Rumor Roundup (April 22, 2023): Goldberg in AEW, Naomi money issue, Big E return, 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:

• This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that Stardom was interested in bringing in Trinity Fatu (Naomi), “but it was felt it would cost too much for the return and thus far hadn’t made that deal.” Bushiroad is still carefully managing costs after their wrestling brands took “a major financial hit because of New Japan’s declines related to the pandemic.”
• F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer believes that Tony Khan would love to feature Goldberg on AEW television, but his asking price isn’t cost-effective. Goldberg was reportedly making two million dollars per match in Saudi Arabia while under contract with WWE.
• According to WRKD Wrestling, there’s a long-term pitch in WWE for New Day to feud with Imperium whenever Big E and Kofi Kingston are medically cleared to return from injury. Big E vs. GUNTHER would be “the centerpiece” of the story.
• In his latest report on CM Punk’s return to AEW, PWTorch’s Wade Keller described Chris Jericho as “the closest confidant of Tony Khan right now.”
• On his subscription-required Twitter feed, Bryan Alvarez said it looks like NXT wrestlers who were previously planned to debut on the Raw After WrestleMania will now be called up via the upcoming WWE Draft.
• Drew McIntyre will remain out of action for “at least the next few weeks,” per The Observer. His WWE contract has “months to go” and the two sides are still “far apart on money.”
• He couldn’t confirm it and AEW hasn’t officially said anything, but Meltzer claims there are people at AEW who have been saying All Out will still happen the week after All In.
• There was “a lot of positive reception” backstage for Seth Rollins & The Miz’s match on Raw this week, says Fightful Select.

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.