Rumor Roundup (Oct. 14, 2023): Randy Orton return, Tony Khan’s war, CM Punk, FTR, 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:

• According to Fightful Select, WWE and Randy Orton are hoping that he can return by next month’s Survivor Series event. For what it’s worth, BWE claims that Orton has been “doing great” and WWE is taking a cautious approach to make sure he is “100% for his return.”
• The Wrestling Observer Newsletter says there are people in WWE who interpreted Tony Khan’s troll tweet about John Cena and The Undertaker as “a declaration of war.”
• Per WON, AEW’s current plan is to have Orange Cassidy defend the AEW International championship against Jon Moxley, likely at next month’s Full Gear pay-per-view. Moxley was originally planned to win the belt from Rey Fenix this week on Dynamite and then defend it against Cassidy, but Jon wasn’t cleared to wrestle due to his recent concussion.
• After PW Insider readers reported seeing CM Punk & Ace Steel at Universal Studios in Orlando on Thursday night, Fightful Select clarified that Punk was never at the WWE Performance Center. Punk is in town for his MMA commentary gig, and Steel lives in Florida.
• The Observer was told that Cash Wheeler is “banged up” but X-rays showed no broken ribs. He doesn’t need time off and could have wrestled a full match last week on Collision when FTR was squashed by Big Bill and Ricky Starks. The match was booked like that to create a shocking moment for Collision rather than to cover for an extended absence.
• On The Ryback Show, The Ryback said there’s no truth to the rumor that he once took Cialis in order to impress Brock Lesnar in the locker room. That was a lie spread by Cody Rhodes and Bryan Danielson. Speaking of Cody, he once “accused” Ryback of taking a bath. The Big Guy denied that too, and said he’s the one who actually caught Cody taking a candle-lit bath.

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.