WWE Rumor Roundup: Two big returns scheduled for 2020, Jeff Hardy has not been listed to come back - 8th November 2019

Welcome again to another daily rumor roundup. Today's edition is filled with so many injury reports that it has reminded us again about the sheer toll that pro wrestling takes on the bodies of the performers.

Two Superstars who are currently sidelined aren't expected to be back until 2020. Looking at the bright side, two Superstars are fit and could compete again sooner rather than later.

There was a disconcerting update regarding the return of Jeff Hardy as well.

More interesting details about the backstage meeting from last week's RAW has also been majorly featured today.

With WWE building up towards Survivor Series, there were tons of speculation surrounding the match card and the possible bouts that could end up being booked for the show.

From AJ Styles' Survivor Series pitch to a former WWE Champion winning a singles title before the PPV, there is a lot to share about the highly-anticipated event. The company were also forced to remove Cain Velasquez from a big upcoming match.

There is a lot to cover in the latest edition of the rumor roundup, So let's dive right into it...

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#1 Xavier Woods and Lars Sullivan out of action until 2020; Will return in the Summer of next year

As revealed by PWinsider, Xavier Woods is not expected to be back until the Summer of 2020. The New Day member suffered an Achilles injury during a Live Event in Sydney and injuries of such nature usually take a long time to heal. The estimated rehab time has been pegged at around 9 -12 months.

Despite the absence of Woods, Kofi Kingston and Big E aren't doing too bad as the duo won the SmackDown Tag Team titles from The Revival to become seven-time champs at the most recent episode of the Blue Brand in Manchester.

Another Superstar who is slated to return in the Summer of 2020 is Lars Sullivan, as per Fightful.

WWE's internal injury report states that Sullivan has been making slow progress when it came to recovering from his knee injury. The report states that his injury is "progressing slowly, even slower than some he’s experienced in the past”

As of this writing, Woods and Sullivan are both ideally scheduled to return to action in 2020.

#2 Jeff Hardy has not been listed for a WWE return

Jeff Hardy is not having the best of times. After being taken off WWE TV due to a knee injury in April with the need of reconstructive surgery, the Charismatic Enigma landed in another legal trouble with a fresh DWI charge in the first week of October.

The former WWE Champion was arrested in an inebriated state by Carthage North Carolina Police last month and was found with a bloody nose. He has also been going through a lot of personal troubles back home and as per Fightful Select, is currently not listed for a return.

Hardy was originally scheduled to make his comeback in November, however, he will not be coming back until he sorts out his personal issues.

The multiple-time Tag Team Champion has a court hearing in December and is also quite possibly working towards his sobriety as we speak.

It might take some time till we see Jeff Hardy again inside a WWE ring, and until that happens, or if that happens, we wish him nothing but the best and hope that the perennial fan-favourite gets his life back on track.

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#3 The reason why Aleister Black has not been wrestling lately

Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Aleister Black is currently out of action due to a knee injury, which has been described as a tweak.

Black last wrestled on October 21st and easily dispatched off a local enhancement talent on the episode of RAW. He was one of the Superstars who didn't travel to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel due to the religious connotations of his tattoos.

While the recovery timeline of Black's injury is still not known, we expect him to be back on RAW soon and to be featured prominently, considering that he is, after all, a Paul Heyman guy behind the scenes.

#4 AJ Styles' Survivor Series pitch

Dave Meltzer made a host of intriguing revelations regarding the Survivor Series card in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

AJ Styles reportedly pitched the idea to have The O.C. vs. The Undisputed Era for Survivor Series, however, the company has instead chosen to feature the match at a future date on NXT. The reason why WWE may not have booked a massive match between the two factions for Survivor Series is because Styles is being positioned for a Triple Threat match featuring the secondary Champions of all the three brands.

AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows showed up on NXT this week in response to the yellow brand's invasion of the main roster shows.

Even if The O.C. vs. The UE doesn't happen on NXT, WWE should ideally insert the match in any other stream of its programming somewhere down the line.

Meltzer noted the following in the WON:

At TV this week, Styles pitched the idea of the OC against the Undisputed Era for Survivor Series. However, it looks right now that if the match will take place on NXT television down the line, or on television somewhere since they shot the angle for it on NXT. It could be moved to Survivor Series but Styles is currently booked in the three secondary title match on that show.

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#5 Daniel Bryan could win a title before Survivor Series

As stated earlier, WWE is planning on having the secondary Champions from the three brands - Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles and Roderick Strong - in a Triple Threat match at Survivor Series.

However, Dave Meltzer stated that there could be a big change before the match is made official for the show.

He stated that either Styles or Nakamura could be booked to drop their title leading up to the show. He further speculated that Daniel Bryan could be the one who dethrones the King of Strong Style as the Intercontinental Champion before going into the planned Triple Threat showdown at Survivor Series.

Bryan and Nakamura have been involved in a programme on SmackDown in the past few weeks and it would be a logical decision to put the IC title on the Leader of the Yes Movement.

#6 More details regarding the backstage meeting held before RAW; What did Vince McMahon tell the talents?

The RAW roster was assembled for a backstage meeting before the most recent episode during which Vince McMahon and other WWE officials addressed the Superstars about the incidents that happened in Saudi Arabia.

Dave Meltzer revealed quite a lot of information about what was told to the talents during the meeting. Most importantly, Vince McMahon assured the roster that they were stranded in Riyadh after Crown Jewel all due to the mechanical issues of the plane.

The Superstars were asked whether they had any questions and none of them brought up any negative points. Randy Orton cracked a joke and Vince McMahon asked if 'anybody else wanted to kiss his a**.'

Karl Anderson was called out by Triple H for his social media activity in the aftermath of the events in Saudi Arabia. AJ Styles expressed his frustration at not being able to see his son wrestle. Rusev was grateful towards Mark Caranno for quickly managing the hotel bookings for the stars that were left in a lurch due to the flight delay.

Here's what Meltzer wrote about the Karl Anderson situation:

The meeting was about to wrap up when Paul Levesque called out Karl Anderson for making a remark on Twitter about who is going to be the locker room leader on Monday. Advertisement Anderson didn’t say much of anything. The situation with Anderson was that besides that remark, he tried to be funny by teasing the idea he was mad and wouldn’t go back, only to joke about it, saying that he needed to pay for a new pool. His wife responded back saying that it’s actually a second house but indicated not wanting him to go again for concerns about him being more important than the second house.

#7 The reason why WWE cancelled Cain Velasquez' match

Cain Velasquez was pulled from a big match from the supershow scheduled to take place on November 30th in Mexico City Arena Ciudad. The former UFC Champion was previously announced to team up with Rey Mysterio, however, the company were forced to remove him from the show.

It has now been revealed by Dave Meltzer that Velasquez was taken off from the card as the condition of his knee is worse than expected. Humberto Carrilo has been announced as Velasquez' replacement, and the former 205 Live Stars will team up with Mysterio in a match against Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.

Velasquez' knee was one of the biggest reasons why WWE booked a short Crown Jewel match in which Brock Lesnar went over the two-time UFC Champion with relative ease.

The WWE newbie is expected to undergo surgery to fix the issues in his knee for good which would enable him to have a better chance of succeeding in WWE.

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#8 The reason why Sami Zayn has not been wrestling regularly

Sami Zayn isn't doing too bad as the mouthpiece of Shinsuke Nakamura but we're sure that the talented Superstar would want to be more than just a manager.

The former NXT Champion has not wrestled consistently in the past few months and the reason why he hasn't been able to do so is due to the recurring troubles in his shoulders.

While Zayn is now fit again to wrestle, the company wants him to continue being a manager and not as a full-time in-ring competitor.

Dave Meltzer reported the following in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

"Zayn was having trouble with his shoulders in recent months which is why he’s been wrestling less and has been managing Nakamura. But we’re told he’s okay now and can wrestle but this is the role they have him in."

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#9 Samoa Joe returning in December

Sean Ross Sapp revealed on Fightful Select that Samoa Joe is set to make his TV return in December. The Samoan Submission Machine has been out of action due to a broken thumb, with his last match happening on RAW in early September.

Joe appeared during the 2019 WWE Draft as a panellist and shared his views regarding the changes made across the rosters. He has since been absent from TV.

How should WWE utilize him once he is back? Who should Joe feud with? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.