The New Day defeated Cesaro and Tyson Kidd to become the WWE Tag Team Champions at Extreme Rules.
Coming off of Extreme Rules, which had plenty of surprises, WWE gets ready to head into the summer months. Last week’s rumors involved Bray Wyatt’s next opponent and how severe Daniel Bryan’s injury is — he didn’t compete at Extreme Rules.
Roman Reigns reigned over The Big Show in a Last Man Standing Match, John Cena survived Rusev to retain the United States Championship in a Russian Chain Match and Seth Rollins retained the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in his Cage Match with Randy Orton when he… used the very same RKO that he had banned from the match to help him buy time and escape from the cage.
This week’s rumors represent a great throwback and quite possibly the most shocking rumor surrounding this certain superstar that has ever been released somewhat to the public.
Here are the latest WWE news, rumors and spoilers from the previous week (April 20-27):
Disclaimer: The following rumors are a compilation of WWE related news stories and speculation that circulated around the internet from the previous week. Each rumor should be taken as that, just a rumor, and nothing concrete or factual given the nature of WWE and the industry. All plans are always subject to change based on circumstances.
The Return of the King of the Ring
The King of the Ring is a single-elimination tournament the WWE uses to elevate the profile of a respective superstar. The tournament was held annually from 1985-91 and then later became its own PPV from 1993-2002.
Since 2002, the WWE has used the tournament more sparingly, trying to keep the appeal and the prestige of the event high while not exhausting what the concept was originally intended to do (uh, hello Money in the Bank!).
According to Cageside Seats, the King of the Ring will have matches tomorrow night on RAW and will culminate with live specials on the WWE Network.
What the tournament should do is temporarily give superstars Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, Bad News Barrett, Dean Ambrose, Luke Harper, and, possibly, Rusev and Roman Reigns something to do.
What the Royal Rumble is to the beginning of the WWE calendar and Wrestlemania season, the King of the Ring used to be for the summer and build-up to Summerslam. The King of the Ring has enough prestigious, all-time great winners such as Don Muraco, Randy Savage, Bret Hart, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Triple H, Kurt Angle, Edge and Brock Lesnar that it negates some of the lesser names to win the event such as Billy Gunn and William Regal.
The King of the Ring is a star-making opportunity just as much as the Rumble and is a nice change of pace than the Rumble and Money in the Bank storylines that have become a mainstay today.
The Undertaker Almost Jumped to WCW in 2000
The headline should cause a massive double take, but according to the Kliq/NWO — if they are to be believed — then the WWE’s soul, literally, almost jumped to the sinking ship known as WCW in their dying days in 2000.
According to Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, both members of WWE’s Kliq backstage faction in the mid-90s with Triple H, Shawn Michaels and later X-Pac/Syxx, The Undertaker (real name Mark Calloway) was unhappy with his character direction in 2000 and would have contemplated an offer from Ted Turner’s WCW had a good one come across his table. Keep in mind: the group is notoriously known for their backstage antics and for grossly exaggerating or fabricating some parts of professional wrestling’s glorious Monday Night Wars era
When Calloway was active with the WWE, he was the locker room leader and the one performer that talent could go to for career advice, direction or if an incident occurred in the back. From his debut in 1990 until late 1999, Taker’s gimmick was his name, the WWE’s resident collector of souls and later badass satanic cult leader “The Lord of Darkness.” In 2000, Taker returned with a Hell’s Angel biker gimmick riding into Judgment Day on a motorcycle, officially creating the persona known to WWE fans as the “American Badass,” which stuck until 2003.
For the most part, Calloway has always been on great terms with Vince McMahon and the WWE, so it seems a bit far-fetched to believe that he would have fled to WCW a mere months before they officially went out of business.
Other Notes
– The New Day won the WWE Tag Team Championship at Extreme Rules. Because of their unique trio, it appears that the WWE will bring back “The Freebird Rule” and apply it to the New Day.
– Intercontinental Champion Daniel Bryan was not in Chicago this weekend for the pay-per-view and will be out for up to two months nursing his neck injury.
