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WWE has had a crazy 2017, a year filled with seemingly preposterous rumours actually coming true.
There was plenty of chatter that Jason Jordan would be revealed as Kurt Angle's son, and lo and behold, it actually happened.
Likewise, there was talk long before WrestleMania 33 that John Cena would do battle with The Miz at WWE's flagship pay-per-view just six years after they faced off in one of the worst main events in the show's history. Again, that indeed came true.
But for every ridiculous rumour that really did come to fruition, there were plenty more that didn't. Here are the 10 craziest WWE rumours in 2017 so far.
#10 Vince McMahon giggles at Great Balls of Fire
Chances are you found the "Great Balls of Fire" pay-per-view name to be utterly absurd. But don't tell Vince McMahon that.
In an interview with The Dallas Observer, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle claimed that the reason WWE's newest pay-per-view was named after an outdated song from 1964 is, quite simply, that McMahon "thought it was hilarious."
Chalk this one up as a rumour for now, but it sure sounds like something that would have WWE's head honcho cackling like a kid.
#9 Kenny Omega: Royal Rumble entrant
Leave it to John Cena to cause a social media firestorm.
That's exactly what the 16-time WWE Champion did back in January when he tweeted the above picture of Kenny Omega just before the Royal Rumble. The not-so-subtle implication that Omega would be debuting in the Royal Rumble had fans going crazy about the possibility that Omega could end up in WWE.
Cageside Seats even indicated Omega to WWE could indeed happen, something played up by Omega himself on social media. Six months later, Omega isn't in WWE, and it appears that, though Cena isn't a heel, he's one heck of a troll.
#8 Ryback vs. The Ultimate Warrior was supposed to happen at WrestleMania 30
Ryback has made some downright outrageous claims since leaving WWE last year, even saying he invented The Shield's triple powerbomb and that WWE only brought back Goldberg to spite him.
But Ryback didn't stop his wacky claims there. The former Intercontinental Champion also said that he was scheduled to face Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania 30, something Warrior's wife Dana vehemently denied on Twitter.
In other words, it was yet another outlandish rumour started by Ryback, who seems to be the king of that these days.
#7 Dean Ambrose and Renee Young got heat for getting married
It's no secret that Renee Young and Dean Ambrose avoided a big TV wedding by getting married in the middle of the night, and that apparently didn't sit too well with the higher-ups in WWE.
The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer speculated that the spur-of-the-moment wedding between Ambrose and Young may have gotten the couple some backstage heat and could be the reason why they were put on separate brands during this year's "Superstar Shakeup."
At least on paper, the idea that simply getting married, without doing anything wrong, could negatively affect someone's career is a little hard to swallow. But with Young positioned as a key cast member of Total Divas at the time, maybe this isn't that hard to believe, after all, especially when you consider that Ambrose's career has gone off the rails a bit since then.
#6 Why Vince McMahon paired Noam Dar with Alicia Fox
The same Vinny Mac who thought that Great Balls of Fire was a hilarious PPV name also is rumoured to have booked an entire feud because of the way one superstar said another's name.
Here's what Cageside Seats had to say about the matter: "A reason for the Cedric Alexander/Alicia Fox angle on Raw and 205 Live is because Vince McMahon thinks it’s funny how Noam Dar’s Scottish accent makes 'Fox' sound like a curse word that also starts with 'F'."
Oh, Vince. Never grow up, please.
#5 John Cena vs. The Undertaker isn't a big deal
What's a bigger deal: The Undertaker vs. John Cena or Cena proposing to his girlfriend Nikki Bella?
While most diehard fans would quickly and easily answer "The Undertaker vs. Cena," it was reported by us that "John Cena's WrestleMania 33 match was changed from Undertaker to the mixed tag was because WWE believed the proposal would mean more than the Undertaker match."
Yeah, because a telegraphed proposal that probably already happened in real life is more important than potentially one of the biggest WrestleMania matches ever, right?
#4 Kevin Owens gets hacked
Multiple WWE superstars, most notably Paige and Charlotte, were victims of now infamous hacks that resulted in private photos being leaked on the Internet.
Word came round recently that other superstar photos could potentially be leaked, and a surprising name was rumoured to be the next victim: Kevin Owens. It's unclear how the rumours really started, but according to WrestleZone, they flared up on Twitter last week until Owens hilariously denied them in a way only he could.
The good news for Owens is that he apparently doesn't have to worry about any photo leak. The bad news? He's no longer the United States Champion.
#3 WWE-ROH?
WWE was able to put WCW and ECW out of business, and if rumours are to be believed, McMahon's juggernaut nearly did the same with Ring of Honor.
In early 2017, several sites, including Pro Wrestling Sheet, reported that WWE was on the verge of purchasing ROH, but a source ultimately told CBS Sports that "there is no story here" and that, ultimately, there was never really any chance of WWE purchasing ROH and/or incorporating it into the WWE Network somehow.
So, for now, the best we can do is create our favourite ROH stars on WWE 2K17 and pretend like the dream merger actually happened.
#2 CM Punk returns at NXT TakeOver: Chicago
It's amazing what a little Photoshopping can do.
Back in May when NXT TakeOver took place in Chicago, one sly WWE fan took a photo of CM Punk at a UFC event, removed the UFC logo and replaced it with an NXT TakeOver: Chicago one. Naturally, the Internet Wrestling Community went nuts over the possibility that Punk, who left WWE in 2014, was coming back after more than three years away.
Alas, it was nothing but a prank that left thousands of wrestling fans disappointed, if not altogether heartbroken, that Punk wasn't really coming back.
#1 Dixie Carter had an affair with Kurt Angle
The conclusion of Kurt Angle's "mystery text" storyline took place on this week's episode of Raw in Nashville, the hometown of former TNA president Dixie Carter.
Not surprisingly, that resulted in a lot of speculation that the big reveal would be that Angle and Carter were having an affair, one that possibly ended up with the two having a child together. The rumour spread like wildfire with Carter's appearance on Angle's WWE 24 episode and when Eric Bischoff said on his Bischoff on Wrestling podcast (h/t Heavy) that this was indeed where the storyline was headed.
But ultimately, Carter had no involvement in the angle. The conclusion of the mystery resulted in Jason Jordan being outed as Angle's illegitimate child, which should result in a massive push for the former American Alpha member.
