Rumor Roundup (Sept. 20, 2022): Logan Paul-Crown Jewel, Malakai/WWE, Rousey heel, 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:

• On Sunday Night’s Main Event, Dave Meltzer said the reason Logan Paul is in the main event of Crown Jewel is because, “He’s a big deal to the Saudi Arabian prince and that’s the whole thing of these shows.” Saudi officials want Roman Reigns vs. Paul because it will garner more mainstream publicity than Reigns vs. Seth Rollins or Kevin Owens would.
• Discussing the Malakai Black Instagram post where Black confirmed he requested his release from AEW, Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio: “Obviously, he wanted to go back to WWE.” It’s not clear what will happen though, as Black still has four and a half years left on his deal and “it’s really difficult to keep someone who is unhappy under contract for that length of time.”
• Hulu’s deal for next day rights to Raw & SmackDown replays is about to expire, and the service will pull all WWE content on Sept. 25 if they can’t agree on a new contract. That report comes from PW Insider, who says the two sides are still negotiating.
• Ronda Rousey worked heel at Sunday’s house show in Oakland, notes the Observer. Rousey’s been teaming with Shayna Baszler when she does work house shows, and did so again on Sunday against Shotzi & Xia Li.
• Insider also reports records show the court date for the battery & trespassing case against Patrick Clark (fka Velveteen Dream) was canceled. No new date is listed, which could mean the charges have been dropped.

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.