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Welcome back to another edition of our daily WWE Rumor Roundup. The lineup we have for you today is as stacked as ever with some huge stories. It has been a really newsworthy day filled with rumors, speculation, and stories, most of which are quite controversial in nature.
A WWE veteran was once not considered for a World title push merely because of his hair.
A former Champion also called out Finn Balor on Twitter regarding a report of there being some real-life beef between them.
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson also opened up on some big backstage rumors about AJ Styles being unhappy and his move to SmackDown. The recently released WWE Superstars were at their unfiltered best as they spilled the beans on various previously unknown backstage details.
The real reason behind Bianca Belair's recent absence from WWE TV has also been revealed.
On that note, here is the latest edition of Sportskeeda's WWE Rumor Roundup:
#5. Dolph Ziggler was told he would never become a WWE World Champion because of his hair
Dolph Ziggler did eventually win the World title twice in his career and he is also scheduled for a WWE title match at Extreme Rules. However, things didn't look all that bright for The ShowOff during his early days.
During a recent interview with Alex McCarthy, Dolph Ziggler revealed that WWE told him he was not credible enough to become a World Champion because of his long, blonde hair. This, of course, happened a long time ago; possibly 10 years back, and Ziggler even ended up cutting his hair short and dying it black.
The experiment failed and the WWE management realized it three weeks later.
Here's what Ziggler revealed during the interview with Alexa McCarthy:
"One time, a long time ago, I was told that the reason I am not credible enough, this was ten years ago maybe longer, to be winning World Championships, was because of my hair. Not that I get beat up, not that I lose every match, not that I don't talk, but because of my blond hair. So it got cut short and dyed black, and I was serious, and I went out to beat the hell out of Santino. And it was the dumbest thing I've ever done. I didn't want to do it. It was not me. You can find a way to introduce more of my shooting background into things, but here is what they wanted. After three weeks, they said, 'Uh, our bad.'" H/t Sportskeeda's Anirban Banerjee
Will Ziggler manage to win the WWE title from McIntyre this Sunday? While he does have the support of one of the greatest Superstars of all time, McIntyre should ideally retain the belt.
#4. Lio Rush addresses report of backstage heat in WWE with Finn Balor, the former Universal Champion responds
Lio Rush kicked up quite a storm recently, or at least, it initially seemed like it when he released a series of tweets in which he addressed a rumor of his real-life beef with Finn Balor in WWE.
Rush called out Balor for not refuting the report in the public domain. Lio felt that Balor had the power and influence to come out and shoot down the report; however, the former WWE Universal Champion didn't even respond to Rush's message.
Here's what Lio Rush wrote on Twitter:
Let's nip this in the bud. I never had any beef with @FinnBalor . I texted you and told you I didn't know where this story even came from and your words exactly were "I don't want to say anything about it publicly because it would draw more attention to the situation".... welp
And then i told you @FinnBalor I'd appreciate it if you diffused the situation because i thought we were cool from the times your now wife watched my son at live events. I knew you had the power/influence to do that. You never texted me back & you never diffused the story. Why?
Finn Balor responded to Rush's tweet and confirmed that there is no heat between the two and said that he is always open to having a phone call with the recently released WWE Superstar.
Lio, ive always been very fond of you, both in and out of the ring. As I told you before, there is no heat. I choose to live life in reality,& not worry about what people make up online. I'm only tweeting this because I know it's important to you, if you want to talk, call me x
In case you didn't know the backstory, the rumor of a real-life issue between Balor and Rush came to light in April 2019 via a Fightful report. It was noted that Rush wanted his wife with him at all times, and Balor reportedly advised Rush that Vince McMahon would not like to see wives during the rehearsals. The former WWE manager of Bobby Lashley didn't didn't react well to Balor's advice, and it didn't take time for the word to circulate in the locker room.
It's good to know that there is no real heat now between the two stars and we hope Rush did pick up his phone and gave Balor a call.
#3. The reason why AJ Styles 'got mad' before his WWE WrestleMania 36 match
Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows confirmed their IMPACT Wrestling signing on the Talk'N Shop podcast live stream which also featured Rocky Romero and Pro Wrestling Sheet's Ryan Satin.
Gallows and Anderson were brutally honest about a myriad of topics during the live stream which had so many explosive backstage stories from their time in the WWE that it's hard to keep a count of them.
One of them was about how AJ Styles reacted when he was told that WrestleMania 36 would happen at the empty Performance Center.
Karl Anderson revealed that AJ Styles got really mad when he was informed about WrestleMania 36 being moved to the WWE PC. Styles felt that he could have given an aging Undertaker a really solid match in front of the fans, and The Phenomenal One was pretty annoyed about the unforeseen change of venue.
Styles was confident that he would have given Undertaker a proper send-off, and thankfully enough, he did manage to do that with the Boneyard match. WWE adapted well to the situation and booked one of the most memorable cinematic matches in pro wrestling history.
The change of WrestleMania venue wasn't the only reason, however, why AJ Styles got mad recently...
#2. AJ Styles moved to WWE SmackDown due to Paul Heyman
The rumors of the apparent backstage friction in WWE between Paul Heyman and AJ Styles are true. Not only are they real, but the relationship between the two veterans could be irreparable at this point, if all the details revealed by Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson are to be believed.
Karl Anderson revealed he had heard that their releases happened because of Paul Heyman. A person backstage confirmed the story to AJ Styles and The Phenomenal One then confronted Heyman regarding the same.
The Executive Director of RAW denied the story which forced Styles to go straight to Vince McMahon. The WWE boss confirmed that Heyman was indeed responsible for Gallows and Anderson getting fired from WWE. McMahon also revealed that The Good Brothers were not on the original list of people who were supposed to get cut.
AJ Styles was naturally unhappy with Paul Heyman and decided that he could not work with the former ECW boss on RAW, before being moved to SmackDown.
Styles had even revealed during a recent stream on his Mixer account that Heyman is a 'bold-faced liar'.
"He's (Heyman) a liar. Now you know, I'm sure you have heard that going back to his ECW days, you'll hear that. He's a bold-faced liar."
#1. Reason why Bianca Belair was off WWE TV
Bianca Belair returned on the last episode of RAW after a short hiatus from WWE to team up with Ruby Riott in a match against The IIconics.
Tom Colohue revealed on the latest edition of Sportskeeda's Dropkick DiSKussions podcast that the plan for Belair was to reportedly just have one match this past week on WWE RAW.
Belair was just there to fill in for the absent Liv Morgan, who is eventually expected to reunite with Riott.
Tom went on to reveal that the former NXT Superstar was not featured on WWE TV as she was on a creative hiatus, similar to Shayna Baszler.
Here's what Tom revealed told Dropkick DiSKussions host Korey Gunz:
"The plan for Bianca Belair this week was just the one match. She was essentially filling in space for Liv Morgan who will eventually rejoin Ruby Riott. Bianca Belair does not have any long-term feud with the people in the ring. Currently, Liv Morgan isn't available, and hence, Bianca Belair is being used in her place.
It's the same situation as Shayna Baszler. Creative hiatus. That's all it is. They brought her in with the idea being that The Street Profits and Bianca Belair would be squaring off against Andrade, Angel Garza, and Zelina Vega. Of course, Austin Theory was in the group at that point, and that's what made things difficult because they needed to tell the story with him."
