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In today's WWE Rumor Roundup, we take a look at the former United States Champion who WWE are frustrated with, update on Shayna Basler's absence from WWE TV for the past few months, and more. Gear up for 'The Horror Show at Extreme Rules' with some interesting news.
Before we get to that, we need to put the headline-makers out of the way. Without further ado, here are the top stories of the day:
Surprise news about Kairi Sane's WWE future
Kairi Sane's contract with WWE has expired, but she is still working with the company as per many reports. However, things are not all that simple according to the reliable Tokyo Sports.
They report that Sane wants to move back to Japan soon as she got married earlier this year, but will still be working for WWE in one way or the other. There is no clear report or understanding of how she's going to be working, but clarity is expected by SummerSlam as per the same story.
Wrestletalk translated the report from the Japanese site, and it read:
“Since she married a Japanese man on February 22, there is also a media report that ‘it is very important to move back to Japan'. She also told his neighbors that she wanted to return to Japan, and she was whispered to return to Japan early this year. However, it is unlikely that they will completely leave WWE and participate in other groups in Japan. Most of the argument is that the base will be moved to Japan and that it will continue to maintain friendly relations with WWE. Although I don’t yet know what shape to choose, it seems that there will be some announcement by the summer festival “Summer Slam”.
Kairi was the WWE NXT Women's Champion and also the Women's tag-team champion with Asuka, who is currently the WWE RAW Women's Champion.
Big update on Brock Lesnar's return
Brock Lesnar was scheduled to make his return to WWE at SummerSlam, but those plans have changed now. The Beast Incarnate dropped the WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania and has been off WWE TV ever since.
Dave Meltzer reports on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Lesnar has no plans of returning soon and that was the main reason for McIntyre to be put over by him. The Scottish Psychopath is now reportedly set to defend his title against Randy Orton at SummerSlam.
Earlier this month, Tom Colohue also reportedly on WWE pulling Lesnar from SummerSlam and said:
I won't say for definite that Brock Lesnar will be there because, at this point, I don't know. They could very well cancel that appearance and save his date for this year until next year and have a lot of Brock Lensar next year. I don't think anyone would have an issue with that.
That said, when it comes to working at the Performance Center, they really don't want Brock working there. It really doesn't help the image that he is the larger than life, an larger than WWE character when there is no one there to cheer or boo, and also, one of the big deals that the love with Brock is that he gets both cheered and booed.
Why Extreme Rules has just 6 matches
WWE have always had a lot of matches on their pay-per-view's but this Sunday, there are just 6 matches on The Horror Show at WWE Extreme Rules match card.
While there is still a chance for WWE to add more matches before the PPV, the main reason for limited numbers this month is reportedly the length of the matches. WWE are working towards having longer matches as per Tom Colohue and the cinematic match is reportedly set to be the longest. He said:
"There has been a mandate from the WWE management recently to have longer matches. A large part of this is down to the fact that they don't have as many people as they normally would, so they have to stretch things out a little bit. It worked out, I think about a week and a half ago on SmackDown, where they just hit all the different divisions, one match for each one and it really helped keep things hyped up, but obviously, they have lost a few more people since then. RAW this week was very much built around that as well. So for Extreme Rules, the same rule applies.
The cinematic matches are apparently quite long, and there is still a chance that we see a SmackDown Tag Team titles match added to the card."
Update on Shayna Baszler's backstage situation
Shayna Baszler has been off WWE TV for some time and there have been a lot of rumors about her. Some suggested that Vince McMahon had lost interest in her push and that is why she has been kept off WWE Monday Night RAW.
Tom Colohue has a big report on the backstage situation and claims that it has nothing to do with Vince McMahon or any other WWE personality. The main reason why she has been kept off WWE TV is that her storyline was set to involve Becky Lynch, but since the former RAW Women's Champion has taken a break, Shayna is waiting for an opportunity. He said:
"Well, I know there have been a lot of rumors about Shayna Baszler. A lot about Vince McMahon being a fan and then not being a fan. From everything I have been told, that simply isn't true.
She has not been off TV because of that; she has been off TV because her whole storyline, or at least the plan for it, was built around the feud with Becky Lynch and Becky Lynch isn't available. It has been confirmed that Shayna Baszler was the original plan to win the Royal Rumble. I had reported that in my YouTube in January a couple of weeks before the event.
The idea was that she would be very consistently and heavily pushed, but there have been some changes. Charlotte was then given the opportunity against Rhea Ripley, Becky Lynch was then unavailable, and these have affected Shayna Baszler's push. She was on creative hiatus while they work out what to do with her, and it sure looks like SummerSlam is the answer."
WWE frustrated with Bobby Lashley?
Jim Ross has revealed that WWE were frustrated with Bobby Lashley and that is the reason he kept getting 'start-stop' booking in the company. The AEW commentator and WWE legend was talking on his podcast,'Grilling JR' when he spoke about the former United States champion.
JR also mentions that the season why Vince McMahon was frustrated with the speed of Lashley's progress. Ross said:
“It depends on what input Vince is getting from the last person he talked to. I’m sure Bruce (Prichard) has experienced these issues where you think you have a gameplan, this is what we are going to do, and then somebody gets Vince’s ear that has an agenda and all of a sudden they cast doubt on the process or the decision making. It’s a trait of that company. Bobby did have some false starts and continuity issues. He was on again and off again. I think there was a lack of patience in how good Bobby was progressing and how much he was progressing.'' (H/T: Wrestlingnews)
