Rumor Roundup (Mar. 12 2022): Stone Cold return, more WrestleMania matches, Butch, Big E, 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:

• F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer said Steve Austin is increasing his cardio training. Stone Cold’s upcoming fight with Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 38 will involve more than just a kick to the stomach and a stunner.
• As of Friday morning, a source told WrestleVotes they “expect up to 7 more matches to be announced” for the WrestleMania 38 card, and “the biggest domino yet to fall is Seth Rollins, for obvious reasons.”
• Damian Priest versus Finn Balor for the United States championship will be added to the WrestleMania 38 card, per Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Natalya and a to-be-determined partner will be added to the WWE women’s tag title match, and a women’s battle royal is also listed internally for the WrestleMania card.
• Per Fightful, Pete Dunne’s SmackDown debut as “Butch” is his official call-up from NXT to the WWE main roster. Prior to Big E suffering a broken neck, the plan was to book New Day vs. Sheamus, Butch, and Ridge Holland at WrestleMania 38.
• A “person of influence” at WarnerMedia vetoed AEW signing The Briscoes, according to Fightful Select’s sources at AEW and Warner. Jay Briscoe’s 2013 homophobic tweets were the issue.

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.