WWE Rumor Roundup: Former Tag Team Champion wants to return after 2 years, Superstar given bad gimmick on purpose - 30th December 2019

We are back again with the penultimate Rumor Roundup of the year.

The focus on today's lineup is on a variety of stories. A former Tag Team Champion who left WWE in 2017 has expressed his desire to return to the company.

A few major names were absent backstage at the most recent edition of RAW and updates on who ran the show were revealed.

There was also a story of Mark Henry almost smacking a WWE legend in the face during a party. A WWE veteran has also teased going to NJPW in 2020.

A WWE Superstar also claimed that Vince McMahon may have given him a bad gimmick on purpose.

We have a lot of interesting stories to cover in today's edition, so let's get right down to business.

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#5 Fred Rosser AKA Darren Young envisions a WWE return; may call Triple H regarding a comeback

On the second episode of The Rosser Rewind with Fred Rosser AKA Darren Young and host Korey Gunz, the former WWE Tag Team Champion expressed his desire to work for the company again.

Rosser was asked about the returns of Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre and he revealed that he envisions coming back to the WWE some day.

The 36-year-old wrestler said that he has had a lot of time to reflect since leaving the company in 2017 and is open to contributing to WWE again.

He even said that he will call Triple H and talk to him about possibly working with WWE again.

I'm actually, probably going to contact Triple H you know. He's the boss. I have his number. I'm going to contact him and let him know what can I do to contribute to the company. What can I do, whether it is overseas with WWE or whether it's working with EVOLVE, which is like a c-league organization, and WWE. You've heard of EVOLVE, right? Yeah, so WWE has relationships with all these independent organizations and that's where I came from.

And if it takes me coming back to put guys over, or to get myself over, first and foremost, I'm willing to do that you know. I always say that like, I love this business. I didn't just come off the football field or any other sport and just get into this business. I've always been a fan of it, how ever I can contribute is important to me. Again, I look at guys like Drew and Jinder and I envision myself doing the same thing. So, we'll see. Again, I got to keep it moving.

#4 Did Vince McMahon purposely give New Day a bad gimmick?

Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods sat down to discuss various topics on the latest episode of The New Day's Feel The Power podcast.

They spoke about the early version of their gimmick and Woods opined that Vince McMahon may have intentionally given them the widely-hated preachers gimmick as a challenge that they may not be able to overcome.

Kofi Kingston and Big E, however, disagreed with Woods as it's unlikely that McMahon would want to have run with a bad idea on TV.

Woods said:

“I still to this day think it was a test to see if we would nut up and change things. We said, ‘Okay, this is what we don’t want to do,’ and he [McMahon] is like, ‘Okay, cool, let’s do this. You guys are going to be the biggest babyfaces on the show,’ and it’s like, ‘What?!’“I still feel like it was a test, ‘How much do these guys want it? How much are they willing to endure before they come to me and say, no, it needs to be like this.’ I have to believe that, I have to.” H/t Credit: Danny Hart of Sportskeeda and Feel The Power podcast.

All said and done, The New Day didn't give after their initial failures and are regarded as one of the greatest stables of all time with a decade coming to a close.

#3 Major names missing on RAW

The final episode of RAW for the year reportedly didn't have three big names backstage throughout the day.

As reported by PWinsider, Triple H, Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn were absent at the RAW show in Hartford, CT.

However, in an update from before, PWInsider revealed that Vince McMahon managed to make it to the show at the last minute right before it went on the air.

Paul Heyman, and Michael Mansury, VP of Global Television Production, were tasked with the job of running the show. John Laurinaitis looked after the rehearsals while Michael Hayes produced the matches on RAW.

Vince McMahon and Triple H have missed a few shows this year as the WWE Boss has been busy with the XFL reboot which is scheduled to take place in 2020.

Ever since NXT moved to a live TV slot, Triple H has also been forced to miss a few main roster shows. Regarding Kevin Dunn, he is also said to have an active role to play in the XFL.

#2 Former WWE Tag Team Champion has been in talks with NJPW

As we had revealed earlier, Fred Rosser AKA Darren Young does envision himself returning to WWE someday, however, he has bigger plans for 2020.

Rosser revealed what he expects from the new year on the second episode of The Rosser Rewind with host Korey Gunz.

The former WWE Tag Team Champion stated that he has been in talks with NJPW and that he wants to tour South East Asia next year.

For me in 2020, my ultimate goal, I've never toured anywhere in South East Asia. So, I'm looking to hopefully maybe to do New Japan Pro Wrestling, I've been talking to them a little bit. Maybe Singapore Pro Wrestling. I actually sacrificed my first-time-ever wrestling trip to Singapore to wrestle November 23rd, this past November 23rd for my trainer. It was actually a tough match. I actually just posted it on my Instagram account. Highlights from my match in New Jersey, New York area where again, I sacrificed a trip to Singapore.

#1 Reason why Mark Henry almost hit a WWE legend in the face at the party

We end today's edition with an epic story as revealed by Fred Rosser on The Rosser Rewind.

Rosser stated that he was very close to Mark Henry during his time in WWE and knew one unknown fact about the WWE Hall of Famer. This goes out for everybody, even the fans - Mark Henry doesn't like it when someone comes up from behind and pats him on the back as it makes him feel like a pet.

Henry is very particular about his personal space and isn't afraid to give the fans a mouthful if they invade the same.

Rosser also shared a story about how Henry almost punched Pat Patterson in the face one time. During a WrestleMania after-party, Patterson apparently blindsided Henry and kissed him on his cheeks. An infuriated Henry almost swung at the WWE Legend only to realize it was Patterson before calming himself down.

I remember one time, at a WrestleMania after-party. Pat Patterson, Mark Henry and I with his family were all sitting at this table at the after-party and Pat Patterson came up behind Mark Henry and then kissed him on the cheek and Mark turned around and he swung. Almost hit Pat Patterson in the face, and Mark said, 'Pat, you are lucky it's you.' (laughs). If it wasn't for Pat, whoever kissed him would have been KO'd!