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:
- According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, the Raw commentary team was not allowed to say the city name “Raleigh” during this week’s broadcast even though that’s where the show emanated from in North Carolina. WWE thinks Raleigh “doesn’t sound prestigious enough,” so it is now the latest entry on WWE’s list of banned words.
- It looks like WWE has removed all of their social media and YouTube posts related to Joe Gacy. There is speculation this was done because his controversial new gimmick on NXT 2.0 is being described in certain media outlets as an attack on the “woke left.”
- This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter mentions AEW wrestler Brian Cage is out of action right now due to an issue with his knee following a recent stem cell procedure. The Observer also notes Jake Roberts is dealing with “undisclosed health issues.”
- Fightful was told that as recently as July, there was a strained relationship between WWE and the FOX network. This was partially due to SmackDown viewership falling below the network’s expectations. WWE has been trying to appease the network since then, including booking the Staples Center in Los Angeles for an episode of SmackDown (instead of Raw) in December.
- PW Insider says they’ve confirmed the following new names for NXT talents: Joseph Fatu is now Sefa Fatu, Jennifer Michell Cantu Iglesias will go by Yulisa Leon, Jessica Woynilko becomes Tiffany Stratton, and Sanjana George is now Vish Kenya.
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.
