Rumor Round-Up: Ric Flair's status with WWE, WrestleMania 29 changes and more

Rumors float and pro wrestling fans like yourself typically find them interesting, so instead of asking you to click into a thousand different posts with two lines and calling it a story, we're just going to pass along all the latest rumors in this here column we're simply calling the "Rumor Round-Up."

Remember: None of this is confirmed as legitimate news or fact, so take it all with a grain of salt.

Let's get to 'em:

• Ric Flair is not under contract with WWE and his return was done for a few reasons. For starters, he helped pop a bigger rating. Secondly, both he and the company have been wanting to do something together for some time now and it was planned for a while now. Finally, this was a test shot to see how it would affect the contract tampering lawsuit TNA has with WWE. There's nothing moving on that front, but after this you can expect at least some indication of where things might be headed.
• There is apparently talk of doing a program with Punk and Flair around February, though Vince McMahon is adamant Flair won't be wrestling an actual match because they want to stick to the retirement stipulation when Shawn Michaels retired him at WrestleMania 24. It should be noted they were also apparently saying internally that they didn't want to have him get too physical because of what happened with Jerry Lawler and look what happened on Raw.
• Alberto Del Rio's babyface turn is not being scrapped, though he works as a heel on Monday Night Raw next week. This also means his planned storyline with Rosa Mendes has been dropped. He could be headed for a big feud with Antonio Cesaro.
  
• Tommy Dreamer is in discussions to continue on with WWE in some capacity. The company likes his work and didn't want to let him leave the last time he was there but circumstances arose and that's what happened. He didn't have much of a run anywhere else, though, so he could be sticking around.
  
• Some wrestlers are apparently concerned about their spots because so much NXT talent has been getting called up. Word is more are on the way, too. (Personally, I'm waiting for Bray Wyatt, who is probably the best thing going in developmental.)
• Ted DiBiase is likely gone as soon as WWE makes its cuts, which probably won't come until at least after Royal Rumble and maybe even after WrestleMania.
  
• There is talk of doing another 40 man Royal Rumble this year now that the roster is once again deep enough to have that many bodies without sacrificing too much talent. This could be another way to feature The Shield, who would control the Rumble much like New Nexus did a couple years ago.
• The leading candidate to win the Royal Rumble right now is Sheamus in a repeat from last year.
• Christian should be returning early next year.
  
• Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio were both written off TV although for different reasons. Sin Cara is apparently legitimately injured and needs time off to heal but the status of Mysterio is in question. He might be hurt but he might not be hurt either and the planned match between the two at WrestleMania 29 is now in jeopardy. In fact, there's a small rumor that Mysterio's standing in WWE is so low, his status with the company is in jeopardy.
  
• Speaking of WrestleMania, there have reportedly been changes made to every planned match on the card except Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar, which makes sense because Triple H isn't going to let anyone touch or mess with his stuff. This doesn't mean matches are being changed around, but it could mean The Rock vs. John Cena won't be for the WWE championship, which could also mean CM Punk beating The Rock at the Rumble.
• Chris Jericho and WWE are still talking and he could return for WrestleMania, though it seems unlikely because he has too many dates with Fozzy during the key build up period.
  
• Although Buff Bagwell talked about returning to TNA, it looks like that's not going to happen.
  

That's it for this week. Free free to pass along anything else you may have heard in the comments section below and discuss away. Just remember, these are just rumors. Have fun with them.