Rumor Round-Up (April 15, 2014): DirecTV drops WWE PPVs, Network free trial, GFW announcement, 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:

• In a move that had been anticipated for months, DirecTV has officially dropped WWE PPVs from their offerings. Unhappy with the WWE for cutting them off from that sweet sweet internet money the revenues attached to PPVs by changing their business model, it was even touch-and-go for a while that WrestleMania would be offered through the service. Unlike DirecTV, given the way that Comcast held quality bandwidth from Netflix for ransom, cable companies may have other ways of generating revenue from the WWE if the Network manages to completely cannibalize domestic PPV buys.
• And in an effort to boost what were considered at the very least "disappointing" subscriber numbers, the WWE will be having another free trial for the Network before their first "special event" Extreme Rules. If this helps drives subscribers in the build-up, it may behoove the WWE to use this as a way to pump up numbers before big shows.
• Jeff Jarrett's new promotion, Global Force Wrestling, was supposed to have a major announcement today. They did not. Whether this was because -- as Jarrett claimed on Twitter -- a Hollywood news publication wants to "really set up their 'global press outlets'" for the story, or because of an alleged drunken brawl with a 17-year-old is anyone's guess at this point. But Ian Rotten was claiming the latter, loudly (or, as loudly as you can on IWA Mid-South's Facebook page.)
• In what's already a long line of "Triple H claps like 'this', Vince McMahon claps like 'this'" stories, HHH appears to be very keen on including/directly addressing the IWC, while Vince McMahon has been notorious about staying as far away from that world as possible. Which may explain why Triple H has now become an internet wrestling darling.
• While the crowd may or may not have been excited with Eric Young winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, the TNA locker room is decidedly mehburger with cheese about it. If that's because it's such a blatant retread of what the WWE did, or because there's concern over whether he's up to the task hasn't been addressed.
• An upcoming episode of ABC's The Goldbergs will be based around being a professional wrestling fan in the 80's. As such, the show's creator Adam Goldberg has been trying desperately to get access to footage from the first four WrestleManias. We wish them well in their future endeavors.

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.