Rumor Roundup (April 18, 2022): Cody Rhodes status, SmackDown switch, WWE name changes, 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:

• Recent advertisements have led to talk that WWE sees Cody Rhodes as the top star on the Raw brand, and he’ll be pushed accordingly.
• Per Fightful, the Rhea Ripley vs. Naomi match on SmackDown this past week was originally supposed to be Ripley vs. Sasha Banks and it was changed at the last second.
• According to Fightful Select, rumors of Indi Hartwell and Dakota Kai getting name changes have no truth to them, at least right now.
• Ringside News claims the current rollout of Raquel Rodriguez on SmackDown is exactly what WWE had planned, and not rushed as some have speculated.
• RSN also says Tony Khan’s next HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT could be an AEW/NJPW joint show later this year.

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.