Every so often, WWE hypes something up by just keeping it a total mystery. You never know if it is leading to a big return, a new signing, a new faction being formed, or anything in between.
We've got another one of those going on now after WWE's social media accounts started posting a new series of mystery vignettes: mini videos that are all just the same basic short clip, but with some variations, of someone walking. That is it.
The first video, posted at 7:42 AM, features someone walking with some particularly shined loafers, likely sporting dress pants.
The second, posted at 4:18 PM, shifted gears to seemingly more casual pants, along with shoes that, while in shadow and not fully visible, appear to be still some kind of more casual dress shoe, with laces.
The third one, as of this article's publication, was posted at 7:42 PM and seems like work boots or even sneakers, and some even more casual pants.
So what does it all mean? Of course, fans are speculating all sorts of things and going down different rabbit holes.
Let's go down some of those paths and examine a few of the predictions going around right now, as well as my own personal theory.
Theory 1: Gunther
Admittedly, the first person I thought of while checking out the initial video was Gunther. We know that "The Ring General" is supposed to be coming back soon, and there has been heavy speculation he will be John Cena's final opponent at Saturday Night's Main Event on December 13th. If that's the case, it's time to start building to that.
What I don't see, though, are how that ties him to the second and third clips. None of those match his gear and style.
Theory 2: Chris Jericho
One popular theory is that this will be the return of Chris Jericho, with the three different shoes representing different personas he's had: the more business suit jerk, the version of him that was with the light-up jacket, and the Y2J old school version.
While I like that theory, I don't see it necessarily translating to those three types of shoes, nor the pants. Plus, that requires WWE having signed Jericho, and there is nothing definitive about him leaving AEW at all in the future, let alone if he's already done that and signed a new contract with enough time to start doing these vignettes as hype.
Theory 3: Santos Escobar
I'm a big fan of Santos Escobar, who thinks he's grossly underutilized and overlooked. However, even I have to admit that this would be the most underwhelming thing for a lot of people. If they're going into this expecting something huge like Jericho returning, and it's just Escobar—or Escobar is reuniting with Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde for some reason, then we'll just see them attack AJ Styles and Dragon Lee and that'll be it, really. All that buzz will die down immediately.
My Theory:
I think this is going to represent someone on the roster "taking a step back" and going from someone who was doing more of a rich business type persona, but is now getting gritty again to reconnect with their roots, and I think that person is Tony D'Angelo.
We haven't seen him on NXT television in months, and he's not mentioned at all. Hell, Luca Crusifino dropped out of nowhere as well and hasn't been mentioned, Adrianna Rizzo is MIA from another injury, and Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo is just Stacks, is paired with Arianna Grace (his real-life fiance), and NOBODY mentions his NXT Heritage Cup that has been gone for weeks.
Clearly, all of that isn't just going to be reheated again. People are split, and I think Tony D is going to be making his Raw debut as part of an effort to shuffle the deck and get some new characters in the mix.
In doing so, he'll be reintroduced where he's no longer "The Don" character, and he's back to being just a brawler type guy.
I think these are showing how he went from the mafia don to how he's reverting back to the more brute side of himself and will be making his Monday Night Raw debut soon without the whole suit and hat and whatnot.
What do you think is going on? Drop a comment below with your predictions!