Welcome to yet another edition of Sportskeeda Wrestling's WWE Rumor Review. Here, we'll take a look back at some of the popular rumors from a few months ago and see how they have fared.
The Rock is one of the biggest names in pro-wrestling, so whenever there's talk of his return, it fires up the rumor mill. We'll take a look at his reported return to the company.
Speaking of The Great One, we'll also look back at some huge plans that WWE had for his cousins, The Usos and Roman Reigns. There were also plans to bring an iconic title back to the promotion, and we'll see how that has fared.
WWE is well known for bringing celebrities in to grab attention for their biggest events, and apparently Cardi B was in one of those plans. So without further ado, let's go through some of the top rumors from the wrestling world. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.
#5 WWE's plans to bring back the Million Dollar Championship
NXT had an interesting story going on between Cameron Grimes, LA Knight, and Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase. During the angle DiBiase brought back the Million Dollar Championship on the June 8th episode of NXT.
Before that happened, Andrew Zarian from the Mat Men Podcast confirmed reports of the company bringing back the title.
😂 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA 😂
— WWE (@WWE) May 19, 2021
To @MDMTedDiBiase's joy, @JakeAtlas_ defeats @CGrimesWWE on #WWENXT! pic.twitter.com/RKwN2XbLYJ
"He’s gonna appear in the ring next week with Grimes…Million Dollar Belt is back…I can confirm the Million Dollar Belt is back baby! Sorry to the individual that told me but Million Dollar Belt is coming back. I don’t know for how long but they’re gonna have it on TV," said Andrew Zarian.
The #MillionDollarChampionship went TO THE MOON 🚀🚀🚀 with @CGrimesWWE at #NXTTakeOver 36!
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) August 23, 2021
FULL RESULTS: https://t.co/HyjOmXgyWw pic.twitter.com/XNCBwcMz9o
Grimes and Knight fought for the title and the feud ended after the latter picked up the win at NXT Takeover 36 with some help from The Million Dollar man.
#4 WWE was forced to bring back live audience due to AEW
WWE had no plans to bring the live audience back before SummerSlam. However, after AEW announced that they were returning to the road in July, those plans changed.
From Today's Show!
— Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast 🎙 (@Matmenpodcast) May 13, 2021
Did you hear? Our very own @AndrewZarian reported #WWE is planning a return of fans on July 16th, Per Source.#aew #prowrestling #njpw #Smackdown #WWERaw #NXT pic.twitter.com/hxtjo6Bq81
Andrew Zarian of Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast reported that he was told by his sources that the company would be returning to the road starting from July 16th. However, he wasn't told if it would be a one-off or a full-blown return.
"Fans back with July 16 to the 19th," Andrew Zarian said.
BREAKING NEWS:@WWE returns to live events with a 25-city tour running through Labor Day. The tour starts with the July 16th Friday Night #SmackDown at the @ToyotaCenter in Houston, TX! pic.twitter.com/TjRAqxv3Bf
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) May 21, 2021
The report turned out to be true, just a week later, the company announced the return of the live crowds starting from the July 16th episode of SmackDown. Money In The Bank, held on July 18th, was the first pay-per-view with live crowds back.
The pay-per-view was headlined by Roman Reigns and Edge in the main event for the Universal Championship. It also featured the highly anticipated return of 16-time World Champion John Cena, who confronted The Tribal Chief to close the show.
#3 Cardi B's scheduled WWE appearance
Cardi B had the opportunity to add another accolade to her incredible career as she was scheduled to appear at WWE SummerSlam.
Back in May, Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast confirmed that the Grammy award winner was roped in by the company to host the Biggest Party of the Summer.
"I can confirm that I was told cardi b is the host for SummerSlam this year," said Andrew Zarian
I can confirm that I was told cardi b is the host for SummerSlam this year. pic.twitter.com/jNQmEMSbjJ
— Andrew Zarian (@AndrewZarian) May 29, 2021
However, this did not happen after Cardi B announced in June that she was pregnant for the second time. She gave birth to a baby boy in September.
Cardi B reveals she has given birth to her second child via Instagram:
— Pop Base (@PopBase) September 6, 2021
“9/4/21🦕💙🧸” pic.twitter.com/V8VnTTmL5z
SummerSlam wasn't short of star power as it featured the long-awaited returns of Becky Lynch and Brock Lesnar. Lynch went on to make history by defeating Bianca Belair in just 26 seconds to capture the SmackDown Women's Championship.
The pay-per-view was headlined by John Cena and Roman Reigns in a Universal Championship match. Lesnar confronted The Tribal Chief following his successful title defense. The Beast Incarnate took Cena on a tour of the Suplex City after the show went off the air.
#2 WWE's huge plans for The Bloodline
Jimmy Uso made his return to WWE in May last year. Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Jey Uso welcomed him and The Usos officially reunited. During that time, there was a visible tension between the three and it looked like Jimmy would feud with either Reigns or Jey. However, none of that happened.
.@WWERomanReigns: #UniversalChampion.@WWEUsos: #SmackDown #TagTeamChampions.
— WWE (@WWE) May 8, 2021
What do you say, Uce? @HeymanHustle pic.twitter.com/PmN96RwKW7
Wrestlingnews.co reported that the plan was for The Usos to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships from a babyface team and then rule the blue brand for months with Reigns. Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode were the champions at the time.
The report eventually turned out to be true as Roode and Ziggler lost the tag titles to the father-son duo of Rey and Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania Backlash. The Usos won the titles from The Mysterios at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view in July 2021.
Congrats to @WWERomanReigns.
— Wrestle Features (@WrestleFeatures) January 12, 2022
He's hit 500 days as Universal Champion.
He is just days away from becoming the longest reigning Universal Champion of ALL TIME. pic.twitter.com/oIRtNusNUS
They have held the gold for close to six months, recently defending their titles successfully against The New Day in a Street Fight. The Tribal Chief recently surpassed 500 days as Universal Champion and The Bloodline have been dominating the blue brand.
#1 The Rock's reported WWE return
The WWE Universe has been clamoring for a dream match between The Rock and Roman Reigns. The craving for the bout has intensified following Reigns' heel turn and the incredible run he has had on SmackDown.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that the company had hoped for The Rock to return to Survivor Series pay-per-view and start the build-up towards a clash at WrestleMania.
Get ready to salute @TheRock all month long in honor of the 25-year anniversary of his WWE debut.#Rock25 pic.twitter.com/ntEjToXX3u
— WWE (@WWE) November 1, 2021
The latest edition of Survivor Series also marked the 25th anniversary of The Rock's debut in the promotion, which further set fire to speculation. The show celebrated The Great One's journey and even promoted his latest movie, Red Notice.
However, fans didn't get to see The Rock at the event despite multiple teases throughout the night. Roman Reigns went up against Big E in the main event in a champion vs champion match with The Tribal Chief ultimately picking up the victory.
His Universe.#SurvivorSeries @WWERomanReigns @WWEBigE @HeymanHustle pic.twitter.com/zpNqU9fyE7
— WWE (@WWE) November 22, 2021
It was later reported that WWE had changed plans in the direction of Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns instead of the originally reported Rock vs Reigns match. Reigns is currently set to defend his Universal Championship against Seth Rollins at Royal Rumble. It will be interesting to see if plans change any further.