Rumor Roundup (Sept. 9, 2023): Reaction to Punk’s firing, Drew McIntyre contract, Ryback scam, 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:

• After mentioning that Dax Harwood, Cash Wheeler, and Andrade were not happy with Tony Khan’s decision to fire CM Punk, this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter goes on to say that “At least three others” in AEW were “very upset by things.”
• On the flip side, it was noted that “Many others talked about the backstage atmosphere as if a dark cloud had been lifted over their heads and how much fun it was on the weekend shows.”
• For what it’s worth, The Observer claims that Punk contacted WWE towards the end of 2022 expressing his desire to return there, because he was expecting AEW to buy out his contract after the backstage fight with The Elite. However, people in WWE “indicated that they weren’t interested.”
• A source told PW Insider Elite that WWE added Drew McIntyre’s post-WrestleMania time off to his current contract. The company hasn’t rushed to get a new deal with McIntyre done because now he’s locked up until next year’s WrestleMania.
• On his Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Hardy said Tony Khan sent a jet for AEW talents who attended Bray Wyatt’s memorial service earlier this week to get them to Indianapolis for Dynamite.
• The WON says Gable Steveson has been “officially removed from the NXT roster.” It’s not clear what exactly that means, but he’s not in the brand’s current plans right now.
• On The Ryback Show, The Ryback said adult film star Phoenix Marie recently referred him to some guy from Brazil named Yao Cabrera, who she said could help fix the ongoing issues with Ryback’s social media accounts. The Big Guy admitted that Yao then scammed him out of two thousand dollars. It wasn’t so bad, though, because the scammer actually asked Ryback to send seven thousand dollars.

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.