Rumor Roundup (Oct. 19, 2021): AEW/WWE ratings talk, Retro Raw, Crown Jewel travel, 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 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:

• According to WrestleVotes, the Friday night ratings were “a HOT topic” backstage at Raw last night. Mat Men’s Andrew Zarian confirmed this.
• Zarian also reports that WWE will bring back the Retro Raw concept in January.
• Talent heading to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel will need a negative PCR test before departing, per PW Insider. The site also says “the belief among those we’ve spoken to is that all talents going to the event will have had to have been vaccinated as well.”
• No titles are expected to change hands at Crown Jewel, at least according to the latest odds from bookmakers like Bet Online.
• WrestleVotes says WWE is changing up Karrion Kross’ presentation again. Kross will be “more of a ‘psycho’ yet still ‘calm & cool’.” The helmet stays, but his theme music & entrance will change. And “still no Scarlett.”

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. And check our weekly Rumor Look Back here to keep track of how often rumors turn out to be correct.