Rumor Roundup (Aug. 12, 2023): Rikishi back in WWE, Roman Reigns injury, Rousey blame, 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 poster for a Rikishi autograph signing in late August included the sentence, “Come meet Rikishi before he referees at Payback.” Naturally, this has led many people to believe that WWE is planning to bring in Rikishi to be a referee for a match related to The Usos at the Payback premium live event on Sept. 2.
• This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that Roman Reigns “suffered either a hip or back injury” taking a tope from Jey Uso about five minutes into their SummerSlam match.
• F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer mentioned that one match being considered for AEW: All In London at Wembley Stadium is a trios match of Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, and Hangman Page vs. Jay White, Konosuke Takeshita, and Juice Robinson. In this scenario, a singles match between Omega and Takeshita would likely be booked for one week later at All Out in Chicago.
• There was a lot of finger pointing backstage after Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler’s SummerSlam match didn’t get over, per WON. Some blamed creative for not using Rousey and Baszler’s ideas, while creative blamed Rousey and Baszler for only using their own ideas.
• The Observer heard that Brian Pillman Jr. actually hasn’t signed yet with WWE because the company is waiting on the results of his medicals. No creative plans for him have been discussed.
• Booker T said on his Hall of Fame podcast that his NXT contract is up soon.

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.