Rumor Roundup (Dec. 16, 2022): Vince McMahon return to WWE, Mandy Rose release, Sasha Banks, Tesh, 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:

• Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer claims there is a ton of uncertainty in WWE right now regarding the potential return of Vince McMahon to power, and it’s affecting morale in the company.
• While discussing Vice’s The Nine Lives of Vince McMahon documentary, Meltzer told The Fight Game Podcast that a lot of wrestlers “wanted nothing to do with” the project. There was “a very big list of talent they wanted that they didn’t get.” That’s because the talent in question “did not trust that Vince will never come back” to WWE.
• Fightful Select mentioned that Mandy Rose signed a five year contract with WWE in 2019. She was said to be “in good spirits” on Tuesday night during NXT television and even after she was fired.
• Meltzer believes that Mandy’s exit from the company was entirely decided by WWE and not some kind of mutual agreement. It sounds like there’s no truth to the rumor (possibly leaked by WWE sources) that Rose requested her release a couple weeks ago.
• Per Fightful, multiple wrestling conventions “went to great lengths” to try getting around the terms of Sasha Banks’ WWE contract and book her for an appearance before Jan. 1, 2023.
• The site also notes that Tony Khan wanted to secure the rights to use John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock” song as soon as the best-of-seven series between The Elite and Death Triangle was announced. He finally got what he wanted in the days leading up to this week’s Dynamite, and it was said to be a “very reasonable and easy” process.
• PW Insider indicates that Shotzi was written off WWE television for six weeks because she is dealing with a legitimate injury.

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.