For many fans, reading about rumors -- and trawling the sites that traffic in them -- has become as popular as watching the matches themselves. In this daily column, we take a look at the biggest rumors and weirdest stories being churned out by those pro wrestling "news" sites.
Important reminders: Rumors are "rumors" and not "news" for a reason, folks. That which has not been confirmed as legitimate news or fact will be made clear. Also, don't let these things ruin your day. It gets better.
The Cesaro Section:
The King of Swing, Cesaro, has been the belle of the ball on the dirt sheets (Editor's note from Geno: Can we please call them "dirt screens" from now on? Please? Can that be a new thing?) this week. Here's a quick rundown of everything that's been discussed regarding the Swiss Superman:
- His lack of theme song is very intentional, with WWE trying to trick fans into thinking the change from Zeb Colter to Paul Heyman was so unexpected that even WWE wasn't prepared for it.
- The E has also been handing out those signs in the crowd that say "Cesaro section." The choice of co-opting the phrasing that seems too edgy/out there to be from the WWE is purposeful.
- They've also decided to not change mostly anything about the
Lord'sbabyface work Cesaro has begun doing in and out of the ring despite his alignment with the decidedly "heel" Heyman. And, yes, you guessed it, this is also deliberate. This time it's to make it seem as though Cesaro is being saddled with Heyman being an example of the WWE "holding him" back by not letting him turn face.
All of this is being done to (semi-artificially) re-create the groundswell of support that was generated behind Daniel Bryan over the last few years. While this may sound cynical on the surface, letting more and more fans in on the fun that we on the Internet have -- all without pulling back the curtain too far -- is likely to become a more and more important part of the storytelling model.
The rest of the Rumors and News Bits for the Day:
- Beloved TNA tag team Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Kazarian) have now begun accepting bookings from independent companies as their contracts with the organization have expired. Given the recent spat of releases and contract disputes, it seems unlike that either man will be returning as Curry Man this time around.
- It looks like Vickie Guerrero is only mostly gone from the WWE. It appears that she will have a similar set-up as Eve Torres, where she is still part of the WWE family, but only visits on holidays like WrestleMania week.
- The WWE has signed a content deal with AOL.com to produce short videos that will be featured on the website. The videos will be a five-minutes weekly news wrap-up show and an even briefer listing of the biggest moments from the week. E!, Glamour, HSN, The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Self, Simon & Schuster and the newest IWC supervillain ESPN will also be producing videos as part of the project.
- In what's either wonderful or depressing news, Dean Ambrose is very rapidly approaching MVP's record for longest reigning US Champion in the WWE era. Now on his 333rd day, he stands just 10 behind Mr. Porter's record. And to be clear, that is the amount of days he's held the belt, not the amount of days since the last time he defended it.
If you have heard of any interesting rumors that you'd like to add, feel free to post them in the comments section below. Please remember, these are merely rumors. Try not to take them too seriously, just have fun with them.