6 wrestling rumors we hope are true and 6 we hope aren't: 2 top injured stars returning at Royal Rumble, Backstage altercation involving controversial World Champion revealed

Welcome to another edition of "wrestling rumors we hope are true and those we hope aren't". We've had an immense week of wrestling as the road to the Royal Rumble continues. This week of programming saw WWE have the penultimate shows for RAW and SmackDown to the big show and January 26th is when the road to WrestleMania begins.

That's right. The road to WrestleMania is just a week away and we couldn't be more excited about it. We thought that both RAW and SmackDown had good episodes, while AEW had one of its weaker nights with Dynamite. Despite that, they still managed to beat a great episode of NXT in the ratings and Wednesday Nights only continue to get more interesting as well.

Without going much further, let's jump right into this week's rumors that we hope are true and hope aren't!

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#6. Hope is true: Two injured superstars returning at the Royal Rumble

The Royal Rumble 2020 is approaching and one of the biggest things fans are anticipating is the potential returns that we could see. The big rumors, of course, are of the Hall of Famer Edge returning.

In the women's end, Nia Jax has been rumored to return, though Tom Colohue reported that a Royal Rumble return is unlikely for her. PWInsider Elite brought out a new report revealing that two big stars are set to return at the PPV - Jinder Mahal and The Velveteen Dream.

Both superstars have been out for months now with injuries. Mahal is set to make his big return after suffering an ACL tear. It was known beforehand that he would return in early 2020.

As for Velveteen Dream, his back injury was kept under wraps since September and not much has been known about it. We hope this rumor is true because it's a welcome time for both men to return.

#6. Hope isn't true: Tessa Blanchard's backstage altercation

Tessa Blanchard jumped into a lot of controversy before the Hard to Kill PPV where she became the first woman in Impact Wrestling history to become a World Champion. It was a monumental achievement, but one that was marred after her former employees trashed her on Twitter for "putting other women down" and making accusations of her making a racist comment on a wrestler before.

Fightful Select spoke to a member of the Women of Wrestling (WOW) roster, who remained anonymous revealed that the controversial world champion got into an altercation with a trainee and other wrestlers:

"Tessa Blanchard would have it out with WOW trainers, telling one that she shouldn't be teaching and didn't belong there. The trainer was said to have cried in front of the group, and when someone tried to reach out to Blanchard about it, she wasn't interested in talking and that it was being blown out of proportion. "

There was another major confrontation revealed between Blanchard and a top name of the promotion:

"There was a confrontation between Tessa and another top name in WOW, after weeks of tension that escalated into a verbal battle in front of others as well. It wasn't revealed who was at fault in that particular situation. There was another fairly public shouting match between Tessa Blanchard and Malia Hosaka, which led to Malia being the only person getting reprimanded, which some members of the roster saw as unfair."

We hope this isn't true because this only serves to be more detrimental to Blanchard. She's one of the most talented female wrestlers on the planet and this could ruin her chances to make a bigger name for herself in the business.

#5. Hope is true: A potentially monumental change to WrestleMania

WrestleMania as a brand has grown and expanded in its nearly four-decade history. The name "WrestleMania" alone is enough to sell over 80,000 tickets and doesn't require the biggest names like it used to.

Due to the overall growth, WWE has expanded the event and it's not uncommon to see WrestleMania have a run-time of 5-6 hours. This has had negative feedback in recent years as it affects the overall energy of the crowd and can burn fans out when watching for so long.

Justin LaBar reported that there are talks of having a 2-day WrestleMania:

Continue to hear water cooler talk in #WWE circles about potential of WrestleMania itself being 2 days. All just talk but some have said to me they think it's been tossed out as a hypothetical 'how would we do it' for as soon as 2021 in LA.

We can understand where people would be coming from if they were to be against this idea. However, after seeing Wrestle Kingdom 14 and the success it had as a 2-day event, we're convinced that it could be a big solution going forward for WWE.

They could always have a trial year and see how it goes. We anticipate that it would mean higher revenue, ticket sales, and commercial money.

#5. Hope isn't true: All the talk of The Revival leaving

It feels like every year, there are rumors about The Revival's contract coming up and every step of the way, there seems to be another major hint that they're jumping ship to go to AEW.

In a recent article via WrestlingInc, we wrote:

There have been rumors linking them with a switch to WWE's newest rivals AEW, and it seems that rumor will not go away anytime soon. Now, WrestlingInc are reporting that the tag team, who recently filed for trademarks, used the same lawyer as Cody Rhodes, Jim Ross, and Arn Anderson to file these trademarks.

PWInsider had also reported that The Revival filed for specific trademarks, i.e - "Shatter Machine", which is potentially what their name would be outside of WWE as the company has trademarked "The Revival".

We hope this isn't true and that any talk of an AEW signing dies down. We know that teasing joining AEW means that WWE offers way more and we're certain that a contract has been offered to the former Tag Team Champions as well.

But potentially declining it would be a major sign that it's not always about the money offered.

#4. Hope is true: A big free agent signing expected soon

With WWE having its best roster in years across three major brands, it's clear that the major signings will have to cool down eventually. It seems as though that period has appeared, especially given the rise of AEW and the numerous options that wrestlers have today - with many ex-WWE employees only realizing post-release or departure that they can make much more working in the independent scene (although it depends on how high up one is on the card).

WWE may be getting another major signing soon and it's a former top star in Impact Wrestling. If you've seen the show, you know that Killer Kross is one superstar whose stock has risen in the last couple of years.

After Scarlett Bordeaux requested and got a relatively quick release from Impact Wrestling and joined WWE, it appeared inevitable that her boyfriend Killer Kross would join her. According to WON, that seems to be the case:

While not signed yet, the betting line is that Kevin Kaser, 34 (Killer Kross) ends up here (WWE). There was thought to be interest in him across the board in wrestling due to his look. Multiple sources said Kaser and Paul Levesque were to have met this week.

We hope this is true because Kross (with Bordeaux by his side) can be a huge deal in WWE for years to come.

#4. Hope isn't true: A potential fifth member to the mix of Seth Rollins' faction

The faction that Seth Rollins is the leader of now is Paul Heyman's brainchild according to Tom Colohue. Talking to Korey Gunz on Dropkick DiSKussions, he didn't rule out the possibility of a fifth member being added to the mix:

Yeah, It has been a while since we’ve had a group of anything larger than three and you think back to heydays of the Attitude Era, you had the Nation of Domination, you had DX, they were very large stables, DX was a 5, the Nation of Domination was 5 or 6 depending on what was going on at the time. So, there is a good story to tell and the way they did this is very much a Paul Heyman stable.

He said that the idea was that the other three men aren't on his level but will benefit greatly from the alliance:

All four men are going to benefit, and I do agree, we will probably add at least one more in the build-up to WrestleMania.

We love the faction now, but we hope it isn't true as a fifth member doesn't seem necessary. This gives it a more "Evolution-esque" kind of feel to it and the less the better.

#3. Hope is true: Bayley's potential WrestleMania opponent

Bayley is having a decent run as the SmackDown Women's Champion and is currently feuding with Lacey Evans, who she's expected to face at the Royal Rumble 2020.

However, given the timing of the feud, it doesn't look like Evans will have her turn at the title just yet. Bayley has been dominant on SmackDown since arriving last year and has been the main woman of the division.

The addition to Sasha Banks by her side has only made things better and Tom Colohue revealed the rumors we all wanted to hear - Sasha Banks is the main woman pegged to face Bayley at WrestleMania 36. On his video, he said:

"There is a disappointment among WWE management that they haven't managed to make that match happen yet. This is something they really want to see happen. This is something both women really want to see happen... and it could be sort of be a crowning achievement for Bayley, who has been up and down on the roster so far."

He speculated that Alexa Bliss could be in the mix but deemed it more likely for her to be challenging for the Tag Team titles. We hope this is true because Sasha Banks vs Bayley at the big stage needs to happen. It's been over 4-and-a-half years since their magical match at Brooklyn and the story calls for the biggest stage.

#3. Hope isn't true: The Undertaker's WrestleMania status

The Undertaker's wrestling season seems to have changed a bit in the last couple of years. In 2018, WWE began to go to Saudi Arabia controversially and The Undertaker has been featured in the main matches of each show since, main eventing two of the four shows and missing only one.

Tom Colohue said that like last year, The Undertaker will be wrestling twice at Saudi Arabia and is unlikely to appear at WrestleMania:

"If any of the news coming out of WWE at the moment is to be believed, The Undertaker will be appearing in Saudi Arabia next... and then after that probably appearing in Saudi Arabia"

While we're ok with The Undertaker not appearing at WrestleMania, we wonder what his endgame is to all of this. It's been almost 3 years now since his supposed "retirement" and it seems like he's going to keep going.

We hope that someday, he decides to wrap his career up for good at WrestleMania and end it there. Otherwise, he'll only continue to tarnish his legacy. The Goldberg match last year was a harsh indication that he shouldn't be in main event spots. He did, however, have a good match at Extreme Rules last year.

We hope this isn't true because the two Saudi Arabia appearances seem unnecessary as well and WrestleMania would be a better spot.

#2. Hope is true: An update on Brock Lesnar's WrestleMania opponent

There has been a lot of speculation this year as to who Brock Lesnar's WrestleMania 36 opponent could be. Usually, around this time, it's clear from the rumors who Lesnar's opponent seems to be and the general names that have been thrown around are Cain Velasquez and Tyson Fury - neither of whom fans are happy about as a potential opponent at the grandest stage of them all.

Cageside Seats brought to attention a report from WON that can make fans breathe a sigh of relief, as Tyson Fury is not planned to be his WrestleMania 36 opponent - whether he beats Deontay Wilder on February 22nd or not.

Per the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Tyson Fury is not the plan for Brock Lesnar’s WrestleMania opponent, whether he wins his fight against Deontay Wilder or not.

We hope this is true. As entertaining as Fury is as a personality, he isn't ready for that big a spot at WrestleMania. We don't know how many times we'll be seeing Lesnar at the show of shows, which is why he shouldn't be wasted on a throwaway match - especially when it involves the WWE Championship.

#2. Hope isn't true: Andrade's next "serious" feud

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter had revealed in one of its recent editions that Humberto Carrillo was originally going to be the babyface chasing Andrade for the United States Championship but he didn't get over as hoped, leading to the company putting Rey Mysterio in his spot.

Carrillo was recently in the sidelines injured and WWE is trying to transition Mysterio out of the feud. The WWE Legend was supposed to be involved with Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe in the first place and WON is now reporting that Andrade is planned to have a serious feud with Carrillo.

Mysterio was supposed to be the third person in that feud (Owens, Joe and Seth Rollins' faction) but they are working the short-term Mysterio vs. Andrade program until they work their way out of it. Originally, and this doesn’t appear to have changed, the idea was for Andrade to have a longer very serious program over the title with Carrillo as a way to get both guys over as singles Latino stars. But now with Murphy being added to the Rollins group, they are again one short on the face side

The reason we hope this isn't true is that Carrillo isn't the right person to take Andrade to the next level. While they will likely trade wins and while we understand Paul Heyman being keen on pushing him, the lack of English between the two men will result in the feud not getting over.

Instead, it should be a quick TV feud meant to put Andrade over.

#1. Hope is true: Paul Heyman planning "great things" with a rising star

All the rumors of Paul Heyman's "list of stars" who he wants to build RAW around for the future appear to have been true. The names such as Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, Andrade, Drew McIntyre, etc. all appear to be directly benefiting from his role as the Executive Director of RAW.

Buddy Murphy, however, is one superstar who has begun to stand out and Tom Colohue revealed that Heyman had to plead with management to send Murphy to RAW, telling them that he'll do "great things" with him. Tom Colohue told Korey Gunz on Dropkick DiSKussions, saying:

I know that Heyman was very excited about getting Buddy Murphy. That’s one of the names he was saying, ‘well, come on, give him to me, give him to me, I’ll do great things with him, give him to me.’ And Black and Murphy have been told for a few weeks now, just go out there and do your thing, let us worry about telling a story. And that’s exactly what they have done. They have gone out and had good wrestling matches .

Even in three consecutive defeats to the same opponent (Aleister Black), Murphy has gotten over and we hope this is true because Murphy can be a big player for a few years to come.

#1. Hope isn't true: The "implosion" before WrestleMania 36

We'll end this week's edition with a man we've been talking about a lot in this edition - Buddy Murphy. We mentioned that the faction that Seth Rollins is leading is very "Evolution-esque" in nature.

That means that the story should playout for the next year at the very least, rather than imploding this year alone. Tom Colohue revealed on the latest episode of Dropkick DiSKussions that an implosion in the group could happen as soon as WrestleMania 36!

"I don't personally see this faction lasting particularly long at WrestleMania we are probably going to see The Authors of Pain against The Viking Raiders. Seth Rollins' match isn't set in stone right now because the company do want to leave it open just in case CM Punk does make that phone call, Rollins is the opponent they would rather have him face or it could be that we end up with Rollins versus Murphy if that phone call isn't made. So this faction could implode pretty much at any time."

We hope this isn't true because this faction has the potential to be a long-term story that could benefit all four men involved. It has the potential to make Buddy Murphy a breakout star and for that, they should patiently wait it out until next year at the very least.

Otherwise, it'll feel too rushed a storyline. The best kinds of stories are the ones that play out carefully and slowly over a long-term period. If WWE doesn't want to commit longer, then a one-year run with the faction before the implosion would be perfect.

Tune in next week to read about the wrestling rumors before the Royal Rumble 2020. Until next time, keep following Sportskeeda Wrestling!