6 wrestling rumors we hope are true and 6 we hope aren't- Champion to beat Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, Injured WWE superstar out for a year?

Welcome to this week's edition of Wrestling rumors we hope are true and those we hope aren't. As of this writing, we're on the verge of the Royal Rumble and since most of you will be reading it after the show, this edition won't be covering the Royal Rumble rumors.

If you are, however, reading it before the Royal Rumble, then we urge you to read some of the rumors that you need to know before the show. Either way, this past week in wrestling has been an interesting one as usual. Even if the in-ring product or overall shows aren't strong, there's always something happening that makes it entertaining.

This week, the rumors are certainly interesting and as the road to WrestleMania begins, the rumors about the grandest stage of them all have begun to increase as well. Without going much further, let's look at the rumors we hope are true and those we hope aren't!

#6. Hope is true: Roman Reigns to lose to a Champion at WrestleMania 36

Roman Reigns is expected to take on "The Fiend" at WrestleMania 36. When you think of all the babyfaces that The Fiend has run through, it makes sense that Reigns would be his next big babyface challenger.

Moreover, Reigns has gotten over well in the last year and he has a history with Wyatt, having a rather underrated feud with him in 2015.

Tom Colohue told Korey Gunz on Dropkick DiSKussions that the plan is for The Fiend to beat Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 36.

On the latest edition of Sportskeeda's Dropkick DiSKussions with Tom Colohue and Korey Gunz, Colohue revealed that WWE wants former 2-time Tag Team Champion and current Universal Champion Bray Wyatt to have a long title reign and there is a possibility that he beats Reigns at WrestleMania 36.

We hope this is true because it would be a great way to put The Fiend over and give him some serious credibility and a long title reign.

#6. Hope isn't true: Lars Sullivan's injury period

Lars Sullivan has been out with an injury ever since June 2019. While he hadn't done much of note, things could have gone a lot differently. He was originally supposed to face John Cena at WrestleMania 35 according to many different sources but a reported anxiety attack that he had delayed his debut significantly, with WWE holding off until after WrestleMania 35 to debut him.

He was regularly squashing superstars but the injury halted any momentum that he had and he's had to keep a low profile since. According to Fightful Select, Lars Sullivan could be out for a full year. While this is the timeline that WWE had been anticipating, there was a belief that it would take lesser than that.

“Lars Sullivan's knee recovery started to recover a lot slower than anticipated. WWE always had him marked down to miss a full year, but he was of the belief he'd be back sooner, having recovered from a knee injury prior.”

This means that we won't be seeing Sullivan until June atleast. He was in the center of attention negatively in December after adult videos featuring him had emerged. We hope this rumor isn't true and that we see Sullivan around WrestleMania season.

#5. Hope is true: Paul Heyman's list of superstars to push

What we love about Paul Heyman's near half-year tenure on RAW is that he has established the fact that it's the younger superstars he wants to build the show around and not just part-timers or the older names.

It's been a step in the right direction and for a while now, there have been rumors that Paul Heyman has a special list of superstars he intends to push to build the red brand and future around.

Dave Meltzer revealed on the Wrestling Observer Radio that Paul Heyman has six superstars he intends to push:

The idea is, you know, Paul Heyman is really high on Buddy Murphy and by having him as a tag team with Rollins, I mean, you can watch this thing evolve and it’s pretty clear

He revealed the main list:

Ricochet, Drew McIntyre, Humberto Carrillo, Andrade, Aleister Black and Buddy Murphy are like his guys. His projects. I mean that’s been the whole theme of the television show, I mean it’s always to get people over, but those are guys who are really being marked to get over.

We hope this is true because these are some great names to build the future around.

#5. Hope isn't true: Bray Wyatt's next possible opponent

Again, we would like to emphasize that this article was written before the Royal Rumble 2020 and it will be written with the assumption that "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt will retain the Universal Championship against Daniel Bryan. If, or when he does, it will mark the end of their rivalry.

As mentioned, Roman Reigns is expected to be his next major opponent at WrestleMania 36. Before that, he's going to have to feud with another superstar and since it's only over two months between Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, it'll be nothing but a filler feud.

According to Cageside Seats, the plan could be for The Fiend to feud with Kane at the February PPV in Saudi Arabia. It would make sense since Kane was brought back over a week ago to divert The Fiend and assist Daniel Bryan.

And since The Fiend will be finishing his feud with Bryan, Kane could come out to save him and start the feud. We hope the rumor isn't true because the feud wouldn't be an exciting one in 2020. Kane doesn't seem like he's in the place to have such significant feuds anymore.

#4. Hope is true: The reason why WWE superstars are happy about AEW's new TV deal

AEW recently signed a new deal with TNT that will keep Dynamite on-air until 2023 as well as bring another show from the company to the fray. This means that WWE will be on their toes for a while to come, but the biggest beneficiary of all of this are the wrestlers.

Wrestlingnews reported that the new TV deal with AEW has resulted in WWE superstars being very optimistic about the future. Why does it positively affect them? Because the company is willing to do more to keep the talent happy. They wrote:

“Guys are making more and they are not afraid to ask for time off like before. We know these aren’t guaranteed contracts like WCW but Vince more accommodating these days because he wants to keep everyone happy so that wall has been torn down. Some people are getting offered more money with a better schedule. We have AEW to thank for that so I would say thank you AEW for being around.”

We hope this is true because talent should benefit the most. If they're able to get a better deal on either side thanks to competition, then it's a great time to be a wrestler for either company. The bigger the talent morale, the better both products will be.

#4. Hope isn't true: Reason behind the name change of the NXT Women's Championship

PWInsider recently reported that the NXT Women's Championship will be changed and known as just the "NXT Championship" going forward. The WWE on FOX Twitter account seemingly confirmed this.

Sportskeeda's own Tom Colohue revealed the reason why this change happened

Let's start with the NXT Women's Championship which will be henceforth known as the NXT Championship. There is, of course, already an NXT Championship, now there is going to be two and you will have context clues for which one's the men's and which one's the women's.

He revealed that Tessa Blanchard becoming the first Female Impact Wrestling World Champion was the reason why this change was made:

From what I'm hearing, with Impact Wrestling crowning it's first female World Champion, we're going to have a female World Champion in NXT as well, but she will just be a Champion and a World Champion and you'd have two World Champions. Of course, when you look through for example Wikipedia or keeping the history of these different wrestlers, you do see lists of Women's Championships, RAW Women's Championship, SmackDown Women's Championship, they want to make it clear that it's a world Championship.

We hope this isn't true because it seems like an unnecessary change. It's good to have different names for different titles and having no distinction doesn't seem to make much sense. It's important to keep the prestige of the Women's Championship up by valuing the name it holds.

#3. Hope is true: Plans for The Fiend's title reign

The Fiend signed his contract with blood on the go-home episode of SmackDown

This is the only rumor remotely related to the Royal Rumble. Tom Colohue discussed the possibility of The Fiend losing the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble and he instantly shut it down, revealing that there are plans for a long reign as the Champion:

No, unfortunately, I do not, and in many ways, fortunately, I do not. Everything I’m hearing is that Bray Wyatt is planned to have a long title reign. Now, he’s had it since October, so it will be fairly long if he goes till WrestleMania, but he will be cutting short at the Royal Rumble and if he loses now, what on earth are they going to do with him in the next couple of months? The second that the Fiend loses, all the momentum is gone, you can at least save it till WrestleMania.

While late October 2019 to WrestleMania in early April 2020 wouldn't be a bad reign, it's expected to go on much longer, according to Colohue. Which is why it was suggested that he's expected to beat Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.

#3. Hope isn't true: Testing the waters with a new team

Mike Kanellis has had a whirlwind of a WWE run so far. Appearing and being cast side instantly, he wasn't in a good place mentally when he entered the doors. Thankfully for him, WWE was patient and he took time off to deal with addiction problems - something that he was brave enough to open up about.

Then there was heavy criticism cast upon him and his wife Maria Kanellis when they allegedly asked for their release (which Mike Kanellis later confirmed was true) and then signed new contracts, only for Maria to reveal that she was pregnant again.

Maria has been off-screen but with Mike Kanellis, new things are happening on-screen. Cageside Seats mentioned a PW Insider report that Mike Kanellis and Tony Nese are possibly being confirmed as a long-term team.

PW Insider says Tony Nese and Mike Kanellis are being tested as a possible tag team to be used regularly on NXT television.

While we're always open to new things, we hope this isn't true because they're not remotely similar and would simply feel like a forced tag team.

#2. Hope is true: Luke Harper to snub AEW for another promotion

Luke Harper was finally granted a release from his WWE contract and he's been biding his time, with many people wondering where he's going to go.

The common answer is AEW, but according to Tom Colohue, the contact hasn't been made as yet. As a result, the belief is that he will go to New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) instead:

“I suspect if that’s something Luke Harper wants to do, the door seems to be wide open for it. Whether or not that’s his choice, I’m not sure. It depends how he would be used, but I think AEW is built well for him. There are obviously people like Jon Moxley there who he could put on great matches with and I think that is something of interest. Whether or not he’s been approached, to my knowledge, he has not yet.”

We hope this is true because NJPW is much better suited to his style of wrestling and we can see Harper/Brodie Lee have a career resurgence.

#2. Hope isn't true: Vince McMahon's possible reaction to the Lars Sullivan controversy

Vince McMahon has to make an important decision

Vince McMahon and Lars Sullivan are both in a tricky position. Sullivan's "main roster" career has started far rockier than he would have liked, with the superstar having his debut delayed due to an anxiety attack, being fined for past controversial tweets, suffering an injury that could keep him out for a year and ending the year with adult videos featuring him emerging on the internet.

It brings up an issue from Vince McMahon's point of view, where he has to ask himself and others around him as to whether Sullivan is worth all the trouble they've faced with him.

According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, a source told him that Sullivan won't be fired, but he could be in a sticky situation:

"Wrestlers contacted me and asked me if I had known about it before and I had no clue.The thing I was specifically told he won't get fired for it, but one person said, Vince might never look at him the same way again. Just because, that's how Vince is. That's what was one wrestler's opinion of the matter."

We hope this isn't true because Sullivan should still be given a chance to try and get over before the brass decides whether he's worth it or not.

#1. Hope is true: A big debut at WrestleMania weekend?

WrestleMania 36 season is a big time for returns, debuts and the conclusion of long storylines and the beginning of new ones. In short, it's the most exciting time of the year and this time around, we could see some major returns and debuts.

With regards to the latter, there could be a massive debut this WrestleMania 36 weekend. The report from Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter was that former Impact Wrestling star Killer Kross and Triple H met recently to discuss a possible deal:

"While not signed yet, the betting line is that Kevin Kaser, 34 (Killer Kross) ends up here (WWE). There was thought to be interest in him across the board in wrestling due to his look. Multiple sources said Kaser and Paul Levesque were to have met this week.

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful seemingly confirmed that the signing has happened, revealing that Killer Kross won't be available for bookings during WrestleMania week.

"I was told pretty directly to not expect Killer Kross to be available for bookings during WrestleMania week."

We hope this is true because it would be a great time for a great debut.

#1. Hope isn't true: A multi-time World Champion isn't returning for WrestleMania 36

It's already expected that Matt Hardy will be leaving WWE for AEW in early March once his contract runs up. Unfortunately, The Hardy Boyz haven't had a moment as great as their return at WrestleMania 33, with the team hardly being featured at WrestleMania the following years, to begin with.

Due to a spell with injury, Jeff Hardy was unable to compete at WrestleMania 34, with Matt Hardy winning the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royale. At WrestleMania 35, both brothers were featured in the same match in a forgettable appearance.

Now, it appears that multi-time World Champion Jeff Hardy will be missing his second WrestleMania since 2017. The reason wasn't specified as being due to injury by PWInsider, who mentioned that a court date the following day after WrestleMania 36 is the reason why.

Jeff Hardy was caught driving impaired in early October 2019 and has been in hot water since then. His court date is on April 6th - a day after WrestleMania, which means that the legend will be missing the show of shows.

We hope this isn't true because it's an unfortunate reason to miss WrestleMania again.

Ex WWE writer blasts Liv Morgan HERE