Rumor Roundup: WWE Draft plans, Vince McMahon comeback, McIntyre and Lynch deals, 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:

• In a report on the upcoming WWE Draft from Fightful Select it’s said that WWE will once again be trying to make NXT a true third brand, similar to how it was presented at Survivor Series 2019. This will likely involve Raw and SmackDown talent being drafted to NXT.
• Regarding talent moving from NXT to Raw and SmackDown, Carmelo Hayes and Ilja Dragunov are considered “locks”. Roxanne Perez, Baron Corbin and The D’Angelo Family have been considered but are less certain. Shawn Michaels has allegedly told several members of his roster that he doesn’t know who will be called up.
• WWE scheduled their Draft on April 26 & 29 to capitalize on the NFL Draft happening April 25-27. Fightful’s resport says that WWE’s future media partners at The CW and Netflix could potentially have input on this year’s Draft.
• After Vince McMahon listed his remaining TKO stocks for sale with the SEC in a filing last Friday, Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer revealed that McMahon has a one-year non-compete agreement that will expire in January of next year. Meltzer then checked with “some of the most prominent people in wrestling” and the “vast majority” believe Vince won’t attempt to get back into the business “due to the combination of his age, reputation and lack of openings”. An inability to get distribution because of his reputation was also cited as a major challenge, even by some who think McMahon will attempt to start up a new wrestling promotion.
• Regardless of whether they think he’ll try, Meltzer’s sources generally agree Vince would be a “formidable” rival should he return to the industry.
• Sources tell PW Insider that Drew McIntyre’s current WWE deal expires roughly 5-6 weeks from now. Becky Lynch’s is said to have 8 weeks left. The recent changes to the Talent Relations department were reportedly done to elevate Chris Legentil and Matthew Altman as they have built relationships with talent that should allow them “to facilitate the signing process in a much stronger fashion.”
• Insider also had an update on MJF, saying he hasn’t been backstage at AEW since his World title run ended late last year. He did meet with company officials in Boston the day after March’s Big Business show. The site also reiterated past reports that MJF is still under contract to AEW and currently recovering from injuries he accumulated while World champ.
• A Tokyo Sports story claims Rossy Ogawa wants to bring in IYO SKY and Kairi Sane from WWE to work a show for his new Marigold promotion this summer.

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.