Rumor Roundup: Blood & Guts update, WWE stealing talent, Samoa Joe change, 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:

• Unlike the 2021 and 2022 AEW Blood and Guts matches, there were no major injuries during this year’s bout, per Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer.
• Meltzer says WWE is “very, very leery because of the MLW lawsuit” and therefore “not aggressively trying to steal talent” from other wrestling companies.
• PW Insider was told WWE is “absolutely thrilled” with The Judgment Day appearing on NXT due to the positive ratings results, and there are plans for the group to remain a fixture on the show for at least the next month.
• According to Fightful Select, at one point Samoa Joe was planning to take time off from AEW and ROH in order to promote Twisted Metal, and he wasn’t going to be available for tonight’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view event. However, Joe’s media obligations were canceled due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. As a result, he became available for the ROH PPV, and plans were changed last week in order to get him on the card.
• Regarding the two out of three falls match between FTR and Bullet Club Gold on AEW Collision, Meltzer said Juice Robinson took both of Bullet Club’s falls in the match because “they’re protecting Jay [White] for bigger things.”
• WRKD Wrestling claims that WWE’s plans for JD McDonagh with The Judgment Day “have been halted for the time being.”

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.