Rumor Roundup (Aug. 4, 2023): Unhappy women in WWE, Becky vs. Trish cut, RVD’s AEW deal, The Elite, 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:

• WRKD Wrestling claims there are “growing frustrations backstage in WWE regarding the handling of the women’s division.”
• Fightful was told that the reason why Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus was pulled from SummerSlam is not related to anything physical. Both wrestlers are healthy and available to work the event.
• Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer heard “there is a time constraint” regarding SummerSlam, and that’s a factor as to why some matches originally planned for the show are now off the card.
• According to PW Insider, Rob Van Dam’s deal with AEW is very short-term, as he is scheduled to only work one match against Jack Perry.
• The length of The Elite’s new multi-year deal with AEW is “supposed to be a secret, whatever the number is,” per Meltzer, though he heard a rumor that it’s for four years.
• Regarding WWE’s ongoing TV rights negotiations, Meltzer said there’s been talk that FOX is “not willing to go much higher” to retain SmackDown.

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.