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Welcome to the mid-September edition of "Wrestling rumors we hope are true and those we hope aren't!". It's been quite a solid week in the world of wrestling, with WWE having their final shows before WWE Clash of Champions 2019.
It certainly has shaped into being quite an interesting PPV card and as a whole, WWE looks to continue the momentum they've been having over the past couple of months. If you really look at it, the product as a whole has been pretty solid and consistent for a period of time now. It's easy to forget that when there are the inevitably lesser quality episodes of RAW, but this past week, WWE delivered on both fronts.
It's an exciting time in wrestling as NXT is all set to make the big jump to the USA Network this coming week, while All Elite Wrestling is on the road to their big show on TNT. It's an exciting time to be a wrestling fan right now and these are the rumours that we hope are true, and those, of course, we hope aren't.
#5 Hope is true: Not many significant changes expected for the WWE draft
As you know by now, it's fully expected that at some point later this month or early next month, WWE will host a draft to sort out the rosters as SmackDown's move to FOX is made permanent.
This will effectively put an end to the Wild Card Rule and once again make the rosters exclusive - something that it was until April of this year.
According to Sportskeeda's own Tom Colohue, don't expect any sweeping changes this coming draft, as the last Superstar Shake-Up was done with one eye towards the FOX move.
We hope this is true because the brand exclusivity should never have ended in the first place.
#5 Hope isn't true: Why The Fiend didn't attack 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin
The Fiend Bray Wyatt was expected by many to confront and attack 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin this past week at Madison Square Garden. However, this didn't happen, much to people's surprise - especially given that Austin was mentioned in the Firefly Fun House segment later on.
According to Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer Radio, Steve Austin is 'too strong' a character for WWE to have him put Wyatt over.
Bryan Alvarez: "Why the hell would he bring it up on Twitter and bring it up basically in a promo on TV? Why do you that if you’re not going to pay it off? Isn’t that Vince McMahon’s big deal? Don’t do things you are not going to pay off."
Meltzer: "I don’t know. I don’t have an answer for that. I don’t think it’s a good idea. I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t like, trivialize Austin as just being a guy, you know one of those guys. Too strong of a character, because if he does something to Austin, the people would want Austin to get the revenge, not Seth Rollins or Braun Strowman. It doesn’t make sense, honestly to do that. But as far as why he was doing that? Maybe to tease something down the line, who knows."
We hope this isn't true because it makes no difference whatsoever to Steve Austin to put Wyatt over.
#4 Hope is true: Finn Balor & Cesaro 'heavily involved' in choosing NXT UK opponents
Triple H has been very open about the fact that superstars such as Cesaro and Drew McIntyre personally requested him to appear at NXT UK. So far, we've seen two instances at NXT UK: TakeOvers where main roster stars have appeared.
Finn Balor made a surprise appearance at the first TakeOver at Blackpool, while Cesaro was a featured attraction in the more recent one at Cardiff. Tom Colohue reported that Balor and Cesaro both had input in choosing their opponents, saying:
"Sources indicate that one of the major factors in the decision making of both NXT UK management and the wrestlers themselves is the amount of freedom the wrestlers in question would have. Details are emerging that both Balor and Cesaro had major input in the selection of their opponents; suggesting that they selected someone to put over by stepping in the ring with them."
If this is the case, we hope it's true because it's nice to see which talent the main roster talent has an eye for. From the sound of things, we'll be seeing main roster superstars make that big jump time and again.
#4 Hope isn't true: A new title being pitched for WWE
When taking into account the brands of WWE - RAW, SmackDown Live, 205 Live, NXT and NXT UK, there are a combined total of 18 championships. That's quite a bit. Even for NXT, it took quite a long time before they introduced the North American Championship - the current midcard title of NXT.
According to BeltFanDan, an extremely reliable source on championship belts, WWE is reportedly looking into making another championship - this time for the NXT UK brand.
Moreover, it's being suggested at this time that some of the names floating around include "Eurocontinental" or even bringing back the "European" Championship lineage. While this does sound very nice on paper, we legitimately hope that it isn't true because the NXT UK brand is still very small and does not need an excessive number of titles.
They already have three major titles - the NXT United Kingdom Championship, the NXT UK Women's Championship and NXT UK Tag Team Championship. It took a while for NXT's main brand to establish another title, so they should give it a few more years before deciding on one for their newest brand.
#3 Hope is true: The Revival staying in WWE against odds
The Revival and WWE's saga has been a rather interesting one. For the last many months, we've read multiple reports about The Revival being unhappy and asking for their release from WWE.
However, as soon as that happened, they won the RAW Tag Team titles. They've won it twice as a whole since then but have also lost it in rather quick fashion. Regardless, Tom Colohue on Dropkick DiSKussions was asked about The Revival's current status in WWE, revealing that they're not as "unhappy" as they were before and that they will be staying in WWE as of now.
“From what I’ve been told, they definitely raised concerns about the tag division. Changes have been made since and they are happier going forward with WWE now than they were.”
We hope this is true because all said and done, WWE is the best place for The Revival to be. While it would be nice to see them tear it up in the ring at All Elite Wrestling, it's probably best in the long run for them to stay with WWE and achieve more tag team success.
#3 Hope isn't true: More superstars added to the growing injury list
WWE has had a small problem with injuries lately. Since WrestleMania season, we've seen many superstars abruptly go on the injured list, with some fixing nagging problems as well.
According to Fightful Select, Elias and Samoa Joe are the two latest additions to this list of seven superstars. As you know, Elias was pulled from his King of the Ring finals match and replaced by Shane McMahon. Samoa Joe has reportedly been added to this "injury list" as well, with both of their return dates being unknown to the public, with Carmella also being included in this list recently.
Drew McIntyre also belongs to that list, but we'll get back to that entirely later. On 205 Live, Jack Gallagher and Oney Lorcan have been added to this list. The internal report also stated that EC3 and Heath Slater were dealing with injuries but had undergone an evaluation on Monday.
We hope this rumor isn't true because seven is a big number to have on an injury list. It appears as though most must be nagging injuries, but with all the bad news about it, there also happens to be some positive...
#2 Hope is true: Lot of early returns from injuries expected
Amidst all those injuries and uncertain return dates, there is some good news from it all. In another report by Sean Ross Sapp on Fightful Select, it has been revealed that Bobby Lashley, Jinder Mahal, Tommaso Ciampa, and Tamina are all going to be cleared for a return much sooner than anticipated.
While Bobby Lashley was expected to return in early November, he may return to in-ring action as soon as October 14th. Jinder Mahal's report comes as a bit of a surprise. He was out of action due to a torn patella tendon and received surgery, and was expected to return around early 2020.
However, Sapp now reports that Mahal could be cleared as early as November 1st. Tamina is cleared from the concussion she received but the biggest surprise is probably WWE clearing Tommaso Ciampa. The report stated that he was to get cleared on September 11th, which means that as of this writing, he has been medically cleared.
While that doesn't mean he'll return right away, that's a staggeringly quick recovery. We hope that this is true because it's always good to hear superstars returning early.
#2 Hope isn't true: Kabuki Warriors on a 'creative hiatus'
The Kabuki Warriors comprises of the extremely talented female Japanese duo of Asuka and Kairi Sane, who got called up to the main roster just a few months ago. Fans have been surprised and shocked at WWE underutilizing them, especially since they're the two best female talents in the company from an in-ring perspective.
You would think that they would play a part in the Women's Tag Team division, but they only did so when putting over Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross. When Tom Colohue was asked about WWE potentially having any plans for Sane and Asuka, he revealed that they're currently on a creative hiatus.
“To my knowledge, it's a mix of both. Both women are on creative hiatus while new storylines are drawn up for them so they have some time. Asuka is using it to develop her hobbies.”
Asuka has recently started her own YouTube channel. While it's good to see them get a break, we hope this isn't true because there should be a storyline in place for such elite-level competitors.
#1 Hope is true: Backstage officials extremely impressed with Ali
Ali has seemingly continued the tradition of the Cruiserweight trio including himself, Cedric Alexander and Buddy Murphy by constantly impressing backstage officials. It's clear that WWE has their eye on all three of the superstars but it's Ali who may be getting a big push on the SmackDown side of things.
Elias is another superstar who has been impressing, according to Fightful Select. However, it's the American-Pakistani superstar who has really caught the eye of the most important people backstage, including Eric Bischoff and Vince McMahon.
They reported that they were so impressed with Ali that Bischoff and McMahon walked up to him backstage after the match to congratulate him. It seems as though Bischoff has his eyes on pushing Ali and hopefully this translates to a lot more screen time. Ali is a talent like none other than WWE and they know just how marketable he can be.
Obviously, we hope this rumor is true because Ali deserves the biggest push possible. He's a genuine hard worker who spreads a lot of positivity outside the ring and in it as well. He's destined for great things.
#1 Hope isn't true: Drew McIntyre's major illness during King of the Ring
Sometimes, it's hard to tell when a superstar is undergoing major pain in the ring and is simply working through injuries and illnesses. This is exactly what happened to Drew McIntyre recently when he competed in the first round of the King of the Ring tournament, where he ultimately lost to Ricochet.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that Drew McIntyre had suffered an illness right around the time the tournament began. He chose to work through it despite not feeling well. After a visit to Mexico for promotional purposes, he visited a doctor and had surgery 3 hours later.
It was reportedly not a "bone or muscle-related" surgery and as of now, the nature of it hasn't been disclosed. The Observer even mentioned that on the day of RAW where he faced Ricochet, he struggled to even get out of bed. While we hope this isn't true, these kind of situations usually are.
With that said, we do have to give props to Drew McIntyre for toughing it out through a rather difficult illness. We hope that he recovers and comes back stronger than ever.
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