Rumor Roundup: The Rock at WrestleMania, Raw on Netflix, Okada deal, 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:

• On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that while The Rock has teased WrestleMania 40 multiple times, he has not signed on just yet to wrestle on the show.
• What’s more, in an interesting bit, Meltzer also said “there are people who would like to convince him that if there is a ton of extra money in Saudi Arabia than to do it there.” He said Rock would rather do WrestleMania but “there are forces that are interested in how much value he could bring to Saudi Arabia.”
• According to CNBC, when Raw moves to Netflix next year matches will be scripted around commercial breaks for those on the ad-free tier, meaning if you are on that tier you will still see the match ongoing but it won’t feature action “important to the outcome.”
• Monthly Puroresu is saying “one source close to NJPW’s top talent” told them Kazuchika Okada is going to WWE and he may start in NXT. For what it’s worth, Fightful Select quickly refuted this, saying all that talk is premature and AEW is still in the running to sign him.
• Andrew Zarian notes that he was told it’s “very possible for AEW to become a cable/streaming hybrid show.” He said it could look like what the NBA does with TNT and Max.
• Per PW Insider, Kevin Patrick’s ousting as lead commentator on SmackDown was a late decision, made on Monday night of this week when he was still scheduled to travel for SmackDown on Friday.

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.