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We are just days away from Crown Jewel, WWE's second Saudi Arabia PPV of 2019, and this week's RAW will be the go-home show for the PPV.
In today's rumor roundup, we take a look at a popular Superstar turning heel, a WWE personnel returning to live shows, as well as a big hint that CM Punk could return to WWE television.
Let's take a look at all these rumors in today's WWE rumor roumdup:
#1 Vince McMahon to turn Kofi Kingston and Big E heel
Kofi Kingston lost his WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar a few weeks ago, in a shocking manner, defeated in just a few seconds by The Beast. Kingston has since returned to tag team wrestling, teaming up with his New Day brothers.
Many fans were disappointed with the way Kingston lost the title, and are also sad that he is no longer a singles star.
But, we could see the former WWE Champion's character on the Blue brand change very soon, according to Tom Colohue. Kofi could possibly turn heel as WWE slowly changes his character to a dark one.
Paul Davis of Wrestlingnews.co is also reporting about both Big E and Kofi turning heel, with Vince McMahon keen on changing things up with The New Day. Xavier Woods suffered an injury recently, which will keep him out of the ring for a long time.
On the Crown Jewel go-home show of SmackDown, Big E and Kofi Kingston lost in a tag team match to Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, with Kingston pinned.
Kofi and Big E will be in a nine-team tag team turmoil match at Crown Jewel, with the winner awarded the WWE World Cup for being the best tag team in the world.
#2 CM Punk teases FOX Sports switch
There have been several reports doing the rounds that former WWE Champion CM Punk would return to WWE, this time in a host role for FOX in their coverage of SmackDown.
Triple H recently opened the door for a Punk return, claiming that Vince McMahon will do business with anyone, but Fightful recently revealed that although WWE were impressed with Punk, FOX have now moved on from picking him for the role.
Punk once again teased a switch to FOX with a photo of him holding a FOX Sports mic on his Instagram with a "LOL" caption on it.
He even tweeted about it later:
Punk was a guest on FOX's show covering the LA Kings ice hockey team.
In a recent interview with Asbury Park Press, Punk revealed a little about what the future holds for him: "I don’t like to close doors that I eventually want to re-open, possibly, in the future, so we’ve just got to wait and see what happens."
#3 Jojo to return to WWE
WWE ring announcer Jojo Offerman is set to return to the company after a lengthy layoff. PWInsider's Mike Johnson revealed that she will be on this week's RAW, although it's not clear if she will be announcing, or only present backstage.
Offerman, who has been announcing on the main roster since 2015, had to take a break to have her baby, with her partner and WWE Superstar, Bray Wyatt.
Jojo is part of RAW, and if she does announce on this week's show, it'll be her first appearance on WWE television since January.
The report also states that Bray Wyatt will be on RAW, despite being a part of SmackDown, which is where he was drafted to in this year's WWE Draft. Wyatt will have another shot at the Universal Championship this Thursday, when he faces off against Seth Rollins at Crown Jewel.
The match will be a Falls Count Anywhere contest.
#4 Booker T reveals if Randy Orton will join AEW
Randy Orton got the WWE rumor mill buzzing recently when he tweeted a picture which had the word "Elite" on it, tagging the likes of The Revival, Luke Harper, Elias, and AEW stars, Cody Rhodes and Chris Jericho.
This picture convinced a lot of fans that Orton was teasing a potential switch to AEW, WWE's rival promotion.
WWE Hall of Famer Booker T weighed in on this tease and said that Orton has always been a "rebel".
"I always said Randy Orton is an elite wrestler, an elite superstar. He's my guy, I always said that and one thing about Randy is he's always been a rebel, he's always been a guy that walks to the beat of his own drum. If anybody was to do something crazy it would be Randy," said Booker T.
But, the WWE Hall of Famer said that Orton is "safe" and "taken care of very well" in Vince McMahon's promotion.
"Look at Jon Moxley, he was on the edge. I'll say it right now if it happens I would not be surprised, but I don't think something like that is going to happen I think Randy Orton is safe and he's taken care of very well in the WWE," said the WWE Hall of Famer.
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
