The WWE title scene could have changed drastically last summer

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.

July 5, 2024

• Per Fightful Select, Ricochet is expected to join AEW soon. His agent was backstage at Dynamite this week and has been “leading talks between the two sides.”
• I am watching Dynamite as I work on this and Ric is literally on my TV right now. (1/1)
• PW Insider says TNA X Division Champion Mustafa Ali was backstage at AEW Dynamite this week, though they just say he was “visiting.”
• He hasn’t joined AEW.
• They also say Britt Baker’s story of suffering a mini-stroke in her return promo is “100-percent legitimate.”
• That’s very scary.
• Fightful spoke to former members of WWE’s creative team to learn more about the “Vince McMahon’s secret lockbox” stipulation for WrestleMania 32’s Undertaker vs. Shane McMahon Hell in a Cell match. There was apparently never a concrete plan for the box’s contents. What’s more, it was something Vince added at the last minute.
• It had folks talking for a few weeks before it never paid off - a hallmark of late Vince booking.
• Aron Stevens told the Victoire podcast that during his WWE run as Damian Sandow “the boss, you know who that is” told staffers not to include him on lists of which wrestlers got the biggest reaction on house shows even though he was “always in the top three, usually the top two”.
• He was super over or awhile, they didn’t know how to capitalize on his momentum from acting as Miz’s stunt double. After leaving WWE, he went to TNA where some folks who maybe didn’t get a fair shake in WWE got a chance to prove them wrong, most notably around this time being EC3. But Stevens was never able to recreate the kind of spark he had when he was at his hottest in WWE.
• Former WWE wrestler Dave Taylor is back with the company, says PW Insider. He’s been at NXT tapings and the Performance Center while also showing up at SmackDown a few times, they say, but it’s unclear exactly what he’s there for. He could end up being a Producer.
• I haven’t found anything else about this but they don’t publish a list of all the folks who do producer work for WWE.

July 6, 2024

• According to this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, AEW star Adam Cole still has “a little time left out of action” but is hopeful that “it’s not much longer.”
• He returned in October, which feels accurate with where this rumor is coming from. (1/1)
• On The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Matt Hardy pushed back on rumors and speculation about Shane McMahon possibly working for Tony Khan in AEW. Matt said the rumors aren’t true, and that Shane recently reached out to someone wondering why people are talking about him going to AEW.
• Shane has to know why people were asking given the fact there’s a picture of him and Tony Khan having a meeting.
• Fightful Select claims that Giulia won’t be in Toronto this weekend for NXT Heatwave, as she will be on the road with Marigold. However, Giulia is expected to be featured on NXT’s next premium live event, which might take place on SummerSlam weekend.
• She debuted at the next PLE, but that was in September and not SummerSlam weekend. (2/3)
• F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer says there are people in WWE who don’t understand why the company changed Tamyra Mensah-Stock’s name to Tyra Mae Steele, given her background as an Olympic gold medalist. Meltzer explains WWE’s decision as follows: “The feeling is that the average WWE fan doesn’t know her name, so they should give her a name they know, unlike with Jade Cargill where the idea was that the average WWE fan already knows her name and that name has cache.”
• I don’t necessarily disagree. I don’t know that name off the top, but i don’t really watch the Olympics. And her new name has a better flow to it.
• Meltzer notes that Daniel Garcia’s AEW contract “is up in October, unless he just signed.” Some people who know him said that they don’t expect he will leave AEW.
• He did not leave AEW. (1/1)

July 8, 2024

• Fightful Select notes that John Cena’s retirement tour announcement was kept confidential beforehand. WWE, of course, has plans to go heavy on promotion of it all throughout 2025.
• It kicked off on Netflix.
• PWN claims WWE is working on creating United States and Intercontinental titles for the women’s division.
• That’s the case. (1/1)
• Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE is confident that CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre will happen at SummerSlam but it’s not 100-percent because it still depends on Punk getting cleared in time.
• He did get cleared. It was a decent match but I think a lot of it was Punk kicking off the rust.
• Record.com.mx claims Stephanie Vaquer has received offers from both AEW and WWE following her match with Mercedes Mone at Forbidden Door.
• She’s in NXT now.
• PW Insider notes that TNA stars Josh Alexander and Jade Chung were backstage at Money in the Bank.
• He’s a free agent in February. I wonder if a trip to NXT is in the future or if he was just visiting his old tag partner Ethan Page.
• According to Fightful, Riho suffered an injury on Collision this past weekend.
• She hasn’t wrestled since.

July 9, 2024

• There’s no heat on referee Rod Zapata for the failed kickout in Money in the Bank’s World Heavyweight title match, per WrestleVotes. A WWE source told Votes that “in years past” there “absolutely” would have been.
• There was an old rule that they’d have to count no matter what, which meant Seth would have been champion prior to the Drew McIntyre cash in that Punk would ruin. And I understand making it seem real and counting no matter what. But that would have derailed the title storyline in a big way. And that would have much longer implications than this moment, which people have largely forgotten about.
• No significant injuries happened during Money in the Bank, says Fightful Select. The site asked specifically Tanga Loa, Chelsea Green, Zoey Stark, and Chad Gable, and was told all were okay.
• That’s good given the fact ladder matches can be dangerous.
• Joe Hendry will be featured “heavily” in coming weeks and months as the NXT/TNA crossover continues, according to Fightful Select. WWE officials want to take advantage of Hendry’s knack for making even small moments go viral.
• That’s the case. He even got a title shot. (1/1)
• When Fightful asked if WWE was interested in signing Hendry when his TNA contract is up, the response they got was, “who wouldn’t?”
• That’s not for awhile though.
• Confirming PWN’s report that WWE is talking about introducing women’s versions of its Intercontinental and U.S. championships, Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer said the belts would be “one for each brand” like the men’s secondary singles titles.
• That’s the case. (1/1)
• On her Instagram, Riho said the injury she suffered on last Saturday’s Collision was an arm fracture.
• Hopefully she’s recovering well.

July 10, 2024

• PW Insider says Rhea Ripley is now listed as a babyface internally at WWE while the rest of The Judgment Day are still listed as heels.
• That makes sense. I wonder know that she’s finally won her title back where she goes next.
• Regarding Ripley’s return, Fightful notes it had been discussed for almost a month before it finally happened.
• She just won her title back finally.
• They also say that there is no heat on Pat McAfee for cursing on commentary on Raw this week and, in fact, there’s some excitement for how things can be once the show moves to Netflix.
• We’ll see how often he swears. Though they have cut that off the replays.
• Insider hinted that The Rock had to give approval to the WrestleMania 40 documentary and that may be why it took so long for it to be released.
• The Rock’s camp disputed this.
• Fightful Select noted that Damon Kemp’s departure from WWE was not part of any wider plan to let go of any additional talent.
• They will have periods of releases, but this was not one of them. (1/1)
• For what it’s worth, Jordynne Grace told Matt Morgan on a recent episode of Gigantic Pop that her contract with TNA expires in Jan. 2025.
• I expect her in the Rumble this year. As for Matt Morgan, he was involved in local politics for awhile, but that may be over.

July 11, 2024

• WWE-bound Stephanie Vaquer was backstage at NXT Heatwave on Sunday night in Toronto, per Fightful Select.
• She’s in NXT now.
• Regarding Vaquer starting her WWE career in NXT, Fightful’s Corey Brennan wrote that it’s being done “for the same reason as Giulia”, namely that the former CMLL star has “wrestled for most of her career in one country and has not experienced the WWE and American way of life”, and the decision has “nothing to do with their in ring work.”
• Giulia just won the title. I wonder if Vaquer will be challenging soon.
• Variety reported that Drew McIntyre became the latest WWE star to sign with Paradigm Talent Agency for representation in all areas of entertainment, joining Tiffany Stratton and CM Punk as Paradigm clients.
• This was after he got paid but may help with Hollywood.
• Finn Bálor recently told the What’s The Story podcast that his new WWE deal is for five years.
• He’ll likely be retiring with them.
• The masked wrestler whose arrival was teased in the “holo.grm” video on last Saturday’s Collision is former AAA wrestler Aramis. That per Bodyslam.net, and later confirmed by Luchablog. Bodyslam wasn’t able to find out when the 25 year old luchador will start with AEW, but did learn he’ll work under the name “Hologram”.
• He’s unfortunately hurt.
• Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp says WWE is talking about adding a “ref cam” to its shows. That could happen “soon”.
• That has happened here in there. It’s a bit dizzying, which they may understand because they don’t use it often. (1/1)
• Fightful also says they’ve confirmed that Mansoor & Mace (now Mason Madden) have signed with AEW/ROH. Their rollout in Ring of Honor as MxM Collection started last week.
• That’s the case.
• Tony Khan donated $10,000 to Kevin Sullivan’s GoFundMe campaign.
• Sullivan has since passed.

This week: 10/11 - 91%

Overall: 5,450/9,382 - 58.1%

Have a great week, everyone!