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Welcome back to another edition of the daily WWE Rumor Roundup. A lot has happened around WWE as the company prepares for the Clash of Champions pay-per-view.
The Rock has managed to make the list today, and it's regarding a story that not many would have anticipated to happen.
More details about Vince McMahon's secret rule have been revealed and it's bizarre, to say the least. RETRIBUTION is the most-talked-about act on Monday Night RAW at the moment, and several details about plans for the faction have been revealed.
A WWE Superstar has also hinted at Roman Reigns possibly getting a heel faction. In other news, a former WCW star resumed working for the company this week.
On that note, here is the latest edition of the WWE Rumor Roundup:
#5 The Rock to make a video appearance for IMPACT Wrestling
Ken Shamrock is set to be inducted into the IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2020. With that, the former WWE Superstar recently made a very special request to The Rock.
Shamrock issued a tweet in which he asked The Great One to send an induction greeting. Shamrock had some great moments with The Rock during his time in WWE, and he considers them to be the most memorable highlights of his career.
"@TheRock Hey brother I am being Inducted into the Impact Wrestling HOF I would be very grateful if you could send a Induction greeting. After all I believe my time with you was my greatest memories in Wrestling. Thank you."
The Rock promptly responded to the request and agreed to send over an induction greeting video to IMPACT Wrestling, which should ideally be aired during the ceremony.
Congrats, my brother. Awesome news. I will take care of this and get it to you by this weekend.
The IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame induction ceremony is expected to happen during Bound for Glory weekend in October. The Rock's video greeting would technically be his first IMPACT Wrestling appearance.
Ken Shamrock and The Rock, as stated earlier, have history with each other as they feuded for the Intercontinental Championship in 1998.
Will we see The Rock on IMPACT Wrestling programming? Expect the unexpected in 2020.
#4 Vince McMahon's secret WWE rule explained
A lot has been said about Vince McMahon's secret WWE rule for tag team matches, following the bizarre finish to last week's main event of RAW.
The rule states that an illegal wrestler can't hit the legal Superstar during a pinfall attempt, and doing so would lead to a DQ.
Dave Meltzer explained the rule in detail in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
While setting up matches, McMahon is reportedly very adamant that an illegal man should not attack the legal man unless it is done behind the referee's back. You'd be wondering: "what about double team moves that happen for five seconds right in front of the ref's eyes?" That is allowed as it is an old rule.
It was noted that WWE producers and wrestlers are quite careful about not breaking the rule when they put together matches, especially when it comes dives to the outside. An illegal star can't dive onto a pile of stars that contain a legal competitor of the match.
WWE referees have also been told to call it as a shoot, and it poses a risk for controversial decisions to be made. While it may not affect "nothing matches", high-profile bouts could be affected by the violation of the rule.
T-Bar attacked Bobby Lashley on RAW when the Hurt Business member had Slapjack in the Hurt Lock. The referee ended the match as a DQ win for The Hurt Business.
The original finish, however, was supposed to be an eye poke and not the save. Meltzer also added that eye pokes and low blows also lead to DQ, which is why wrestlers are told to distract the referee before executing the spot.
There was a major problem with the finish that didn't align with McMahon's WWE rule. Meltzer explained:
"Of course if you've been paying attention at this point, you realize that in fact T-Bar hit SlapJack and was making a save when Lashley had him in his finisher, and by the rules, this is actually not a DQ. But it happened anyway because it slipped through the cracks because everyone in thinking save thinks near fall break-up, which is okay, but thinks hitting the legal guy isn't so it was a way out. So even under the dumb secret rule, they violated their own rule because they didn't think Lashley's finish at that moment was a finish, it was just a full nelson and not a pin."
Yes, as odd as it sounds, WWE ended up violating their own rule on RAW.
#3. Billy Kidman returned to work for WWE on SmackDown
WWE is gradually getting a handful of the furloughed employees back to work and the latest name to have returned is Billy Kidman.
The former WCW Star resumed working for WWE as a producer on the latest episode of Friday Night SmackDown. Kidman was one of the many WWE employees that were furloughed by the company in April.
PWInsider broke the story about Kidman by posting the following:
Long-time WWE Producer Billy Kidman officially returned to work at today's Friday Night Smackdown taping, PWInsider.com has confirmed. Kidman had been furloughed this past April as part of the company's cost-cutting efforts but returned to his duties as of this week.
Billy Kidman, who wrestled for WCW, WWE and various indie promotions, returned to Vince McMahon's company in 2007 as a trainer and performer. He took up the full-time role as a WWE producer in 2010 and has since been an active member of the team behind the scenes.
Kidman has also made a few on-screen appearances in the past decade, primarily to break up brawls or to stop a Superstar from carrying out a storyline attack.
#2. Possibility of a Roman Reigns heel faction in WWE
Roman Reigns' new character has helped make SmackDown a much more watchable two-hour show. His heel turn was the need of the hour, and WWE has done a solid job of booking The Tribal Chief alongside Paul Heyman.
Reigns will face Jey Uso for the Universal Championship at Clash of Champions, and the storyline has managed to captivate the attention of the fanbase.
However, will Roman Reigns continue to be a lone wolf or could we see him lead a faction down the line?
Jey Uso spoke to talkSPORT, and he was all in for The Bloodline to reunite on WWE TV.
Jey Uso revealed that the Samoan stable could 'come on and off'. The former WWE Tag Team Champion liked the idea of a heel faction with his brother Jimmy Uso and cousin Roman Reigns. Here's what Jey Uso had to say:
"The Bloodline will come on and off. That will always be there. But imagine us running that thing full-blown – and I would love to be heel – a heel faction. Hell yeah, bro! I wanna see some Samoan Swat Team 2.0 type of things, man. It's written by itself, right?"
#1. WWE's plans for RETRIBUTION
Everyone is talking about RETRIBUTION and rightfully so. The male members of the faction were officially given new names on WWE RAW, and the reactions have been absolutely hilarious.
Dominik Dijakovic is now T-Bar while Dio Maddin calls himself Mace. The most comical name of the lot has been reserved for Shane Thorne, who is now Slapjack.
The female members of the group were also given names as revealed from the new trademark fillings. Mia Yim is 'Reckoning' while Mercedes Martinez will go by the name 'Retaliation'. Mia Yim has already confirmed the change by setting up a new Twitter handle under the name 'Reckoning'.
WWE filed for trademarks for the five names; however, the company had another name in the works for the women. One of the names pitched was 'Shatter', as revealed by WrestleVotes. The idea was thankfully nixed.
Guys, it gets better! Heard that at one point the females in Retribution needed names on Monday for TV. Thankfully that got scrapped. One of the names was going to be... "Shatter"
While fans and pundits have criticised the WWE's booking of the faction, the company does have a big plan for the stable, which includes a marquee match at Survivor Series, according to PWInsider.
RETRIBUTION is reportedly set to face a WWE team at the annual Survivor Series PPV, which is scheduled to take place on November 22nd.
All the members of RETRIBUTION have been quite active on social media over the past few days, and the engagement has added an interesting dimension to the faction's on-screen act.
