Rumor Roundup for Wednesday, December 11: Hulk Hogan returning to WWE, Daniel Bryan's Slammy wins, more

Speculating on the rumors surrounding pro wrestling is a favored pastime of many fans, perhaps second only to actually watching the matches. In this daily column, we take a look at the latest rumors being churned out by the pro wrestling rumor mill.

Important reminder: Rumors are just that -- rumors. None of this has been confirmed as legitimate news or fact; so remember to take it all with a grain of salt.

Rumors for the Day:

• As with everything in WWE that involves fan voting, many are questioning the legitimacy of the fan voting for the Slammy Awards. WWE is saying that the voting was 100% legitimate, which leads to an interesting situation around the "Superstar of the Year" award, which went to Daniel Bryan. While the voting for the award was said to be close, some in the back who support Bryan are using this as evidence against those (particularly, according to rumors at least, Vince McMahon,) who felt that Bryan wasn't enough of an "attraction" for a WWE title run.
• According to those in attendance at Monday night's Raw, several videos featuring Hulk Hogan from his old days with the company were shown during commercial breaks. Several sources are saying that this is indeed WWE's attempt to slowly acclimate their audience for an eventual Hogan return.
• Following up on yesterday's rumor regarding WWE talent (particularly the mid-carders who rely on those bonuses more so than the main event level players) being concerned about how moving pay-per-views (PPVs) to the WWE Network would affect their PPV bonuses, there is still no word on how WWE officials plan to handle that, but it is being said now that WWE is strongly considering moving 11 of their 12 yearly PPVs to WWE Network, with the only exception being WrestleMania. While most believe WWE will work out some kind of system to hand out these bonuses still, rumors like this will only stir the fire until the talent finds out what that system will be.
• As we continue to watch and wait amidst rumors that a slew of NXT call ups to the main roster will happen over the next couple of months, one name who remains high on the list is the 300+ pound Bulgarian, Alexander Rusev. A good sign that a talent may soon be called up is when they start traveling with the main roster and appearing in dark matches before the shows. Rusev did just that on Monday before Raw, squashing Zack Ryder in a dark match. Rusev is said to have the support from all the right people back stage when it comes to his eventual main roster push, including that of Vince McMahon.
• Slight TNA spoiler - Jeff Hardy was written off with an injury at the most recent Impact tapings. This led to many people (understandably) questioning if he was leaving the company based on all of the roster upheaval over the summer and the recent situation with AJ Styles. To put those questions to rest, Hardy is not leaving TNA. The company is about to embark on a tour of Europe in early 2014 and, due to Hardy's past criminal convictions, visa issues will prevent him from traveling outside the U.S. This same situation happened last year while Hardy was TNA champion.

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.