The vacated WWE Universal championship and the promo of The Miz were the major talking points that came up from last week’s WWE programming. While the former will be sorted out this week via a fatal four way match on Monday Night Raw, we might get an idea about the latter when the new episode of SmackDown drops in.
Though these two were the things worth talking about, the rumor mill was filled with interesting rumors. Nikki Bella was one of the main protagonists as some rumors about her return poked up. Here is a look at this and all the other major rumors from the week that went by.
The Nikki Bella situation
Nikki Bella made her return to the main roster at SummerSlam and her return did shake some plans up. If Nikki had not been cleared, the SmackDown roster would’ve got Bayley. The idea of having Nikki Bella on SmackDown is to have a boost to the women’s division and one other reason is John Cena’s presence on the SmackDown roster.
It was Nikki’s return that pushed down Cesaro vs. Sheamus I to the pre-show as well and all of these show the star power of Nikki. WWE made so many changes due to her return and hopefully, things will work out for her in the longer run.
Vince McMahon comparing Bayley to former superstar
Sasha Banks was planned to have a long run with her WWE Women’s championship but her injury forced WWE to change the plan and this has allowed Bayley to step in. She will be pushed as the top babyface on the Raw roster until Sasha Banks makes her return. Vince McMahon is apparently happy with how Bayley made her debut and is comparing her to AJ Lee. This could only mean good things for the former NXT Women’s champion.
Elsewhere, the backstage officials and Vince McMahon are happy about Big Cass and his inclusion in the fatal four way match was a direct result of this. Vince’s love for big men continues through Big Cass, until he finds someone new.
Shoot angles and Brock Lesnar
The rumor mill is suggesting more shoot type angles like the one we saw at SummerSlam between Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton and the promo that we saw between Daniel Bryan and The Miz. The Lesnar – Orton finish was planned throughout but the blood part was accidental. Also, it was noted that Randy Orton was not present during the meeting where the finish was decided. Lesnar, Triple H and Vince were present along with Mark Carrano and Paul Heyman.
Elsewhere, Chris Jericho and Brock Lesnar have no heat on them for the backstage confrontation that happened regarding the SummerSlam finish.
The plans that were in place for Finn Balor
As mentioned earlier, the injury of Finn Balor came in as a big blow for WWE and they had to change a lot of things. If Finn was not injured, WWE was going to get Finn involved in a feud with Kevin Owens. Finn vs. Owens was planned for Clash of champions and then WWE was going to exploit the Owens- Chris Jericho relationship and set up a triple threat match between Owens, Jericho and Finn on the next pay-per-view.
This was also supposed to keep Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins away from the Universal championship scene. But all of this was changed due to what happened at SummerSlam.
Vin Diesel vs. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson?
The rumors about friction between Vin Diesel and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson have been making rounds all over the internet. The involvement of two big Hollywood stars has taken the stakes to new heights but certain rumors suggest that all of this is a publicity stunt from the Fast and Furious team to promote the film.
The eight edition of the film comes out a day after WrestleMania 33 and apparently, the Diesel – Rock situation will be incorporated into a match or an angle at the biggest wrestling pay-per-view on the WWE calendar. The amount of truth in this rumor might be low but as Rock is involved, we can never know for sure.
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