Rumor Roundup (Nov. 3, 2022): Vince & Punk’s futures, Saudi back-up plans, NXT name change, 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:

• CM Punk still has “the wrestling bug” after his AEW run, a source told Fightful Select — so he may not be done as was recently speculated. Their story mentions that WWE would “likely be interested” in “possibly” bringing him in, and that reps of several other companies said they’d at least be interested in talking to him.
• Fightful also had a WWE source confirm for them that Vince McMahon is “done, done” and won’t be returning to any of his old roles at WWE. Another higher-up at the company reiterated that morale is great right now.
• Regarding the threats Saudi Arabia is said to have warned the U.S. government about, PW Insider reports WWE “already has security protocols and emergency contingencies in place for any issues.”
• In response to an earlier rumor that she was backstage at WWE’s Mexico City show last weekend, Superluchas’ Apolo Valdés said Sasha Banks was in the area to train, and a photo of her with Bayley & the luchador Mamba that was circulating wasn’t taken at the WWE event.
• T-BAR is listed by his old indie name “Donovan Dijak” on WWE’s internal roster, according to Insider. The site notes Triple H is still high on the former Ring of Honor and NXT wrestler.
• After Shinsuke Nakamura mentioned that WWE was originally not on board with him wrestling The Great Muta in Pro Wrestling NOAH, Wrestling Inc reported Triple H personally reached out to NOAH to see if the opportunity was still available. They also say NOAH had Sonny Onoo clear the deal with their partners in AEW before announcing it.

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.