Rumor Roundup for Tuesday, December 17 - Unified Titles, Brock Lesnar, and 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:

• The fact that Randy Orton is being referred to as the "WWE World Heavyweight Champion" and is carrying both the WWE and World Heavyweight title belts has led to speculation that the titles will remain as separate entities and will not be truly "unified" into one title. Currently, that does appear to be the plan. The titles are expected to remain together through WrestleMania XXX in April in order to make anyone and anything involved with them more significant. However, at some point after that, they are expected to be separated once again in order to give WWE more title scenes to work with when it comes to stories and pushing talent.
• There are also some conflicting rumors on that front (which seem kayfabe to me but are worth mentioning) that the WWE title belt will be used solely and the World Heavyweight title belt retired. Given the rumored turmoil within WWE creative, the fact that Vince McMahon could decide to change plans on a whim, and the fact that this entire unification seemed sudden and rushed, I'm not even sure WWE has a long term plan for these titles...
• Speaking of the not-unified titles, Paul Heyman tweeted following Orton's win on Sunday that he had an "interesting conversation" with his client, Brock Lesnar, regarding the new champion. This has, of course, led to a firestorm of speculation about Lesnar's involvement in the title scene when he returns, which is expected to be in the near future. Past rumors indicated that Lesnar had one more non-WrestleMania pay per view date in his contract for this year, which everyone expects will be used at the upcoming Royal Rumble event. Lesnar has a connection to the unified title, being the last guy to hold the WWE Undisputed Championship in 2002 before the World Heavyweight Title was brought back.
• Last week, WWE held a three day training camp at their Performance Center in Florida during which they held tryouts for a number of talents. The biggest name of the bunch was Indy scene star, Ricochet, but another popular Indy wrestler was also in attendance: Mentallo. The 34 year-old masked Canadian wrestler also goes by the moniker "The Zombie Hunter."
• Speaking of WWE tryouts, former TNA wrestler Joey Ryan had a tryout this past August after being released by TNA and revealed the feedback he was given by WWE officials in a recent interview. He was told that he was "too old" for developmental, so they passed on him. Ryan was 33 at the time of the tryout and this revelation, coupled with past rumors that WWE wasn't looking to sign many more "Indy guys" because the have "bad habits" and bigger than normal egos for someone in developmental likely means we won't be seeing too many veteran Indy stars signing with the company in the near future.

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.