Rumor Roundup (Nov. 2, 2021): Lesnar/McIntyre, AEW’s first TNT special, NXT production, 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:

• “There was significance in Drew McIntyre using the Kimura (Brock Lesnar’s submission move) on Mustafa Ali on SmackDown,” says Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.
• AEW is planning a TNT special for Sat., Jan. 8, 2022, sources tell Mat Men’s Andrew Zarian. With “Clash of the Champions” unavailable due to WWE trademark, the company is said to be considering calling it “Battle of the Belts”.
• A report from Fightful Select says WWE has been teaching NXT talent the production side of the business, something that used to rely on Full Sail to do that has now been brought in-house. An example would be the importance of holding facial expressions to give camera operators time to catch them.
• NXT production teams have also been getting tips from Raw and SmackDown staff in recent months.
• Per WWE Network News, Jeff Hardy will be Steve Austin’s guest on the next Broken Skull Sessions. That episode is scheduled to debut on Peacock & WWE Network on Thanksgiving day (Thurs., Nov. 25).

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.