5 wrestling rumors we hope are true and 5 we hope aren't: AJ Styles' plans for SummerSlam, Drew McIntyre to lose the WWE title to a popular legend?

Welcome to this week's edition of wrestling rumors we hope are true and those we hope aren't! It's been a week filled with more good news than bad, which is a trend we hope keeps continuing in a time like this. Let's jump right into the rumors of the week!

#5. Hope is true: AJ Styles' WWE SummerSlam plans

A party crasher to AJ Styles' title reign?

AJ Styles continued to gather up the accolades in WWE as he won the Intercontinental Championship in the last month. However, his party was soon crashed by the debuting Matt Riddle, who announced his arrival in a big way by beating The Phenomenal One.

While AJ Styles vs Matt Riddle may have been the immediate plan going forward, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter stated that the plan is still for the two to clash at SummerSlam 2020.

A.J. Styles vs. Matt Riddle was also already set up when Riddle beat Styles in a non-title match. It also could be Riddle vs. King Corbin, which has also been pushed on television, with the idea of a Riddle win to set up the Styles match at SummerSlam.

Meltzer also stated that King Corbin vs Matt Riddle is expected to be the direction for The Horror Show at Extreme Rules. Corbin would certainly make for a good heel to put Matt Riddle over at the start of his WWE SmackDown journey. It's going to be interesting to see where it heads.

We hope this is true because AJ Styles could do a big favor by giving back and putting over a star like Matt Riddle on a stage like SummerSlam. It would be the perfect introduction and a way to pay WWE back for his push in the summer of 2016.

#5. Hope isn't true: Drew McIntyre's WWE title reign to end soon?

Drew McIntyre had his coronation in circumstances that he likely wouldn't have preferred. Either way, he was given the task of being the face of the company in the pandemic era, a big responsibility that many people don't realize.

However, his reign as WWE Champion could be cut short sooner than we think. Since his rumored match with Brock Lesnar has reportedly fallen out, he could be set to face Randy Orton at SummerSlam 2020.

According to Paul Davis of Wrestlingnews.co, WWE could be planning to have Drew McIntyre drop the title to Orton in an attempt to run back a third match with Edge at Royal Rumble or WrestleMania next year. Sportskeeda's Kishan Prasad wrote:

After Orton wins the WWE Championship, the idea is to have him defend the Title against Edge at the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania, once the Rated-R Superstar has been cleared to compete. This move isn't due to McIntyre having backstage heat as the plan is to have The Viper drop the WWE Championship back to The Scottish Psychopath at a later stage when WWE is allowed to have a crowd back in attendance. That moment will be Drew McIntyre's true crowning moment.

We hope this isn't true because Orton can do without a title reign. While Drew McIntyre could still have a coronation later on, it would be better for WWE to have some patience with him until the time is right.

#4. Hope is true: Why WWE brought back Dominik

Dominik's return and transition into WWE programming have been one of the more exciting things to watch over the last year. He's been appearing more frequently of late, particularly in Rey Mysterio's storyline with Seth Rollins.

While he hasn't been in a match yet, Dave Meltzer said that it's no coincidence that Dominik has been brought back into WWE programming when he did. He said:

But his son Dominik is a key to this. Dominik was forgotten about for months, but after Rey’s contract was up, knowing that Rey is going to probably care more about pushing Dominik and Dominik getting a break than perhaps anything right now, he was brought back for the current angle. While he hasn’t done a match yet, from a physical standpoint in the few instances he’s had to perform, from a timing standpoint, he’s looked great.

We hope this is true because it's a good way to have Dominik transition into programming. Rey Mysterio's contract being used as a tool for that seems to be clever on his part.

#4. Hope isn't true: Some WWE Superstars could have their contracts frozen

Two of the names absent in the pandemic era

Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, and most recently, Kevin Owens, have been three names notably absent in the pandemic era of WWE. While there have been many names who have taken a leave of absence by choice, these are the three that stand out.

When asked about whether WWE would freeze the contracts of performers taking voluntary leave, Dave Meltzer revealed on the Wrestling Observer Radio that it's highly possible for WWE to freeze the contracts of certain performers:

With Kevin Owens it's only been a couple of weeks... so I guess it's not. But with Sami Zayn it probably will be. If it's Roman Reigns, they may not want to p*** him off, and he isn't going anywhere anyway. He is one guy who is not going to go anywhere. But with some guys absolutely they will freeze them (their contracts)

We hope this isn't true because it would be unfair for WWE to offer Superstars the option of taking a leave during the pandemic and then using it against them.

#3. Hope is true: AEW's plans for Kenny Omega

One of the biggest criticisms that AEW has received over the past year has been its utilization of Kenny Omega. It was just a couple of years ago when Kenny Omega was arguably the hottest Superstar in all of wrestling despite not being a WWE name.

He was a name that WWE had been chasing for a long time and a star who many felt had the "it factor" to make it big the way AJ Styles did. However, he chose to go with the new promotion All Elite Wrestling and since then, he hasn't been as big a star as before.

While Omega has fired back at the criticism, Dave Meltzer revealed on the Wrestling Observer Radio that AEW still has plans of building Omega as a top star.

We hope this is true because Kenny Omega is far too talented to remain a top figure in the Tag Team division. One could argue that AEW should have gone with him as their first World Champion, but Chris Jericho wasn't a bad alternative either.

#3. Hope isn't true: Why Brock Lesnar is being kept away from the WWE Performance Center

It appears as though Brock Lesnar's long-running SummerSlam appearance streak will come to an end this 2020. While he has been a part of every SummerSlam since his return in 2012, he looks set to be missing this year's edition and it could be for a specific reason.

Tom Colohue revealed that there's a possibility of WWE holding off on Brock Lesnar for a long time and having him work more frequently in 2021. According to Colohue on Dropkick DiSKussions, WWE doesn't want Brock Lesnar in the Performance Center as it doesn't help his larger-than-life character:

When it comes to working at the Performance Center, they really don't want Brock working there. It really doesn't help the image that he is the larger than life, an larger than WWE character when there is no one there to cheer or boo, and also, one of the big deals that the love with Brock is that he gets both cheered and booed.

We hope this isn't true because Brock Lesnar's image won't be affected just because he performs in an empty arena. He could still make a difference to the ratings on television.

#2. Hope is true: Renee Young cured of COVID-19

Renee Young was the first person from all of WWE to reveal that she had tested positive for COVID-19. While fellow-announcer Kayla Braxton revealed that she had been diagnosed as positive as well, it seems like good news has come from Las Vegas.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Radio, Renee Young has been cured of COVID-19 and will be returning to work in short order. We don't need to justify why we hope this is true - just that we're happy to hear she was quick to beat it. It took her around half a month and she's been self-isolating for two weeks while her husband Jon Moxley has been doing the same in their home in Las Vegas.

Kayla Braxton took to Instagram to announce that she has defeated COVID-19 as well. As for Jon Moxley, his Fyter Fest bout got delayed by a week despite him testing negative on multiple occasions. He's expected to go through another test before defending the AEW World Championship against Brian Cage.

#2. Hope isn't true: Tessa Blanchard's possible WWE debut date

Tessa Blanchard is undoubtedly one of the most controversial stars in wrestling. Just a day before her IMPACT World Championship win, she was publicly accused by multiple female wrestlers of making racist comments and being a locker room bully.

While she denied the allegations, the damage had seemingly been done. Tom Colohue had reported that there have been many names in WWE pestering Vince McMahon to sign Tessa Blanchard following her fallout with IMPACT Wrestling and the end of her run there, where she was stripped of the World Championship after failing to comply with the promotion to send videos for programming.

According to Pro Wrestling Unlimited, Tessa Blanchard could already be signed to WWE and given how quiet the entire matter has been, they reported that there's a possibility of her debuting at WWE Evolution 2.

We hope this isn't true because 2020 isn't the year for WWE to ideally sign Tessa Blanchard. The only time it will be right is when she starts to do more to fix her reputation. If her alleged attitude issues persist, then her WWE run is unlikely to work.

#1. Hope is true: Vince McMahon's backstage reaction to Matt Riddle's barefoot story

Matt Riddle has been making a big impact on SmackDown

There have been a lot of rumors regarding Matt Riddle and his position in WWE backstage. While most of them have been about backstage officials having a problem with Matt Riddle calling out the likes of Brock Lesnar and Goldberg, the latest one from Wrestlingnews.co reports that Vince McMahon loved Matt Riddle's barefoot story:

Paul Davis of WrestlingNews.co now reports that Vince McMahon was a big fan of Matt Riddle's story. It was noted that Vince McMahon loved the story when he first heard it backstage, and the WWE Boss liked it so much that he ended up booking it as a segment on SmackDown.

Davis also added that Matt Riddle gets more creative input than most WWE Superstars. We hope this is true because it would be a good sign of what's to come in his WWE run. WWE has a potentially big star on their hands and they need to take the right steps.

#1. Hope isn't true: Jeff Hardy's WWE status

Jeff Hardy could be on his way out of WWE. He's been in a highly-criticized storyline with Sheamus where his past issues with drugs and alcohol have been publicized.

According to Tom Colohue on Dropkick DiSKussions, Jeff Hardy is unlikely to get any major wins due to WWE's inability to get him to sign a new contract.

The worst part of this whole storyline is that Jeff Hardy is really unlikely to pick up any wins, any actual wins. He's been buried on the way out of the door because they cannot convince him to sign a new contract. He just doesn't seem interested. If they can convince him, they would probably start writing storylines that actually work in his favour, but really right now, this doesn't suit anyone.

We hope this isn't true because it would be a worse look for WWE trying to use Hardy's past as a part of WWE programming. The story should end up with a payoff for him and he deserves a better offer to be kept around. He would be far better in WWE over any other promotion.

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