WWE Rumor Roundup - Highly-respected Superstar fired, Paul Heyman cancels romantic storyline, Jinder Mahal's status and more - 19th April 2020

Welcome to another edition of the daily WWE Rumor Roundup where we try and bring you the biggest WWE news and rumors from the day.

Another day has passed us by in the quarantine era but that hasn't stopped the rumor mills from churning out the good stuff. Oh, hell no! Today's edition of our daily Rumor Roundup is as stacked as ever!

The pro wrestling fraternity is still reeling in the aftermath of WWE's mass release and we can't help but have more updates on the story that has shaken everyone to the core. This time, we have details about the release of a respected 22-year veteran.

Ever wondered why WWE abruptly ended Liv Morgan's romantic storyline with Lana? We now know the answer and it all comes down to Paul Heyman's big decision.

Triple H's ambitious plan may also be 'dead in the water' due to the ongoing pandemic and that's one of the most unfortunate stories of the day.

A former WWE Champion is also ready to return to the ring after being out of action for almost 10 months.

Vince McMahon also changed his mind about the immediate future of WWE's programming and it seems like the company could be going back to taping its shows. However, what forced the WWE Boss to alter the plans yet again?

We got the answer to that question as well in today's solid lineup. So let's not waste any time and jump right in.

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#5. WWE fires a highly-respected veteran, details on how he was viewed backstage

While the releases from the main roster garnered a lot of attention, the NXT releases were done in a discreet manner, with WWE not confirming any of the departures.

However, a handful of the talents took to social media to confirm their WWE exits and the status of the remaining were revealed by credible sources online.

Dave Meltzer confirmed on the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio that Kassius Ohno was fired on Wednesday. Meltzer went on to share a few important details about how Ohno was viewed in the company.

Ohno, who made a name for himself under the Chris Hero moniker, was highly regarded behind the scenes. He worked as a player-coach and Meltzer noted that the company had no plans to get him to the main roster.

WWE didn't even have plans to push him hard on NXT TV and considering he is 40 years old, they felt it was the right decision to cut him off.

It was noted that the talents in NXT looked up Ohno like a big brother and his valuable experience was well-received by the talents who wanted to learn.

Here's what Meltzer stated:

Kassius Ohno is a name that came out technically this morning, I think he was fired Wednesday Night. He was kind of like a player-coach and I mean I get. Well, this is what I get. He was never going to be brought up to the main roster, I think that was very clear and he was never going to be pushed that hard on NXT. They were doing something with him in NXT UK brand but he was more like, you know he was a guy who was really one of the smartest guys when it comes to wrestling and working and working multiple styles and the idea of you know different ideas from different places.

I know a lot of guys like were very very high on him just because of how much he would teach them about you know about wrestling and about life and things like that. He was like a lot of guys' big brother in NXT, so it's like on paper when you look at the idea, they were not going to use him but he was valuable in other ways. But he was losing in and an around 40 and they weren't going to use him and I get that, from that perspective.

Ohno has changed his Twitter name to WWE Alumni and he even posted a Tweet which all but confirmed his departure from the company.

#4 The reason why WWE nixed Liv Morgan's storyline with Lana

Liv Morgan returned to the WWE at the end of 2019 and she was unveiled as Lana's former lover during The Ravishing Russian's highly-publicized TV wedding with Bobby Lashley.

Things were looking up for Morgan as WWE was all set to go down a path less travelled with an LGBTQ storyline.

However, Morgan ended her brief feud with Lana before moving onto an angle with Ruby Riott. It was an abrupt end to a potentially promising story.

Dave Meltzer revealed on the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio that Paul Heyman never had any plan to extend the angle between Lana and Liv Morgan.

Heyman just wanted a spot in the wedding that would pop the fans and getting Liv Morgan back as Lana's ex-lover was done to surprise the WWE Universe.

The idea was also to get Morgan up and running upon her return, however, there were no long-term plans to exploit the story between Liv and Lana.

Meltzer revealed the following:

From what I was told, it was Paul looking for a spot in the wedding thing to pop people but that there was no plan to follow up on it. It was just a way to get Liv Morgan up and running and doing something with her. Never followed up on but now she's on TV and I mean, she was getting a little bit of a push. I don't even know what's a push now.

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#3 Jinder Mahal is ready to return

Jinder Mahal has not been seen on WWE TV since June 2019 after he suffered an unfortunate knee injury. The Modern Day Maharaja underwent surgery that put him on the shelf for a lengthy period.

However, he has now been cleared to return.

Chris Featherstone of Wrestling Rumors reached out to Jinder Mahal and he was told that the former WWE Champion is cleared to wrestle again. Mahal is currently waiting for the WWE to come up with an apt storyline to get him back into the fold.

“I reached out to former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal to check on both his WWE status, as well as the status of his injury. Mahal stated that he is currently ‘cleared and waiting’.”

As stated earlier, Jinder Mahal has not worked a single match since June of last year and the rehab time for his injury was initially estimated to be around 6-12 months.

The former United States Champion had previously teased a return at the Royal Rumble 2020 PPV but it never came to fruition.

Mahal was drafted to RAW and it would be interesting to see how WWE books his comeback.

Get the full list of WWE Events affected by the corona virus pandemic

#2 NXT's expansion plans 'dead in the water'

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has led to a massive economic slowdown and the effects were all there to be seen last week when WWE released and furloughed an unprecedented number of talents and employees.

However, the pandemic has affected WWE much more than we'd originally imagined.

Dave Meltzer revealed on the Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE's plans to set up an NXT brand in Japan are dead in the water.

Triple H's big expansion plans for the Black and Gold brand, which could have seen various off-shoots around the world, may now be nixed until further notice. Meltzer also expected massive cuts with regards to NXT UK.

He noted the following:

NXT Japan looks to be dead in the water, yes. All kinds of expansion like that are going to be dead for a while. All the new NXT offshoots, I don't know what's going to happen with UK but I expect major cuts in the UK as well. Yeah, but, NXT Japan ain't going to happen now. I mean, there is even an article on Tokyo Sports today that actually said that they talked to some people that were going to be working there and it's like, yeah, it's not happening.

#1 The reason why Vince McMahon changed his mind yet again

It was reported earlier this week that WWE would be going back to its live format. However, Vince McMahon has changed the plan again and the company will now be taping shows.

So what forced another change this time around?

Dave Meltzer revealed on the Wrestling Observer Radio that Vince McMahon initially feared that the TV networks may not pay the company if they aired pre-taped shows as putting out live programming was part of the deal.

However, Meltzer noted that the TV companies may have informed McMahon that he won't lose money by airing taped shows, which convinced the WWE Boss to go back to a taped schedule.

Meltzer explained:

So what happened there was, so Vince did that because he was afraid and I do not know if either Fox or NBC Universal hinted or said anything to Vince about the weekly thing, although it is in the contract. So, Vince thought that as it's in the contract, 'if I do any more taped shows, they can screw the contract.' What happened was, I don't know how many press inquiries they had but you'd have to think that they had many that they did not answer going, 'Are you going to cut these guys' money if they don't produce live programming? And I think that at some point, one or both the companies did tell Vince this week that, 'We will not cut your money if you send us programming that's not live.' So, Vince changed the schedule. He does not have to go live.

Now the schedule is still, you know they are still not taping five shows at a time and I don't even know why you know what I mean? It's like now you can and they are not.

WWE may not go on a marathon taping schedule as Meltzer reported that the company space out the filming and there could be the odd live shows in the upcoming few weeks.