WWE Rumor Roundup: Brock Lesnar responsible for saving 6-time World Champion's career; Action against Roman Reigns?; Sasha Banks complains about top Superstar to McMahon - 7 July 2020

Welcome to another edition of the WWE Rumor Roundup where we try and bring you the biggest rumors, updates and stories from the world of WWE.

On today's edition we will talk about why Vince McMahon refused to give 3-time World Champion and current RAW Superstar a pay hike despite his contract being over.

Also, we will take a look at why The Boss Sasha Banks has made a complaint to Vince McMahon against top RAW Superstar. With many Superstars like Sami Zayn, Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens not showing up for tapings, we will discuss what WWE may have in store for them.

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#5 Big Show credits Brock Lesnar for saving his WWE career

The Big Show is a former 6-time World Champion. Even so, he has never truly been 'the guy' and has mostly helped other Superstars get over. However, in an interesting tidbit, Big Show revealed to Alex McCarthy of Talkpsort that he credits Brock Lesnar for the resurgence of his career.

Though Big Show is an iconic name now, there was a time when his WWE career seemed to be in trouble. Even after being an on-screen talent and former World Champion, the company had sent him to developmental not being happy with his work.

"[WWE] sent me down to Louisville after a knee surgery to rehabilitate and they kind of left me there for 10 months. They didn’t have creative for me and I kind of think it was one of those things where “this kid needs to go away and learn something.”

Big Show revealed that he worked a lot with Lesnar in OVW which was the reason why he was chosen to feud with Brock Lesnar on the main roster as well. A move that essentially saved his dwindling career.

"Vince said to me ‘so you work pretty well with Brock?’ And I said ‘yeah.’ And then it went a long and they asked Brock who he wanted to work with and he said me. He said ‘he’s a giant who can work.’ So that kind of endorsement, they were forced to take another look at me and I was able to make the best of that opportunity."

#4 WWE Superstars refusing to work in trouble?

Multiple WWE Superstars such as Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn have opted to miss the tapings over the past couple of weeks. While Roman Reigns has been out of action since before WrestleMania 36, Sami Zayn followed suit and has been absent from WWE.

Kevin Owens also recently decided to not show up at the tapings due to the ongoing COVID-19 testing. While WWE had stated that the Superstars have an option to not work during the current times, Dave Meltzer of WON has stated that WWE could freeze the contracts of such Superstars.

Meltzer added that Roman Reigns would likely be safe from any action against him but Sami Zayn is not.

With Kevin Owens it's only been a couple of weeks... so I guess it's not. But with Sami Zayn it probably will be. If it's Roman Reigns, they may not want to p*** him off, and he isn't going anywhere anyway. He is one guy who is not going to go anywhere. But with some guys absolutely they will freeze them (their contracts).

#3 Sasha Banks complains about WWE RAW Women's Champion to Vince McMahon

Good afternoon @WWEAsuka I see you’re late for TV! I just told @VinceMcMahon 😘 #payup #theleader #Raw #AsukavsBayley

— $asha Banks (@SashaBanksWWE) July 6, 2020

Sasha Banks will be taking on RAW Women's Champion Asuka at WWE's next PPV - Extreme Rules: Horror Show. The Boss Sasha Banks looks to become a double Champion as she already holds the Women's tag-team Championships along with Bayley.

Former NXT Women's Champion Sasha Banks recently tweeted saying that she complained to Vince McMahon about Asuka being late for TV. Although you could argue that this is childish behaviour on the part of Banks, it is what we have come to expect from Bayley and Banks.

Good afternoon @WWEAsuka I see you’re late for TV! I just told @VinceMcMahon

Even though Sasha Banks is a SmackDown Superstar, she and Bayley are allowed to appear on all three brands as they hold the Women's tag-team titles.

Sasha Banks is a former 4-time RAW Women's Champion and it will be interesting to see if she can win the title for a 5th time at Extreme Rules: Horror Show by defeating The Empress of Tommorow.

#2 Jim Ross reveals WWE was trying to prevent AEW from signing Superstars

Vince McMahon

While speaking on his podcast - Grilling JR - Jim Ross talked about how WWE tried to thwart AEW when the company was trying to establish itself.

Jim Ross has worked with WWE for a number of years and was known as the voice of WWE. He is currently an announcer on AEW. Here is what Jim Ross revealed about WWE trying to sign every free agent so they couldn't join AEW:

They were hiring every piece of talent they could hire because speculation said they didn't want them to go to AEW." At the end of the day, Vince's net worth is a little over 2 billion and Mr. Khans net worth is 8.2 billion, so you don't want to see who has the biggest bank account, that would be silly." (h/t Wrestling Inc)

AEW have established themselves as the second biggest wrestling promotion in short time. The company now boasts of a huge roster including former WWE Superstars such as Chris Jericho, Cody, Jon Moxley and Matt Hardy among others.

#1 WWE Chairman Vince McMahon refused to give Rey Mysterio a pay hike

As reported earlier, Rey Mysterio's contract with WWE has elapsed. However, the master of 619 is still regularly a part of RAW allegedly working without a contract.

While some believe it is just good work ethic on the part of Mysterio, others believe that the reason behind the former WWE Champion sticking around is to get his son Dominik over before he leaves.

As per Dave Meltzer of WOR, Rey Mysterio had asked for a pay bump in order to sign a new contract which was refused by Vince McMahon given the current pandemic.

So, yeah, there's a lot to that, but the short version of the story is that his contract expired. I thought since he'd been on TV that he may have signed, but in fact, he has not signed. What happened was, he was asked for a raise, and Vince had said you know, 'Look at the situation we're in, umm, we just got rid of a bunch of people.