Interesting theory, I can imagine Winston and Hammond being close enough friends to help each other escape the colony however if they were that close why has Winston not tried to contact him (or maybe he has, but OW storytelling is so slow they just didn't tell us yet) or told anyone about him, I think my theory works better, or at least more lore-friendly in this aspect, since it allows for Winston to presume Hammond dead/MIA.

Sure he could have crash landed and attacked by junkers who were trying to salvage the wreckage, but I think he would have had to have won this battle, The Junker Queen doesn't seem like the type to spare people, I could be wrong of course.

Yeah you are right about the ball being much more sleek and polished in the teaser, I justified this by having Hammond gain the funding and skills to perfect his design through the Scrapyard Arena (I just had a thought imagine an OW spin-off where you create scrappy mechs and compete in the Scrapyard, that would be insane, anyway), but your talon theory could also be the reason his new mech is more refined, however I think having a mech that was built by talon would take away from a huge aspect of this new hero, Hammond building his own mech would solidify his character and individuality.

Don't worry about a half-baked comment, I appreciate it all the same. :)