Rumor Round-Up (April 17, 2014): Renee Young to ESPN, Brock Lesnar WWE return date, more!

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.

Rumors and News Bits for the Day:

• Rumor has it that the Worldwide Leader in Sports, ESPN, is in active pursuit of the Worldwide Leader in Wrestling Fan Crushes, Renee Young (nee Paquette.) While this is just a rumor, it's certainly one that should be taken seriously considering that ESPN already has two former WWE staffers featured in prominent roles: Jonathan Coachman and Todd Grisham. For those unaware, Paquette was the host of Aftermath, a professional wrestling news show on The Score -- a Canadian sports network now called SportsNet 360 -- before joining the WWE following the sale of The Score to Rogers Communications and its name change.
• Even with Bray Wyatt-John Cena, Tamina Snuka-Paige and several other matches already set for Extreme Rules, time permitting, Rusev will be crushing someone at the Special Event. Whether it will be a local enhancement talent -- better known as a "Ryback special" -- or an actual member of the WWE roster hasn't been made clear.
• Last night's leaked Raw script essentially confirmed that Brock Lesnar won't be back until SummerSlam, where backstage chatter has him facing Daniel Bryan for the WWEWHC. The Official CsS over/under for amount of times Paul Heyman says "conquer the Streak" before that match stands at 1000.
• HHH may be limited in the (SPOILER ALERT) Shield-Evolution match at Extreme Rules, assuming rumblings regarding why his leg was taped up are true. There are very few details on the extent or diagnosis of the injury other than it appeared to be muscle-based if the amount bruising involved is any indications. Given HHH's history with catastrophic quad injuries, this is likely something that the McMahons will take (pardon the pun) extreme precautions with.
• Before its fate was left to a tournament, the No.1 Contendership for the Intercontinental title was going to be determined by a fatal-four way match on Monday's Raw. The four participants were going to be Cesaro, Big Show, Jack Swagger and a returning Christian, but with Christian was unable to return the single match was turned into a tournament. Both were going to be won by Cesaro regardless.
• Less surprising than the sabbatical itself, AJ's absence was what opened up the path for Tamina Snuka to finally start her "Diesel" push with the No. 1 Contender's Divas Battle Royal victory on Main Event. Which means she's entered the "pleading with fans to vote by phone for Shawn Michaels to be reinstated" portion of the run.

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.