Rumor Roundup (Sept. 23, 2023): WWE vs. AEW, Matt Riddle released, LA Knight, Elias, 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:

• F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer is skeptical that SmackDown will remain on Friday nights when it moves back to the USA Network next year, because that’s a low viewership night on cable. When all of WWE’s new TV deals are finalized, Meltzer thinks there is “a very good chance” that one of Raw, SmackDown, or NXT will be put on Wednesday night, opposite AEW Dynamite.
• This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter says “Wall Street was expecting a minimum of $307.5 million” per year on WWE’s new TV deal for SmackDown. TKO’s stock price dropped after the new deal was announced, partially because the actual value of $287 million per year is seen as a disappointment.
• As far as Matt Riddle’s WWE release is concerned, one higher up in the company told Fightful Select that he “burned through too many chances.” Riddle was not factored into WWE’s creative plans following his recent airport incident.
• While discussing their WWE release on their Twitch stream, Mansoor and Mace said LA Knight “was going to get fired” by Vince McMahon last year because Vince hated the way he portrayed the Max Dupri character. McMahon wanted the character to be “softer” and more like a sniveling “scummy agent.” Mansoor and Mace reiterated that Knight was extremely close to being fired by Vince at that time.
• Fightful noted that Elias was healthy despite not being used on WWE television lately, and had been pitching ideas for his return to television “up until a month ago,” before he was released.
• WWE filed trademarks for “Jaida Parker”, “Out The Mud”, and “OTM”. The last two could be for the new SCRYPTS, Bronco Nima & Lucien Price group. Nima said they “made it out the mud” in a promo on the Sept. 19 episode of NXT. (There’s a lot of fan speculation Jaida Parker could be Jade Cargill’s new name, but no reports on it.)
• Warner Bros. Discovery executives attended AEW’s Grand Slam show in New York City on Wednesday night, according to PW Insider.
• On The Ryback Show, The Ryback said someone in the gym once approached him in the shower and asked for a picture while he was in the middle of “lathering up my Big Guy body...scrubbing away, I’ve got soap on my little body builder ass.” Another person did something like that to Brock Lesnar once, and “Brock almost killed him.”

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.