5 wrestling rumors we hope are true and 5 we hope aren't: Popular RAW star at risk of losing his job, WWE building top SmackDown star for a major title win?

Welcome to this week's edition of WWE and wrestling rumors we hope are true and those we hope aren't! It's officially WWE SummerSlam season and we're quickly approaching the Biggest Party of the Summer.

This week has been filled with extremely interesting scoops from the WWE and wrestling rumor mill and we'll jump right into it - starting with a bright young WWE star on RAW:

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#5. Hope isn't true: A RAW Superstar's WWE future uncertain?

In the COVID-19 pandemic era, it seems as though the jobs of people all across the world have been lost or been uncertain. The same applies for WWE Superstars - many of whom were laid off in mid-April despite WWE making clear profits this year.

One WWE Superstar's future might be uncertain - 23-year-old Austin Theory, who has been touted as one of the company's future stars has reportedly been on an "unofficial suspension" of sorts.

The reason for the unofficial suspension hasn't been made clear, but Tom Colohue revealed that his suspension could be more serious than WWE thought and they're not even sure if he'll have a job by the end of it:

"This is a situation that is very much personal to Austin Theory. There is a lot of moving parts to it. So I have to be careful with what I say. He has been gone a while with no mention because to put it simply; the WWE still aren't sure whether he will have a job by the end of it. However, it could be that he simply comes back, gets back on TV even as early as two weeks from now and it all be forgotten about. There are many possible outcomes; at the moment, he is suspended."

We hope this isn't true because Austin Theory was getting a lot of praise backstage and it seemed like WWE had an eye to build him as a future top star. We hope that everything is cleared out and that Austin Theory gets back to TV soon. However, things could admittedly get complicated and we'll have to wait and see how this situation develops.

#5. Hope is true: WWE's plans for Big E's push

Big E is having a legitimate singles run in WWE for the first time in over half a decade. We've long associated him as a tag team wrestler, but Xavier Woods' injury and Kofi Kingston's time away means that WWE has put emphasis on pushing Big E as a singles star.

There's no doubt that he has the potential to be a big singles star and Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter said that the plan is to push Big E to a title match and possibly win a program against Bray Wyatt or AJ Styles:

The Big E singles push has to lead to a title match in some form, and unless they are building him for Wyatt down the line, the other possibility is A.J. Styles, who has been winning his bouts clean.

We hope this is true because we would love to see Big E get his chance to shine as a singles star. It doesn't mean the end of The New Day - it just means that he won't be a tag team wrestler for a while.

#4. Hope isn't true: WWE still getting cold feet over Sasha Banks-Bayley split

Sasha Banks and Bayley have been dominating the WWE Women's division in a way that we haven't seen in a few years. Sasha Banks is the RAW Women's Champion and Bayley is the SmackDown Women's Champion - with both of them also holding the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships.

Unfortunately, this has turned into a bit of creative disarray and Tom Colohue revealed on Dropkick DiSKussions that WWE keeps getting cold feet when it's time to split the two up:

"The Bayley-Sasha Banks feud is something they are determined to do and which, every time they actually get the opportunity, they seem to get cold feet. They could have done it at SummerSlam, all they needed to do was have a clean loss for Sasha Banks at Extreme Rules, and then you can walk straight into it. They chose not to do that. They chose to take the title off Asuka instead. That, they always seem to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to actually stick the landing on this one."

He then explained the creative chaos that it's ended up causing:

The plan for SummerSlam is really hard to see, because at this point, who knows. At Extreme Rules, literally on the day of the show, the entire script for the RAW Women's Championship was thrown out. That has had a knock-on effect on the SmackDown Women's Championship and the Tag Team Championship, and it just seems like they are just making it up as they go along right now and they haven't had a handle of what to do next."

We hope this isn't true because it doesn't make sense for WWE to cause such creative disarray in the women's division when centering around The Golden Role Models. While they deserve the accolades, it shouldn't come at a big price.

#4. Hope is true: Daniel Bryan's influence on WWE creative and Vince McMahon

Daniel Bryan might not have been getting a big push from WWE in 2020, but that doesn't mean that he hasn't had his presence felt. Drew Gulak is a Superstar who we know he was pushing for, but it turns out that WWE has been taking some creative assistance from Daniel Bryan as well. Wrestlingnews.co reported that Daniel Bryan has been responsible for some major changes backstage:

"Bryan pitches a lot of his own ideas. Sometimes Vince McMahon and Bruce [Prichard] will turn down an idea but a lot of the things he has pitched have been used on TV.”

We hope this is true because it's always good to have new, modern, and fresh minds handling certain creative aspects. It can help build a long-term change creatively and result in a fresh product - something that's always needed in the world of WWE. Edge is another WWE star who reportedly has creative control as well.

#3. Hope isn't true: WWE taking a "90s mentality" with more factions to come?

There's been a subtle increase in the number of factions in WWE. According to Dave Meltzer of WON, WWE is planning to return to a more "Attitude Era mentality" in the 90s where more factions will be coming:

There may be multiple groups showing up in WWE soon. Wrestling Observer says the company’s plans for a new direction include “a return of the 90s mentality of factions.”

While a return to the Attitude Era mentality might sound good on paper, context is key. We're in a completely different era and not everything that worked in the Attitude Era will work in WWE today. There may have been many larger-than-life factions and characters in the era of the past, but is it the direction WWE wants to take going forward?

It might just be a brief visit down the nostalgia lane, but WWE's way forward is to think of a new approach that's more suitable to this era, which is why we hope this isn't true.

#3. Hope is true: Randy Orton's plans to work with NXT talent at WWE SummerSlam

Randy Orton will be facing Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam 2020. It's the perfect match given the current circumstances, but there were previous reports from Louis Dangoor of WrestleTalk that Randy Orton pitched working with NXT talent.

Tom Colohue confirmed on Dropkick DiSKussions that Randy Orton had, in fact, pitched working with NXT talent, particularly Tommaso Ciampa, after knowing that Edge would be out due to an injury:

"Well, the discussions started pretty much immediately after the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever when it became clear that Edge was out. Now, at the time, McIntyre vs. Lesnar was still the plan, so they considered giving Orton something new and something different. Orton, for example, was interested in working with Tommaso Ciampa in NXT, then more travel issues came in. There were a lot of issues preventing people from traveling into or out of the US, and the chances for having an audience at SummerSlam got smaller and smaller. So the actual firm decision was only made a week or two ago, but the discussions started right after Backlash."

We hope this is true because it would be good for a top WWE name like Randy Orton to help elevate NXT Superstars.

#2. Hope isn't true: Ric Flair to continue appearing on WWE programming

WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair has become Randy Orton's mouthpiece over the past month and there's been a lot of criticism over the fact that WWE let Ric Flair - well past 70 years old, into a situation where he could possibly contract COVID-19.

While there's no doubt that Ric Flair is there because he wants to be, it seems even odder since his wife contracted COVID-19 and he was seen driving without a mask on. With multiple COVID-19 positive tests, it's extremely risky for Ric Flair, even if he said that it's an achievement for him to be on WWE programming.

Cageside Seats reported that WWE plans to continue with the Ric Flair-Randy Orton alliance going forward. Sportskeeda's Shiven Sachdeva wrote:

As per new reports, Ric Flair will essentially become The Viper's manager going forward. While Randy Orton doesn't need a mouthpiece as he is a very good promo cutter himself, having the dirtiest player in the game by his corner certainly makes him even more intimidating.

We hope this isn't true because Ric Flair should ideally be staying at home. They can always revisit the alliance when the time is right.

#2. Hope is true: Rey Mysterio's WWE future

We're aware that for nearly a month now, we've had a rumor about Rey Mysterio's WWE status. However, we feel obligated to and until he officially signs a new WWE contract, we'll likely continue to give more updates.

Dave Meltzer of WON said on the radio show that Rey Mysterio is staying with WWE despite AEW matching their offer:

I can’t confirm pen to paper, but Rey Mysterio is staying, as was always the betting line outcome of this, but it’s as close to official without confirmation of it being official, and obviously Dominik is a big part of that deal. AEW made an offer that equaled the WWE’s per-match offer, but the WWE offer was higher because it was for more dates. We don’t have a time frame past this new deal would be considerably longer than the previous (18 months) deal but not the five-years or longer deals that WWE has tried to get everyone on

We hope this is true so that Rey Mysterio can return and help his son Dominik as he's set to make his in-ring debut at SummerSlam 2020 against Seth Rollins.

#1. Hope isn't true: RAW Underground chaos in WWE?

RAW Underground seems to be a brand new concept that WWE has added to the flagship show as a way of mixing things up. It's essentially a "worked shoot" style of underground unsanctioned fighting without ropes.

We've seen the likes of Erik from The Viking Raiders, Dolph Ziggler, and The Hurt Business appear and make a statement. However, Dave Meltzer revealed on the Wrestling Observer Radio that the RAW Underground was WWE's attempt and throwing something at the wall and trying to make it stick:

Today was complete chaos, to the point that, a lot of guys who usually don't see things as being bad, really did as they could see how. Okay, so the whole thing is that they were just going to throw a whole bunch of stuff against the wall and hope something sticks. That's really where we're at right now, and that's what tonight's show was, throw a whole bunch of stuff on the wall and maybe find something that's a hit."

We hope this isn't true because RAW Underground isn't a bad idea by any means. It's good that WWE is trying out something different.

#1. Hope is true: Shane McMahon getting an increasing amount of backstage influence in WWE?

WWE royalty Shane McMahon was the one who was behind the RAW Underground idea, according to Tom Colohue. Discussing Shane McMahon's return, he said that he wouldn't be surprised to see him return to the ring soon and explained how he's having an increasing influence on WWE creative:

"It was entirely Shane's idea, and I wouldn't be too surprised to see him step into that ring sooner rather than later. Honestly, people in the WWE are really quite high on some of Shane's ideas recently, including back in the Best of the World tournament and the Royal Rumble this year where he was heavily involved in the booking. WWE has lost a lot of writing talent recently, so they have been leaning on wrestlers like Bryan, like Edge and the bosses, the McMahon family as well, even though, for example, Stephanie McMahon isn't there and isn't involved in anything. Shane's been very vocal."

We hope this is true because as we mentioned earlier, having more names who are relatively younger and more well-connected with the current audience might not be a bad idea for WWE - a company that constantly wants to grow younger.