Rumor Roundup: Cena, Rock and Austin ‘Mania plans, WWE/ Universal title split, 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:

• Discussing the legends WWE hopes to have at WrestleMania 39 on Wrestling Observer Radio last week, Dave Meltzer said he’s heard “[John] Cena is a ‘probable’, and Dwayne [Johnson] is a ‘possible’,” while “[Steve] Austin is probably the surest of the three… it’s just a question of how he feels, and he’s gonna do what he feels like doing.”
• Which is probably why WrestlingNews.co‘s sources tell them the current plans for WrestleMania’s main events depend on The Rock. Night one is pencilled in as a WWE championship match pitting Seth Rollins against either Cody Rhodes or Drew McIntyre. Night two would then be Roman Reigns against The Rock, or Rhodes if Johnson can’t free up his schedule.
• And that tells us WWE wants to get back to Raw and SmackDown each having their own top title in 2023, but the site says, “It’s not clear yet how the company will split the WWE Championship and Universal Championship”.
• WWE‘s next Saudi Arabia show will take place in May 2023, per Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• On the Grapsody podcast, Tony Khan claimed Ring of Honor’s Honor Club streaming service has reached its highest number of subscribers ever since the announcement a weekly ROH show will stream there in the new year, even though right now the only content on the service is archival.
• Tony Khan also confirmed he never shopped ROH TV to anyone other than Warner Bros Discovery. The Observer Newsletter reported that last week, with Meltzer speculating Khan wanted to remain loyal to AEW’s television partners ahead of upcoming negotiations over Dynamite & Rampage rights.

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.