interview with Ariel Helwani yesterday said the incident with Jack Perry backstage at Collision was less about their argument and more about Punk spreading the story around so much that it got out, which seemed to run counter to his previous complaints about rumors & gossip backstage.
• Punk didn’t acquit himself well in AEW.
• Fightful’s report quoted one AEW veteran as saying, “More than anything, what the interview showed was that this was preventable from all sides. Punk is happy, AEW talent moved on, so hopefully everyone just learns from it and makes amends in the future.”
• It did work out for most involved.
• Reactions from WWE talent Fightful spoke to were said to be “all over the place”. One seemed to be glad it happened now, as hopefully it will blow over so the focus can be back on WrestleMania by the end of the week. WWE execs believe Punk didn’t want to talk about AEW with Helwani, but knew it would come up. They don’t expect he’ll do a lot of other media appearances this week.
• I wonder if some opinions of him in WWE have changed - especially in the eyes of those who didn’t want him there.
• In an ESPN post on how the WrestleMania 40 main event evolved after The Rock’s return and the huge fan support for Cody Rhodes that followed, Triple H indicated that WWE was ready to audible from the start: “Whether people will want to believe it or not, I think we were sort of looking at this as here’s where we’re going to go to get this started and it has the opportunity of going this way or that way.”
• That was kind of the message they sold in the WrestleMania XL special they did too.
• WWE officials see Ilja Dragunov as “as a prospect on the level of Gunther”, per Fightful Select and plan a similar push for him once he’s called up. While a move to Raw or SmackDown is expected after Dragunov eventually drops the NXT title, there are no plans in place for a call-up at this time.
• I don’t think he’s been pushed like Gunther. He’s take more losses. Unfortunately, we just learned he’s out with a knee injury. (0/1)
• AEW’s Ortiz said on on Isiah Kassidy’s vlog that he’s out with a torn pec and scheduled for surgery in two weeks.
• Ouch.
• After Giulia appeared on a Pro Wrestling NOAH show on Monday and announced she’ll be working their May 4 event, Wrestling Observer reported the move is part of the strategy to launch Rossy Ogawa’s new company. There’s an announcement planned about the new promotion later this month, but “it’s very clear far fewer women left Stardom than originally anticipated.”
• I wonder how that promotion ends up doing overall.

April 3, 2024

• Fightful Select says WWE has reached out to former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kielce about an appearance at WrestleMania 40.
• He was part of the Philadelphia Street fight mentioned earlier. (1/1)
• They also say Jade Cargill had her presentation tweaked just a bit before her big debut on SmackDown proper to distinguish her from The Rock, what with the electricity theme and what not.
• That make sense.
• Drew Barrymore is expected to be at WrestleMania 40, per PW Insider.
• Looks like that’s the case. (1/1)
• Roxanne Perez has generated buzz behind-the-scenes at WWE but there are some in NXT who would like her to stick around to continue fleshing out her heel character, notes Fightful.
• She’s still the champion in NXT.
• Matt Hardy told WrestleZone that his brother, Jeff, should be cleared in roughly one month.
• He didn’t wrestle until July. But that doesn’t mean he necessarily wasn’t cleared to wrestle.
• There are some in TNA who believe Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley are AEW bound, according to PW Insider.
• Sounds like they’re actually WWE bound, maybe to SmackDown as hinted in this promo. (0/1)

April 4, 2024

• As of last week, WWE’s internal match order for WrestleMania 40 had Becky Lynch & Rhea Ripley’s Women’s World title match opening night one and Seth Rollins & Drew McIntyre’s World title match opening night two. That per Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer, who reminded us that plans could change.
• It did not change. (2/2)
• According to PW Insider’s sources, AEW’s talent releases this week weren’t the result of financial cutbacks. Instead, they were “simply a reorganization of how the company is utilizing the roster” and done so as to not “keep talents from other potential opportunities.” The door is said to be open for any of them to work with the company in the future.
• What potential opportunities are we speaking about? Usually AEW talent is allowed to work elsewhere with permission (not WWE of course).
• Mercedes Moné’s AEW contract includes her own locker room. That from a Fightful Select report that also says AEW has offered that particular perk to other female talent in the past.
• Fancy.
• PW Insider says Jackie Redmond will host Friday’s WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony. The site also says Maryse and Jazz will be in attendance, and has heard that Dawn Marie may be there as well.
• She and Corey hosted. (1/1)
• Giulia was seen boarding a plane to the United States on Wednesday, reports Tokyo Sports. The paper says there’s a “high possibility” the former Stardom star will attend WrestleMania in Philadelphia.
• She was in the crowd at Stand and Deliver that weekend, though we have no idea if she was actually at WrestleMania. Surely a good possibility but we just don’t know.
• Concern about a possible Joe Gacy concussion led to his match with Oba Femi on the April 2 NXT being declared a no contest, per Fightful’s Corey Brennan. Gacy made it backstage on his own and was checked by medical before the scene setting up his Stand & Deliver match with Shawn Spears went ahead as planned.
• Dangerous business.

April 5, 2024

• Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer said WWE “very well may split” the undisputed tag team titles in the six-pack ladder match this weekend at WrestleMania 40, and “I presume there’s a good chance that they do.”
• They did. I still don’t agree with that move. I don’t think there’s enough movement on both shows with the tag scene that warranted this. Maybe a team like the Motor City Machine Guns could lock one down but even then, it’s probably better having them jump from show to show. (1/1)
• PW Insider says there are people in WWE who “expect John Cena will be in town for Wrestlemania this weekend.” However, due to Cena’s movie schedule, he will be “off the board” for any major physicality in WWE for the remainder of 2024 following WrestleMania.
• I guess that’s the case even though he did take a bump. (1/1)
• While doing media interviews this week, Cody Rhodes teased he might change the look of the WWE Universal championship if he wins it from Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.
• He did not. We’re never getting the return of the Golden Eagle. (0/1)
• A few of the interesting names already spotted yesterday in Philadelphia, the host city of WrestleMania, include Giulia, Braun Strowman, Rossy Ogawa, and former Philadelphia Eagles football player Jason Kelce.
• Rossy Ogawa had a big run in during the main event of WrestleMania main event.
• Fightful Select mentioned that Drew McIntyre is getting a special entrance at WrestleMania that will include a large number of extras.
• That’s the case. He had a band and walked between men in Scottish attire. (1/1)
• According to ESPN, NXT wrestlers Wolfgang, Mark Coffey, and Joe Coffey worked with The Rock to help him prepare for his in-ring return at WrestleMania.
• He looked pretty good given the ring rust. It was more of a brawl of a match, but he didn’t look like a liability or anything.
• When asked for the exact date that AEW’s exclusive negotiating window for a new TV deal with WBD expires, Tony Khan told the media, “It’s coming up soon...I do appreciate you asking that.”
• We finally have the deal announced.

This week: 12/17 - 71%

Overall: 5,310/9,183 - 57.8%

Have a great week, everyone!