Rumor Roundup (Nov. 12, 2021): WWE releases, underpaid wrestlers, no TakeOver, Cody, 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:

• On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer indicated that every wrestler in WWE is underpaid because only about 8% of WWE’s total revenue is paid to the wrestlers. Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar are the only wrestlers making five million dollars per year, and a couple others make north of three million dollars per year. Vince McMahon thinks many of the wrestlers are overpaid.
• Bryan Danielson loves McMahon. Meltzer said Danielson has compiled a book over the years of “all the things that he’s learned by and from Vince McMahon.”
• Mat Men’s Andrew Zarian was told the word “TakeOver” is gone and won’t be used for NXT’s future special events like WarGames because the brand is now in a different era. Another person told Zarian that if NXT goes back to sharing large venues with the main roster for those special events, such as Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the “TakeOver” name will return.
• After reiterating that WWE specifically released four of the 18 wrestlers last week due to their unvaccinated status, Zarian adds that two others were already on the border of being fired, and their unvaccinated status is what pushed them over the line. Some other wrestlers were released by choice because they wanted out of their WWE contracts.
• Per Meltzer, the original plan for Cody Rhodes at Full Gear 2021 was supposed to be a four way match with PAC, Andrade El Idolo, and Malakai Black. AEW changed plans and instead booked a tag team match with those same four 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. And check our weekly Rumor Look Back here to keep track of how often rumors turn out to be correct.