WWE Rumor Review: WWE's backup plan for The Rock vs Roman Reigns, Vince McMahon 'super-impressed' with RAW star

Welcome to another edition of WWE Rumor Review. Here, we take a look back at some of the major rumors from a few months ago and see how they have fared so far.

This week, we'll discuss the backup plans WWE had in place for the heavily rumored encounter between Universal Champion Roman Reigns and his cousin The Rock. Vince McMahon was reportedly super-impressed with a top RAW Superstar. We'll see if that rumor turned out to be true or not.

We'll also check out reports of Samoa Joe's in-ring return and Mandy Rose's main roster status. So without further ado, let's check out the five top stories in this week's edition of the Rumor Review.

---

#5 Reports on Samoa Joe's in-ring return

Samoa Joe was initially released from WWE in the month of April last year owing to budget cuts. However, he was brought back to NXT soon after by Triple H. Upon his return to the then black and gold brand, seeds were planted for a feud between him and the then-NXT champion Karrion Kross.

During that time, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that Joe was set for an in-ring return at NXT Takeover 36 to face Kross for the championship.

Indeed, the report turned out to be true as Joe defeated Kross to win the NXT Championship for a record third time. A few weeks later, a fatal four-way match was scheduled to determine Joe's next challenger.

However, The Samoan Submission Machine revealed that he had suffered an injury and would be out of action for an indefinite amount of time and the fatal four-way thus turned into a championship match where Tomasso Ciampa was victorious. Months later, in January 2022, Joe was released from WWE for the second time in a year.

#4 Vince McMahon was super impressed with Doudrop

Doudrop made her WWE main roster debut in June last year when she showed up alongside Eva Marie on Monday Night RAW. The two had a partnership which eventually culminated in a feud between them, which was won by Doudrop.

Mike Johnson of PWInsider reported that Vince McMahon was super impressed by Doudrop.

“We’re going to see a lot of Eva Marie and Doudrop because Vince apparently loves the end goal. I was told he’s super impressed with Piper Niven so far. The story that was told to me was, ‘he wasn’t sold on the idea, but let’s do it’. Then after that first week, where Piper stood up to her. He loved it, he loved the facial expressions. Obviously, I’m paraphrasing stories I heard from multiple people. There’s going to be a lot more storyline development with these characters in the weeks ahead."

The report indeed turned out to be true as Doudrop started competing with top-tier superstars such as Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair.

#3 Location of Finals of Queen's Crown Tournament

2021 finally saw the emergence of the Queen's Crown Tournament, analogous to the King of the Ring. It featured eight participants in total from SmackDown and RAW in a single-elimination format.

However, even before the tournament was officially announced, Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Podcast reported that the planned location for the finals was Saudi Arabia.

"Hearing that the current plan is to hold the Queen of the Ring finals in Saudi Arabia in October."

Zelina Vega, Toni Storm, Liv Morgan and Carmella from SmackDown and Dana Brooke, Shayna Baszler, Doudrop, and Natalya from RAW competed for the Crown. The finals eventually took place between Zelina Vega and Doudrop at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, thus confirming the reports.

Vega was the winner of the tournament. She later teamed up with Carmella to win the WWE Women's Tag Team title as well. The tournament, however, received a lot of flack due to the total duration being under 20 minutes. WWE Superstar Doudrop even responded to this controversy in an interview.

#2 Mandy Rose's main roster status

Mandy Rose made a shocking return to WWE NXT in the month of July last year, which led to a lot of speculation about her involvement with the brand, with some thinking it could be short-lived.

Mike Johnson of PWInsider cleared the air, reporting that she had become a full-time member of the then-black and gold brand.

The report eventually turned out to be true as Rose joined forces with Gigi Dolin and Jace Jayne to form a new group called Toxic Attraction. They then feuded against the likes of top NXT stars such as Raquel Gonzalez, Kay Lee Ray, Io Shirai and others.

The group peaked at NXT Halloween Havoc where Jayne and Dolin defeated the teams of Io Shirai and Zoey Stark and Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta in a Scareway to Hell Ladder match to win the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship.

Later in the night, Mandy Rose defeated Raquel Gonzalez to capture the NXT Women's Championship. All of them have managed to retain their titles ever since and have had a reign of over 4 months till date.

#1 WWE's backup plan for The Rock vs Roman Reigns

The Rock was originally scheduled to return to WWE at Survivor Series last year to set up a mega clash with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania in Arlington, Texas. However, WWE had an alternative in mind should The People's Champion not return to promotion due to the risk of injury.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that the backup plan WWE had in mind was for one of The Usos to each team up with Rock and Reigns for a tag team bout at the Grandest Stage of Them All.

"One idea that has been talked about, as the goal is Reigns and Rock in Dallas for the 2022 Mania, is that if concessions have to be made regarding Rock and movies and injury fears, that they do Reigns and an Uso vs. Rock and an Uso, so Rock can be protected from doing too much and it keeps it all in the family with the idea and Rock and Reigns as who is really the tribal chief. Obviously the singles match is the preferred match but any involvement of Rock is preferred over him not doing the show," stated Dave Meltzer.

However, those plans seem to have changed as The Great One did not make a return to WWE and Brock Lesnar was announced as the WrestleMania opponent for Roman Reigns.