Rumor Roundup (April 18, 2023): Becky Lynch, Drew McIntyre, Mercedes Moné, WWE & ESPN, 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:

• After Becky Lynch generated some buzz yesterday, Wrestling Observer wrote that her tweet about not being at Raw was “an angle.” Fightful Select said Lynch was slated to be on the show as of last week, and is “dealing with a minor foot injury” that’s gotten worse recently.
• While he hadn’t heard about any issues between Becky & WWE, Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp also checked on her contract. It’s one of many expiring in 2024, and Sapp’s sources said Lynch & WWE haven’t opened negotiations yet. The report implies The Man will be looking for a raise when they do, since she’s “made connections within Hollywood, and was slated to appear at the end of a Marvel movie at one point. She’s also repped by CAA, a gigantic agency.”
• Speaking of people who’ll likely be looking for a raise soon, Drew McIntyre won’t be back on WWE television for at least a couple more weeks due to his undisclosed injury, per Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. Meltzer said McIntyre does also have “a contract issue” and that he & WWE are “still far apart”, but his deal isn’t up “for many months.”
• Meltzer also said on WOR that Mercedes Moné & New Japan are “are in negotiations for one more match” after her current deal ends with the IWGP Women’s title defense against Mayu Iwatani at this weekend’s Stardom All Star Queendom event.
• It was also pointed out that Moné wasn’t scheduled to make her Stardom debut last weekend, but she pitched the ambush of Iwatani to build interest in their championship match.
• WWE and ESPN are in early talks about partnering on a content deal, per PW Insider Elite. They haven’t discussed a weekly show, and are still working out what projects they could do together. There’s speculation this could be similar to what WWE does with A&E.
• Jordynne Grace likely became a free agent after Impact Rebellion, as she signed a two year deal in 2021. That’s from Fightful Select, who also notes that Impact would “ideally” like to re-sign Grace, but the fact she’s “become a millionaire outside of pro wrestling via her exclusive content site” may be a factor in her decision.

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.