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:
- Shane McMahon will lose his ladder match to Kevin Owens next Friday and be written off television as an authority figure, per WrestlingNews.co. The reason is WWE’s moving more towards a sports-like presentation and wants “more conclusive finishes and less interference from non-wrestling characters”.
- With the move to Fox, WrestleVotes claims WWE now views SmackDown as the “A” show over Raw.
- In their story about SmackDown sponsors, Ad Age says fans should “keep an eye peeled” for The Rock on the Oct. 4 Fox premiere, as “he may very well look to pop in on the 20th anniversary of SmackDown and promote his upcoming Disney flick, Jungle Cruise.”
- That article also says WWE & Fox are considering reducing the amount of commercials on SmackDown to cater to younger viewers who don’t respond to traditional advertising, and that the network doesn’t think they’ll use “the double-box commercial format” for SmackDown.
- PW Insider reports Impact talent were recently paid bonuses for working a long day pre-taping the Brian Cage/Melissa Santos wedding segment for this week’s show, but after it had become a “bone of contention” for wrestlers.
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.