5 wrestling rumors we hope are true and 5 we hope aren't: Possible Vince McMahon-Fiend storyline revealed, WWE rejected an epic SummerSlam plan for Dominik Mysterio

Welcome to this week's edition of WWE and wrestling rumors we hope are true and those we hope aren't. We're not going to have a heavy introduction, so let's jump right into some of the most interesting rumors of the week.

#5. Hope is true: WWE planning a possible Vince McMahon-Fiend storyline?

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'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt is now without the WWE Universal title again after having a mere seven-day reign with the Championship. The storyline direction for him now appears to be a potential face turn and an inevitable alliance with Alexa Bliss - who has had a drastic character change over the last month that continues to be emphasized on every week.

Wade Keller and Tyler Sage of PWTorch discussed the interesting and unique segment that WWE ThunderDome opened with - featuring Vince McMahon and 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt.

They discussed the subtle storytelling and how it could have a deeper meaning than what we first saw.

''If you want to go a deep storytelling way, then there is the segment where they are staring each other and McMahon moves to the left and the right, creating a mirror image of the two and with Vince disappearing the same way that the Fiend does, as The Fiend is some sort of a manifestation of Vince McMahon. How he changes people and makes them bitter and angry.''

There was talk over how it could lead to a deeper storyline between them. The other alternative seems to be that there wasn't as much meaning and that it was simply to establish Vince McMahon as a fearless man.

We hope the former is true because it would be great for 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt to have a storyline with Vince McMahon. Any time a Superstar that feuds against Vince McMahon, it means that the Chairman of WWE wants to personally ensure that they get elevated.

After a week-long title reign, Bray Wyatt deserves it.

#5. Hope isn't true: WWE rejected the original idea for Dominik Mysterio at SummerSlam 2020

Dominik Mysterio impressed in his WWE in-ring debut at SummerSlam 2020 against Seth Rollins. While he may not have won, he proved that he truly belongs among the best in WWE. And to be able to put a performance the way he did at just 23 years of age only proves that he's got a bright future ahead in WWE.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the original plan that Rey Mysterio wanted was for Dominik Mysterio to make his WWE in-ring debut wearing a mask as "Principe" (Prince in Spanish).

Meltzer revealed that the original plan for WWE SummerSlam didn't come to fruition and Vince McMahon decided to go another direction. Sportskeeda's Kishan Prasad wrote:

Earlier, it was reported that back in 2018, Rey Mysterio had trademarked the name Principe Mysterio for his son Dominik Mysterio. So Mysterio had the plan in place for quite a long time in his head. On the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Meltzer also stated that the reason why Rey Mysterio's plans didn't come to fruition was Vince McMahon decided to go another way with Dominik Mysterio's debut.

We hope this isn't true because it would have been a unique way to debut Dominik. The alternative still worked out well, however.

#4. Hope is true: Roman Reigns-Paul Heyman relationship in WWE

Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman are now a wrestler-manager duo on WWE SmackDown and fans can't be more excited about it. Especially now that WWE finally pulled the trigger on turning Roman Reigns heel, it will likely allow new directions that we could have seen years ago.

Tom Colohue discussed the Roman Reigns-Paul Heyman relationship on Dropkick DiSKussions and revealed that the two have had a good relationship in WWE for years now:

[Paul] Heyman and Roman [Reigns] have had a long-term relationship. They've known each other and had massive respect for each other for a long time. Even five years ago, as far as WrestleMania 31, they discussed the idea of Paul Heyman in Roman Reigns' corner - wrecking things

Ultimately, WWE went with the direction of having Roman Reigns headline four straight WrestleManias. Colohue said that the plan was to bring Brock Lesnar back, but that situation hasn't played out:

They were planning to bring Brock Lesnar back, but here we are now. Suddenly, there's no one for him to manage, now he's with Roman, now Roman is here, now Roman is a heel, now everything has changed.

We hope this is true because it's good to see that the seeds of the Reigns-Heyman alliance was planted years ago in WWE.

#4. Hope isn't true: WWE to put more members into The Hurt Business?

In hindsight, WWE bringing back MVP as a full-time performer was one of the best decisions of 2020. He may not be getting pushed or winning titles, but he's in a far more important role - elevating talent.

Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin are two stars who have found a new lease on life in WWE after joining The Hurt Business. Cedric Alexander is a name that MVP has been pursuing, but according to Tom Colohue on the RAW Preview, WWE could end up adding multiple members to The Hurt Business, with the faction numbers going up:

We could see 5, 6. 7, 8 members join The Hurt Business. MVP has been trying to get more and more people in over time, that includes Ricochet, Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali. All three of them are people he wants to work with.

We hope this isn't true because having so many members would oversaturate the faction. Adding Cedric Alexander would be brilliant for his career, but the numbers should stop there. RETRIBUTION is already a faction with too many members and the last thing WWE needs is another overcrowded faction.

#3. Hope is true: Reason why Keith Lee defeated Randy Orton at WWE Payback

Keith Lee faced Randy Orton at Payback 2020 after WWE Champion Drew McIntyre was written out of TV just six days before. Drew McIntyre hasn't returned since, but Keith Lee has held a prominent role since his debut, confronting The Viper.

He faced and defeated Randy Orton within six minutes at Payback 2020 - a result that was considered a big upset. The following night on RAW, Randy Orton overcame Keith Lee and Seth Rollins in the main event to cement his place as Drew McIntyre's WWE title challenger at Payback 2020.

According to Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer Radio, it's a clear indication that not only will Randy Orton eventually win the WWE Championship from Drew McIntyre, but Keith Lee beating Orton immediately sets him up as a title challenger.

"[Randy] Orton is winning the title from Drew McIntyre after all. They're setting up Orton-Keith Lee title matches as well. It wasn't a great match at all, but just him winning like that from a star-creating standpoint was a good move"

We hope this is true because it would be amazing for Keith Lee. He may not win the WWE title anytime soon, but he could come close to it.

#3. Hope isn't true: Reason why WWE split The IIconics

The longer that The New Day have lasted as a faction in WWE, the more surprised we get. They're the sole exception of a team that WWE has no interest in breaking up - and for a good reason.

One team that didn't share that fate is The IIconics - who were forced to split up after losing to Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott on RAW. It was a shame because the WWE women's tag team division is thin as it is and needs more teams - not lesser.

Within a week, The IIconics and The Golden Role Models have broken up. Mike Johnson of PWInsider revealed why WWE decided to split The IIconics:

I was told by several people that Peyton Royce is earmarked for a singles push, they've decided that they wanted to push her, and this is not a case of Billie Kay leaving the company or anything like that. I was told that it's just they want to push Peyton Royce and try and go in a different direction with her.

He elaborated that Billie Kay was written off, but it wasn't a punishment by any means.

As you noticed, Bille Kay kind of got wiped out on Raw Underground, so my guess perhaps they are going to take her off TV, or put her on SmackDown or somewhere else, but I am told that the reason this happened was not some immediate punishment or immediate issue. The decision was made that Peyton Royce was one of the people who was going to be pushed going further, and this was their means to an end.

We hope this isn't true because there was no need to break up The IIconics. WWE may find that they work better together as a team than individually.

#2. Hope is true: WWE's plans for Roman Reigns' Universal title reign

Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman on SmackDown

Roman Reigns is the WWE Universal Champion for the second time in his career. Not only is he a two-time Universal Champion, but he's a five-time Champion overall. The issue with all of his previous World title reigns has been the short duration of it for various reasons - even though on two occasions, he was earmarked for long title reigns.

According to Tom Colohue on Dropkick DiSKussions live, the plan is for Roman Reigns to have a lengthy run as WWE Universal Champion. Colohue even added the possibility of world titles changing brands again a year after it last happened:

"The plan at the moment is to have a long Championship reign - Brock Lesnar style - with a few more Championship defences. He will be defending the title at Clash of Champions, likely against The Fiend. And after that, The Fiend becomes the long-term goal. The Fiend becomes the chaser. He's not going to be feuding with anyone inside the Hell in a Cell, that will be going to someone else. I strongly suspect that we're going to see a brand change between the WWE and Universal Championships."

We hope that the part about Reigns' lengthy WWE Universal title run is true, but not about a brand change. Either way, we expect him to hold the title for long barring injuries or circumstances.

#2. Hope isn't true: Why WWE took a shot at Matt Riddle's marriage

Hours before SmackDown, King Corbin tweeted out against his on-screen WWE rival Matt Riddle, calling him a "failure at home".

This was reportedly a shot at Matt Riddle's past sexual assault accusations, which he denied before revealing that he had cheated on his wife. Dave Meltzer discussed this on the Wrestling Observer Radio and Vince McMahon's mentality behind having the real-life aspect brought into storylines and why it won't benefit Matt Riddle's WWE run in any way:

"Vince McMahon, a lot of these storylines are taken from Vince McMahon’s life, right? So, Vince McMahon in his own life has been accused of things many times which in his mind I’m sure he didn’t do — I’m sure many of them he didn’t do, I don’t know about all, but many of them. Maybe he’s like putting Matt Riddle in this position to stand up, but it’s not like you’re going to really do it because you’re not going to — what you’re going to do a story where it’s all false or something? You can’t do that story. You’re just inviting people to learn about something that’s not going to benefit [Riddle] or you in way, shape, or form.”

We hope this isn't true because it will be extremely detrimental to Matt Riddle's WWE run.

#1. Hope is true: WWE grooming Aleister Black to be a potential Drew McIntyre opponent?

Aleister Black turned heel for the first time in over four years since he made his NXT debut. His dark character would typically be presented as a heel, but he thrived as a babyface - particularly in NXT.

Tom Colohue discussed this on Dropkick DiSKussions and said that WWE intends to build a top-level heel for Drew McIntyre and other babyfaces:

It opens up a lot of options. Firstly yes, Kevin Owens, but it also opens up options such as Apollo Crews, and the major one for me is that we can potentially get Drew McIntyre and Aleister Black down the road. I think that they needed that top-level heel, particularly with Seth Rollins so tied up with so many different storylines, and Bobby Lashley having already had his moment. I think Aleister Black could really go across the levels, could really be elevated here, and I think a lot of people would be really happy to lay down for Aleister Black now that he has had a subtle reinvention as it were.

This would be a great idea on WWE's part and perhaps the route for Aleister Black to reach the main event level that many fans feel he's been destined for. He could have an enjoyable run and his character is one that can thrive as a babyface, heel, or even as a "tweener".

#1. Hope isn't true: Reason why WWE gave The Fiend a week-long Universal title reign

'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt became a two-time WWE Universal Champion and a three-time World Champion at SummerSlam when he defeated Braun Strowman. Roman Reigns' arrival post-match meant that he would be inserted into the Universal title picture with The Fiend and Braun Strowman.

At Payback 2020, Roman Reigns entered the match late and won the Universal title with relative ease. Speaking to Korey Gunz on the live edition of Dropkick DiSKussions, Tom Colohue revealed that 'The Fiend' is now being presented as a face and that's why Roman Reigns won the title from him rather than Braun Strowman (who is now a heel):

"As for why they [WWE] gave The Fiend the title - they wanted the face to lose. You're supposed to hate Roman Reigns. They're genuinely worried now that they've made him a bada**, everyone is going to cheer him. That's why in the ThunderDome, people were specifically instructed to boo Roman Reigns."

We hope this isn't true because WWE could easily have gone with a dusty finish at SummerSlam rather than have a week-long title reign for The Fiend that, in hindsight, was pointless.

Edited by Amar Anand