Retrospective rumor: April 3 – 9, 2021

Welcome to the weekly Rumor Look Back, where we take a look at the rumors from six months ago and see what unfolded as originally stated. Let’s get right to the point.

April 3, 2021

Fightful Select says Vince McMahon met some talent who were very unhappy with The Hurt Business breaking up, but McMahon insisted despite it taking a toll on locker room morale.
Probably one of the worst creative decisions of the year. Not the only one, but certainly one of the worst.
They also say that Bobby Lashley and MVP personally lobbied Vince not to proceed with the breakup.
Looks like they might be together again. At least for now.
The Observer notes that there will be no women’s battle royale at WrestlingMania 37.
They haven’t had a battle royale. They used the female gauntlet match to get most of the females on the map. (1/1)
For what it’s worth, Paige recently mentioned on her Twitch that she was going to try to be allowed to wrestle again.
I don’t know where she is in this process. She must have retired much too young.
Andrade posted a Tweeter this led to speculation that he signed a new agreement somewhere.
He quickly appeared on AEW.

April 5, 2021

Ringside News claims WWE has already set the order of matches for each night of WrestlingMania 37, although the queues that have been prevalent are incorrect.
I’m not sure which queues have been rumored at this point.
They also say that the finishes for each game are already set.
It makes sense. The show was not too far from that date.
The Observer says WWE has not imposed any quarantines for wrestlers leading to WrestlingMania this week, but some wrestlers chose to do it alone out of caution.
It makes sense. This was before vaccines were as widespread as they are today. So many or most of the talents probably haven’t had the opportunity yet.
During the Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T mentioned that Logan Paul would be a special referee or special agent for the Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens game.
This does not happen. He was right around Sami’s corner. (0/1)
Current odds have several titles changing hands at NXT Support: Stand & Deliver.
Technically, only two have changed hands (Kross winning the NXT title from Finn Bálor & Raquel González defeating Io Shirai). It is multiple so it is correct. There was a new team champion (MSK), but that title had already been canceled. And the cruiserweight title was unified. (1/1)

April 6, 2021

No champion is currently privileged by Bet Online to keep at WrestlingMania 37 This weekend. The intercontinental title game is a push; all the other champions are underdogs. Edge is the favorite to win the Universal Triple Threat title.
Roman retained, Bobby Lashley retained and Shayna Baszler & Natalya retained. So the idea that they would all change hands is wrong. (0/1)
According to Wrestling Observer, television programs indicate that tonight’s WWE Hall of Fame ceremony is 90 minutes long. The two nights of TakeOver are listed for just over two hours, and the WrestleMania on Saturday and Sunday end at 11 p.m. ET.
89 minutes on Peacock for the Hall of Fame, so it’s true. The first night of TakeOver lasted 2 hours but the second lasted 40 minutes longer (because of that Cole / O’Reilly match too long), so wrong on NXT. Both WrestleMania nights lasted at least 20 minutes past 11 p.m., the first longer due to the rain delay. (1/3)
At Forgive my take, Triple H said WWE has been having “conversations” about bringing in Rob Gronkowski for WrestlingMania 37, but he wasn’t sure (or admitted to) where those discussions had ended up.
They ended up not coming back.
The Riddle class forgot Raw last week was scripted “to talk about everything from Mount Fuji to underground robot battles in Japan,” according to Fightful Select.
There was no way it was better than what we got.
Bea Priestley ended up in Japan. Speculation from Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer and others is that she has signed with WWE and will be on the NXT UK roster.
She works under the name Blair Davenport. (1/1)

April 7, 2021

By WrestleVotes, prior to Tag Team Turmoil’s announcement, WWE originally had the idea of having the Women’s Battle Royal at WrestlingMania 37 the first night, the last two being crowned the winners and forming a team to fight for the titles the following night.
It would have been interesting. WWE also loves their rag teams.
According to PW Insider, Money in the bank will take place on May 16 and Backlash will take place on June 20 of this year. Both events will take place at the ThunderDome at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida.
These are wrong. Backlash was May 16 in the ThunderDome. Money in the bank was July 18 in front of a live crowd. (0/2)
On Wrestling Observer Radio, it was said that the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal had been moved to Smack down to make sure that every night of WrestlingMania 37 stay less than 3 and a half hours.
The delay in the rain ensured they didn’t.
Ringside News claims Logan Paul had issues behind the scenes in WWE the last time he was there, but it has been nice working with him since he came to work on screen.
Was the previous time just a moment when he had stopped as a guest?
Davey Richards is close to finalizing a deal to return to professional wrestling with Global Syndicate Wrestling, PW Insider said.
Looks like he had a game with them but it wasn’t his second leg. He worked a ton of promotions before them. (0/1)

April 8, 2021

According to PW Insider, the WWE schedule does not show any live events outside of the ThunderDome or house shows tour dates through July. All Raws, SmackDowns, and PPVs through July will be at the Yuengling Center in Tampa.
They moved in mid-July. (0/1)
A list of words WWE told promotional partners not to use prior to WrestleMania was recently reported by Fightful Select. Prohibited words included: Babyface, Belt, Blood, Card, Choke, Curb Stomp, Diva, DQ, Head shot, Heel, House show, Kayfabe, Kill, Mofos, Murder, Need a push, Spinal injuries, Strangle, Strap, The Anti -Diva, Being finished, At work / worker, Trauma, Victim, Violence / violent, Woman beater, Wrestler / wrestlers.
Lame.
Luke Gallows spoke to AEW’s “senior highs” about Big Cass’s arrival, through Fightful Select.
W. Morrissey did not go to AEW, but it appears he killed him at Impact. I support the great man.
This site also states that mods and dividers have been removed from Capitol Wrestling Center to increase seating capacity on NXT records. Masks are still mandatory and participants must be screened for COVID.
I’m watching a late April episode and can’t tell. There seem to be few people. I also see a clear barrier between the fans and the ring, but I can’t tell if there are any clear pods.
Peacock told PW Insider that WrestlingMania 37 streams will have rewind and pause functions, but only on Apple iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs.
Slowly but surely.

April 9, 2021

According to Fightful, Andrade has been contacted regarding potential non-WWE appearances on WrestlingMania weekend, but it is not known if any agreements have been reached.
He had no match but could still have appeared. He didn’t show up to AEW until June.
The site also states that Io Shirai’s main game on the first night of Support: Stand & Deliver was cut for time, as one of the first games of the night lasted a long time.
Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly played 40 minutes in a twisty game that added 40 minutes to the card. But since Women’s Night was in the United States, they didn’t have the luxury.
Ringside News learned that there had been no conversations in WWE about fears live fans might cheer or boo bad wrestlers this weekend at WrestlingMania 37.
The fans were great at this show.
Chris Jericho recently mentioned on Talk is Jericho that TNT was unhappy with Sting’s surprise debut on Dynamite in December, because the network prefers notes to surprises. This is why Paul Wight’s signing was announced on social media, and why they teased Christian as a mystery signing.
For fans, sometimes it’s more fun to have a surprise start. But I also see TNT’s position.
On the Go over podcast, Drew McIntyre mentioned that the face paint he wears at Expressway was his idea, but he didn’t get it approved by Vince McMahon until the show was already airing at 7 p.m. ET.
I wonder if he had to cuddle or if he was just like “Hey, boss, can I wear this makeup?” “Sure.”