Rumor Look Back: Jan. 15 - 21, 2018

Welcome to the weekly Rumor Look Back, where we look at the rumors from six months ago and see which played out as originally predicted. Let’s jump right into it.

January 15, 2018

It’s expected WWE will try to work Paige into a new role now that she cannot wrestle. There’s no current talk of her leaving the company.
She’s the SmackDown GM right now. I really enjoy her in the role. (1/1)
There’s talk of The Rock making a surprise appearance at Raw 25, even if just via satellite.
He was not part of the show live or via satellite. (0/1)
Per PW Insider, WWE is interested in bringing EC3 back to the company.
He’s in NXT currently. He hasn’t had any major stories yet. He’s been featured certainly, but really as part of other people’s stories. (1/1)
According to PW Insider, War Machine, Candice LaRae, and Ricochet are all expected to be announced as NXT hires this week.
This is accurate. (3/3)

January 16, 2018

According to HollywoodLife.com, a WWE source says Paige is struggling to accept she won’t clear her for a return to the ring: “She doesn’t really believe it and is actually hoping for a miracle to someday wrestle again.”
She talked about her struggles coping with Edge and Christian on their pod. She also said that maybe in 20 years she’d be able to according to doctors, but she doesn’t want to be wrestling 20 years from now.
Vince McMahon is not heading up Creative for Mixed Match Challenge. According to The Observer, that will be run by writer Ryan Ward.
There really wasn’t too much creative to it. Felt like much of it was on the stars themselves with their internet videos.
Despite a recent round of reports saying Mark Henry retired last week, PW Insider points out Henry told them in October that he considered himself retired at that point, but that he is “like Ric [Flair]. I’m going to retire about seven or eight times.”
We don’t see him much at all. He was part of the Greatest Royal Rumble though.
Next week for Raw 25, WWE is trying to make The Manhattan Center look very much like it did when Raw premiered back in 1993.
They did a pretty good job of it. (1/1)

January 17, 2018

The early expectation is Roman Reigns will lose the Intercontinental championship back to The Miz on Raw 25 next week.
He did. (1/1)
Not surprisingly, the word on Twitter is the decision to move the U.S. Title Tournament Final up to this week’s SmackDown was made at the very last minute.
Sounds like that’s how it goes. Wrestlers have talked about how they try not get excited about winning titles until it actually happens because things change so fast.
Hulk Hogan told a fan on Twitter that he won’t be at Raw 25 and PW Insider notes there hasn’t been any talk of him being there.
He wasn’t there. (1/1)
To that end, they’re also saying Jeff Hardy is scheduled to be there for the show but as of now names like Bret Hart, Edge, Batista, and Rey Mysterio will not be, at least as of now.
This is accurate (and another stats buffer). (5/5)
Serena Deeb was at the WWE Performance Center this week, per PW Insider, and it’s looking like she’ll be back in WWE shortly.
She’s a trainer currently. (1/1)

January 18, 2018

According to Sports Illustrated, New Japan was interested in signing Goldberg for a run before WWE locked him up for the Hall of Fame (and possibly more).
That could have been interesting. I doubt it would have happened though.
EC3 cancelled a planned appearance on Jan. 28, which has increased speculation he might show up in the Royal Rumble. Several sources say he’s free and clear to sign with anyone immediately.
He was not in the Royal Rumble but instead in the crowd at TakeOver the night before. (0/1)
Fightful.com says the expectation is that Chelsea Green/Laurel Van Ness will sign with WWE in 2018. The company was impressed with her work on Impact last year.
We’ll see. Nothing official is yet.
A report from PW Insider says TriStar Pictures, the movie studio behind the planned Vince McMahon biopic, has a new script they’re reviewing which will be sent to Bradley Cooper upon approval. If Cooper decides to play Vince, shooting could start this Spring.
I haven’t heard anything about this lately.
Impact’s next PPV isn’t locked in for Toronto yet, per PW Insider, despite mentions of that during in-ring segments at their latest taping.
It was actually in Orlando. Slammiversary is in Toronto though. (1/1)

January 19, 2018

The Observer notes that Roman Reigns winning the Universal championship from Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34 is still planned.
Did not happen to the surprise of almost everyone. (0/1)
It was reported by the Observer that Chris Jericho was advertised for Raw 25 before a deal between the two sides was done and it could depend on what creative is for him if it ends up happening or not.
It ended up happening. It was just a backstage segment where Chris Jericho, wearing his Alpha Club shirt that was used for his NJPW match, and he put Elias on the list.
Jeff Cobb will be back as Matanza in the next season of Lucha Underground, though it may be to get written out, according to the Observer.
He has been back. (1/1)

January 20, 2018

From all accounts, despite betting odds, there are no plans for Daniel Bryan to be in the Royal Rumble match and he still isn’t cleared by WWE to wrestle.
He was not in the Rumble. Hopefully he’ll be in there next year. Winning it maybe? (1/1)
According to the Observer, Samoa Joe’s injury is worse than originally believed and he could be out well into March.
He returned right after Mania. (1/1)
James Storm has apparently been saying he wants to get a deal done with WWE.
There hasn’t been one. Sorry, James... about your damn luck.
The Observer speculates that what Austin Aries is doing in Impact Wrestling now is the spot Rey Mysterio would have had if they had come to a deal.
Rey probably wouldn’t have been a heel champion. While I support Impact, it still feels like they’re way too small of a pond for Mysterio. I think it’s possible to have too big of a star for them now. Everything would revolve around a star of Mysterio’s size.
Impact is interested in Jeff Cobb, per the Observer.
I believe he recently signed with Ring of Honor. He’s not with Impact. (0/1)