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Welcome to today's edition of the WWE Rumor Roundup, where we take a look at the top stories. We have gone through all the top sources of information and compiled this article to bring you just the best news and rumors of the day.
In today's roundup, we take a look at how Randy Orton was responsible for the change in a Monday Night RAW match, Jox Moxley taking a shot at Vince McMahon again and some interesting backstage news on AJ Styles. Before we get to all that, here are the top headline-makers of the day:
WWE's big SummerSlam plans changed
WWE have changed their plans for SummerSlam, according to Dave Meltzer. The Wrestling Observer journalist reports that Asuka was supposed to retain the WWE RAW Women's Championship and defend it at SummerSlam.
Moreover, she was reportedly supposed to defend it against Kairi Sane, but that was changed as the Japanese star was on her way out of WWE. The report adds that it was then changed to Asuka vs. whoever attacks Sane and now again, those plans have also been changed.
With Sasha Banks now the WWE RAW Women's Champion, Meltzer reports that plans were all last-minute changes. He said on the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio:
There were so many changes made including the Asuka and Sasha Banks stuff. That was all changed. Originally Asuka was going to defend the title against whoever injured Kairi and that was as of, at least Sunday night or Monday morning of last week right before the tapings [and] they tore that all up.” (h/tWrestlingNews.co)
Sane has now left WWE and her departure has been confirmed. Reports suggest that she will still be helping out from Japan but would not be involved in in-ring action for the foreseeable future.
Vince McMahon's wacky idea for WWE SummerSlam
Just like WrestleMania and Money in the Bank, SummerSlam has also been moved from the original location. But now, instead of holding it at the WWE Performance Centre, Vince McMahon reportedly wants to hold it in a different location.
Wrestling Observer reported that the WWE Chairman has a 'wacky idea' for the whole pay-per-view, and might shoot it from a boat to a beach! Bryan Alvarez said:
“I don’t think so. I know this – I know Vince wants something wacky for SummerSlam. He doesn’t want it to be just another SummerSlam in an empty arena with a bunch of fans wearing masks. He wants to do something different and I’m not sure what it is. I think PWInsider was talking about a bunch of potential different locations. Which actually they’ve done when you think about the Boneyard Match or whatever. I don’t know what they’re gonna do but he wants to do something. We’re gonna find out very soon what his latest wacky plan is. He wants to do something different from what they’ve been doing for the last several pay-per-views.” (h/t WrestlingNews.co)
Backstage news on AJ Styles' WWE contract
WWE treats AJ Styles on a different level to the other Superstars, according to Luke Gallows. The former WWE Superstar was talking to Chris Van Vliet when he revealed the lengths the company went to keep the Intercontinental Champion signed.
He revealed that WWE had given him an offer he just could not refuse and that was really hard for anyone to say no to that money. Moreover, they reportedly give him more creative freedom and that got Styles to pen the new deal with WWE. Gallows said:
“He’s on a different level than us. He reached a different top guy WWE level. He’s working with a different kind of money than we are working with and working with a different kind of creative than what we were working with. I don’t know how close he got to leaving. They always treated AJ Styles properly. He’s a few years older than us. In confidence, he told us what his offer was and it was amazing. No matter how good it is outside, that’s going to be real hard to say no to anybody giving you that money. It just is.” (H/T: Wrestlingnews)
Jon Moxley hits out at WWE Chairman Vince McMahon
Jon Moxley, fka Dean Ambrose, has taken another shot at Vince McMahon and claimed that the WWE Chairman is a 'madman'. The AEW star was on the Busted Open Radio yesterday and spoke about the big difference between All Elite Wrestling and WWE.
Moxley spoke once again about the scripts that he used to work on in WWE and that was nothing he was interested in doing. He said:
"One thing that drove me crazier than anything was the fact that I got handed a script. Even in developmental, we were down there with Dusty. That was one of the best times, looking back, I had in the business in FCW."
"I'll tell you what pressure is...pressure is having a two-page script written by a 74-year-old madman that makes no sense to you, that's gonna make you look stupid. And you're on worldwide TV, live and you gotta memorize every single line and somehow try to pull it off and not look like a total jack***. That's pressure.
Randy Orton responsible for change in WWE RAW match
Dolph Ziggler begged Drew McIntyre for a rematch on WWE RAW last week and the champion reluctantly accepted it after he was given the freedom to pick the stipulation. The match was initially set to be a match for the WWE Championship but things changed before RAW and it was announced as a non-title match.
WWE did not reveal the reason, but now Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer reports that it was because of Randy Orton. WWE reportedly wanted to get The Viper involved in the title picture and thus decided to change the McIntyre vs. Ziggler match. He said:
“Last week one of the segments was going to be Randy Orton going for the title, but it was torn up. Obviously, it was torn up because they were going to do the title match at the next show and they talked about the title match on this show. Then within an hour they decided that they just wanted to make sure that the Orton/McIntyre match was promoted this week because they didn’t promote it last week originally, they delayed it a week, but they promoted it before that [Ziggler] match and [Orton] was directly challenging McIntyre, not the winner so it was a fact because they were doing it that way they had to do it a non-title match.” (h/t WrestleTalk)
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