Rumor Roundup: CM Punk drama, Finn Balor push, Hulk Hogan return, The Rock, 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:

• While discussing Ryan Nemeth’s complaint about being mistreated by CM Punk in AEW, Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer said the following: “If Punk hadn’t gotten so mad at [Colt] Cabana for going out to pizza with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, the entire wrestling business would be different today.”
• Sources told WrestleVotes that Finn Balor has “solidified himself as a true locker room leader over the past year or so” in WWE. It sounds like there will be a “sustained singles push” for Bálor in 2025.
• Here is how PW Insider describes The Rock’s relationship with WWE creative: “If The Rock wants to do something, that’s as good as Ari Emanuel telling Paul Levesque and the creative team ‘This is what will happen’ and then it will.”
• This means that even when WWE has creative plans in place, “they will pivot if and when Rock descends down from the Board of Directors and Hollywood.”
• Per WrestleVotes Radio, WWE has five total matches planned for the return of Saturday Night’s Main Event, which means a new match will be announced over the next week.
• The outlet also says Hulk Hogan is one of the legends WWE has discussed bringing in for that show.

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.