Rumor Roundup (Apr. 7, 2023): Brock/Cody, SmackDown plans, Jay White, Shane McMahon, 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:

• The Cody Rhodes/Brock Lesnar program was not a last minute Vince McMahon change, per Fightful Select. It was set well before this week, with Fightful’s sources telling them Brock knew it was the plan “nearly a month ahead of time.”
• That also means Lesnar was likely working when he said goodbye to people backstage at Raw last month, and openly contemplated retirement in pre-WrestleMania interviews.
• The Twitter account cautions that “things are currently volatile” and “can change on a whim”, but WRKD Wrestling says Roman Reigns isn’t scheduled to be at SmackDown tonight. A segment that ramps up tension between Paul Heyman & Jey Uso is planned.
• Shane McMahon was flown to Birmingham, Alabama on Sunday, according to PW Insider. It’s assumed he had surgery at the Andrew Sports Medicine & Orthopedic Center to repair the torn quad he suffered at WrestleMania on Sunday night.
• “WWE was after” Jay White, Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio. Will Washington of Fightful’s Grapsody podcast tweeted that multiple people at WWE were confident White was signing with the company.
• Fightful Select’s report on White signing a multi-year deal with AEW notes that Triple H & William Regal were interested in landing the former New Japan star, but says WWE “failed to communicate properly along the process.”
• Shinsuke Nakamura is expected to return to television on SmackDown in the next few weeks, per Insider.
• After reporting WWE had granted their release request, Meltzer said on Observer Radio that Rip Fowler & Jagger Reid (aka Zack Gibson & James Drake)’s status is currently “up in the air”. The pair were allegedly telling people they’d been released, but worked Tuesday’s Level Up taping with their Schism teammates Joe Gacy & Ava.

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.