Speculating on the rumors surrounding pro wrestling is a favored pastime of many fans, perhaps second only to actually watching the matches. In this daily column, we take a look at the latest rumors being churned out by the pro wrestling rumor mill.
Important reminder: Rumors are just that — rumors. None of this has been confirmed as fact, it’s just circulating around the pro wrestling rumor mill. We track rumor accuracy in a weekly feature called Rumor Look Back you can find here. Remember, take it all with a grain of salt.
Rumors for the Day:
- WrestleVotes asked a “a longtime WWE employee friendly with Shane [McMahon]” about the picture of McMahon meeting with AEW’s Tony Khan and was told, “Shane’s as smart as they come; taking a preliminary meeting doesn’t surprise anyone here.”
- For what it’s worth, Mercedes Moné tweeted “lol I took that pic”.
- Will Ospreay’s feud with MJF has been planned “for months”, according to Fightful Select. Their report mentions that part of why Ospreay wanted to put Swerve Strickland over at Forbidden Door was to take the possibility of Swerve rematch off the table for All In, as a match between Ospreay and MJF was always set to take place in Wembley.
- The belief internally at AEW is that replacing the International title with an American one is only a temporary move to get heat on MJF. Fightful’s heard the company wants to continue to “‘elevate” the International championship.
- After Kyle Fletcher’s promo on last night’s Dynamite, Dave Meltzer posted that Fletcher was a “late replacement” for AEW’s first choice for the spot, but that person “had commitments he couldn’t get out of.” When pressed on who that person was, Meltzer replied he was “nobody you’d think of” and a “very outside the box” choice.
- Another Fightful Select report says Rey Fenix’s AEW contract expires sometime in the next few months. AEW has made offers to Fenix, but there’s no word on where things stand beyond that. His brother Penta is in a similar situation, and WWE is expected to have interest in signing both Lucha Bros.
- Elijah Holyfield, son of former heavyweight boxing champ Evander Holyfield, will be taking part in the WWE tryouts happening over SummerSlam weekend. That from PW Insider, who notes that former University of Syracuse football player Atrilleon “Trill” Williams will also participate in the tryouts.
- Hall of Famers Kane and Rick Steiner are scheduled to be in Cleveland for WWE’s SummerSlam weekend, per PW Insider.
- Wrestlenomics obtained public records which show WWE will receive a $5 million grant from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) in exchange for bringing WrestleMania to the city next year. WWE will also “get rent-free use of the LVCVA’s Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall, presumably where The World (formerly Axxess) will take place”.
If you have heard of any interesting rumors that you’d like to add, feel free to post them in the comments section below. Just remember they are rumors and not confirmed as fact, so please take them as such. And check our weekly Rumor Look Back here to keep track of how often rumors turn out to be correct.