Rumor Roundup (Sept. 21, 2023): More expiring WWE contracts, Vince meeting, AEW PPV, 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:

• Add Sheamus to the list of stars whose current WWE contracts end soon. Fightful Select reports that like Drew McIntyre and Becky Lynch, the Celtic Warrior’s deal is up in early 2024.
• Regarding Vince McMahon’s comment at WWE’s Tuesday company-wide meeting that WWE needed Endeavor to grow, both Sean Ross Sapp & PW Insider say it was not well-received. That’s because business did great after Vince resigned in August of last year, and his saying it had plateaued is believed to just be his justification for returning against the Board’s wishes.
• Insider’s sources also told them, “McMahon was the only executive not hobnobbing with employees after the meeting.” Vince was also said to “obviously” still be recovering from his recent back surgery and used a cane to get up and down stairs.
• One last note on that meeting from PW Insider: “The entire proceeding was filmed with a full-on WWE crew and all the execs came out from behind what we were told was an old Raw set.“
• AEW sold a lot of tickets for Grand Slam this week, according to both PW Insider and Dave Meltzer. Insider said Wednesday’s walk-up business was "the highest day of ticket sales in AEW’s history" [Editor's note: Presumably they mean in-person or day-of-event sales, as AEW has obviously sold more tickets in a single day before]. This was attributed to the amount of local media done by MJF, Chris Jericho, Tony Khan & others.
• Ahead of a rumored 12 PPV schedule for 2024, Bodyslam.net heard AEW is discussing running another one after Full Gear this year. The site cautions it’s not “set in stone”, but Dec. 29 has been mentioned as the potential date for what would be AEW's eighth PPV this year.
• Darren Rovell reported that WWE terminated their trading card/collectible sticker rights deal with Panini, citing breach of contract. There were more than two years left on the deal, and WWE is seeking an injunction to get Panini to stop selling their licensed product. Fanatics, who was set to get the rights in 2026, is expected to get them immediately.

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.