WWE Rumor Roundup: Royal Rumble winner rejects AEW offer, major push planned for 5 RAW Superstars and more – 26 December 2019

Christmas has come and gone, and it's time for New Year now. The holiday season is an excellent time to relax, but the rumor mill keeps going on and on. Today's rumor roundup is filled with some stunning gossip and exciting plans for WWE in 2020!

The roundup also features a former commentator who was 'fired' by Vince McMahon for making fun of him, Triple H's dream opponents from NXT, backstage plans for Aleister Black and Buddy Murphy and more!

As usual, before we get to the rumors mentioned above, we talk about the headline-makers that got everyone here!

Royal Rumble winner rejects AEW offer

Randy Orton rejected an offer from All Elite Wrestling before signing a new deal with WWE as per Wrestling Observer Radio. Dave Meltzer reports that the 2-time Royal Rumble winner had an offer on the table but decided not to sign it as he was not happy with the amount offered to him.

WOR report that AEW's offer was less than what they were paying Chris Jericho, and thus Orton rejected it. The Viper reportedly wanted to be paid as much as the AEW champion, if not more, but the new promotion was not willing to match his demands.

Orton then accepted WWE's offer and signed on the dotted line, keeping him at the company for another 5 years.

Major push planned for 5 RAW Superstars

Paul Heyman is keen on pushing 5 RAW Superstars in 2020 as per Wrestling Observer Radio. They claim that Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, Charlotte Flair, Ricochet and Drew McIntyre are the ones Heyman wants to push next year.

They have [people] that they’re trying to get over. You can see them every week. It’s Aleister Black, it’s Ricochet, it’s Buddy Murphy, it’s Charlotte Flair and it’s Drew McIntyre. They want to get these people over. They want to elevate these people. At least there’s a plan. I rather at least there’d be a plan than just this scattershot nothing where you can watch and think ‘they got no plans.’ At least there’s something going on. They’re attempting to start to build something for the future.” [H/T 411Mania]

We will have to wait and see if the push indeed takes place or if it gets nixed by Vince McMahon.

Identity of Santa Claus who won the 24/7 title on RAW

The WWE 24/7 Championship has provided some hilarious moments this year and we have seen the unlikeliest people winning the title - from a WWE employee to Santa Claus on Monday Night RAW just before Christmas!

Santa Claus winning the title was a popular segment on the last episode of RAW but his identity was kept a secret. Now, reports have come out suggesting that it was an indie wrestler who won the title while wearing the red and white costume.

Bear Bronson, who underwent training at “Create A Pro” wrestling school, is said to be the man under the Santa costume. The school is owned by Curt Hawkins and WWE Producer, Pat Buck.

Santa's reign as the 24/7 champion did not last long as R-Truth pinned him just minutes after he grabbed it from Akira Tozawa.

Plans for Aleister Black and Buddy Murphy

Aleister Black and Buddy Murphy are involved in a feud right now and it looks like WWE are high on them. Earlier in the roundup, we revealed that Paul Heyman is looking to push the two of them in 2020 and now, Dave Meltzer has some in-depth reports on the same.

He claims that the plan is to have Black as the big babyface while Murphy goes on to become the big heel. The rumours of them becoming a tag-team have been rebuffed.

Yeah, but it’s completely different. I think the plan long-term is for Buddy Murphy to be a big heel and Aleister Black to be a big babyface. So I don’t think they are going to be in a tag team anytime soon and both be singles stars. That’s the idea, you know it will probably get, I don’t want to say probably, there is always the chance, no matter what the plan is it gets derailed. It’s pretty high percentage when it comes to new stars, things get derailed. You know, way too high a percentage. It will be interesting to see if Vince green lights it or Vince gets bored with it.

Triple H picks the NXT Superstars he would like to face

Triple H loves his NXT Superstars and he's been responsible for making the show a big hit. He and Shawn Michaels have been hands-on with the brand and have taken good care of everything.

On Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast, the WWE COO was asked who he wanted to face from the promotion and he named Tommaso Ciampa, Velveteen Dream, Finn Balor, Johnny Gargano and Keith Lee.

If I were to look at it now, clearly for me from the white meat Shawn Michaels -selling babyface side, Gargano. Ciampa is different – he’s more like my character was and a different style. Velveteen Dream, just the visuals and the image that you could present with him is totally different.

It’s hard to put a singular one. Finn Balor would be another one for me, for sure, and I know I’m just stating the same stuff he [Shawn Michaels] did. Then again, you look at somebody like Keith Lee and the stuff that he can do – a big guy like that – and I go like, ‘Man!’ It would be hard not to have something super enjoyable with him.”

Commentator was 'fired' by Vince McMahon for making fun of him

March 15, 1993

Rob Bartlett recalled a crazy incident that happened way back in 1993 during his interview on the Notsam Wrestling podcast this week. Bartlett claimed that Vince McMahon jokingly fired him during a production meeting because he made fun of him on commentary that week.

“All the crew went crazy. [They] loved it because no one had ever really made fun of Vince before. They were crying laughing.”

“We’re in a production meeting. Vince is not looking at me, not saying a word. He’s just sitting there making sure everyone’s there. Everyone came in – the whole room is packed. He turned to me and he went, ‘You’re fired!’ Joking, it was just a joke.”

He added that he was stunned when Vince fired him and was ready to hit back by saying that he was quitting.

“For a second, I was like, ‘You can’t fire me because I’m going to quit.’ But it was really funny, so he got me back by not telling me that they were gonna be in the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, so I showed up at the Manhattan Center.”