Rumor Roundup (June 27, 2019): Bad signs for WWE popularity, Taker/McIntyre, heat between AEW & WWE talent, 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, it’s just circulating around the pro wrestling rumor mill. We track rumor accuracy in a weekly feature called Rumor Look Back you can find here. Remember, take it all with a grain of salt.

Rumors for the Day:

• On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned that PPV buys for Stomping Grounds were stunningly low, the fallout show drew the smallest Raw crowd in years, and more TV viewers are opting to not watch Raw and SmackDown during their live broadcasts.
• All those were mentioned as proof WWE is declining in popularity, and the company is “legitimately” in “a bad period”.
• Undertaker handpicked Drew McIntyre to be one of his opponents coming off his embarrassing match at Super ShowDown, according to Sports Illustrated.
• On Twitter, Meltzer said there’s no “significant heat” between WWE and AEW talents right now, but there is a little and he expects it to get worse.
• The fan at the center of the ROH/Bully Ray backstage meeting controversy says Kevin Owens gave him free front row tickets to SmackDown in Portland this week.

If you have heard of any interesting rumors that you’d like to add, feel free to post them in the comments section below. Just remember they are rumors and not confirmed as fact, so please take them as such. Have fun with it. And check our weekly Rumor Look Back here to keep track of how often rumors turn out to be correct.