Rumor Roundup (July 27, 2021): AEW Chicago plans, CM Punk, WWE Saudi return, 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:

• Tony Khan and AEW’s EVPs took a private jet to Chicago on Sunday to film promotional footage, according to bodyslam.net’s Cassidy Haynes. It’s not clear what they were filming, but the report mentions plans to turn Chicago into their #2 market, “when not if” they’ll debut CM Punk in his hometown, and a future show at the 20,000+ seat United Center as possibilities.
• Regarding Punk, Haynes says Punk is “100%” for Chicago, but it could be the Sept. 1 Dynamite, the Sept. 3 Rampage, or All Out on Sept. 5.
• After Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted the AEW/Punk could lead to WWE becoming interested in bringing him back, Ringside News says they “were explicitly told that: ‘WWE has no interest in doing business with Punk.’”
• Barring COVID restrictions, Mat Men’s Andrew Zarian heard from a source WWE is planning its return to Saudi Arabia for October 21.
• For the first time in several weeks there were no NXT stars at Raw last night for dark matches or the Main Event taping, per PW Insider.

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.