WWE Rumor Roundup: Backstage heat on top name? Poor backstage morale, Major plans for Becky Lynch (January 31, 2022)

Welcome to the latest WWE Rumor Roundup.

Today, we'll look at a report about possible backstage heat on Shane McMahon and the reason for it. Although Royal Rumble is one of the most exciting shows for fans and performers alike, this year's event could have negatively affected the morale behind the scenes.

There is also an update on WWE's plans concerning Becky Lynch for the 2022 and 2023 editions of WrestleMania. Also, following Kofi Kingston's botched Rumble elimination, we may now know what he was supposed to do in the match.

The aftermath of Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins featured a few brutal chair shots, and the intention behind that spot has reportedly been revealed. With that in mind, let's dive straight into these topics.

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#5. Shane McMahon might have made the WWE locker room "really angry"

Shane O'Mac entered the 2022 Men's Rumble at No. 28 and lasted almost six minutes.

As per Ringside News, he also served as lead writer and producer for the 30-man match. However, this reportedly did not go down well with the locker room. The boss' son allegedly "buried" fellow WWE producer Jamie Noble and "tried to book the Rumble around himself."

"Shane fighting everyone, booking himself to be one of the last [ones] out, eliminating KO, and just standing toe-to-toe with everyone has the entire locker room really angry." (H/T - Ringside News)

In addition to eliminating Kevin Owens, McMahon was one of the final four competitors left in the bout.

“When Shane is more impactful in the Rumble than Big E or Owens, even people who don’t normally complain are complaining loudly today,” a source told Ringside News.

Interestingly, a previous Fightful Select report did not mention Shane McMahon as a producer for the 30-man contest. Jamie Noble, however, was assigned that duty along with Shawn Daivari, Chris Park, and on-screen official Adam Pearce.

If Ringside News' report is accurate, it would fit as part of a larger Rumble-related story (more on that in the next slide).

#4. Poor backstage morale due to constant WWE Royal Rumble changes

As per PWInsider, numerous sources within WWE became frustrated with frequent changes made to Rumble matches over the last week.

"One source noted the Men's Rumble alone changed '20 times' over the course of the days leading to the Rumble matches between spots that were devised, changed and discarded, changes in eliminations, order of entrances and even interactions between talents," wrote Mike Johnson of PWInsider.

The report also noted that female talent underwent a similar experience in the 30-woman contest. As a result of these changes, backstage morale after Royal Rumble is relatively low compared to recent WWE special events.

Here's what a current talent from the company told PWInsider:

"We were all in a whirlwind. Just as you had your role and spots down, everything started over and over and now most of us were back to square one. It changed again and again and again. It wasn't an easy night even before we hit the ring."

As far as the Men's Rumble is concerned, Steve Carrier of Ringside News connected WWE's frequent shift in plans to Shane McMahon's backstage involvement in the match.

Check out his tweet below:

The road to WrestleMania is off to a polarizing start, and hopefully, WWE can turn things around in the right direction moving forward.

#3. Becky Lynch's possible opponents for the two upcoming WWE WrestleMania events

A Fightful Select report recently stated that Charlotte Flair has pushed for a feud against WWE Royal Rumble winner Ronda Rousey. As a result, the two women could lock horns at WrestleMania 38.

This creates a mystery for Becky Lynch's match at The Show of Shows, as prior speculation had suggested that Rousey would be facing Big Time Becks instead of Flair. According to Fightful, Lynch might put her RAW Women's Championship on the line against Bianca Belair for this year's WrestleMania.

Additionally, Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that higher-ups want the Irish star to go one-on-one against Rousey at WrestleMania in 2023. However, plans are subject to change if anything unexpected happens between now and then.

Lynch has had a newsworthy history with both of her rumored opponents. Last year, The Man returned to in-ring action against Belair at SummerSlam and turned heel shortly after defeating the latter in 26 seconds. And while she never went one-on-one against Rousey, their feud led to the first-ever WrestleMania main event for women back in 2019.

#2. Reported WWE Royal Rumble plan for Kofi Kingston

Kofi Kingston's stunts in the Men's Rumble are always a delight to watch, as we have seen the WWE Superstar find several creative ways to escape elimination from other competitors.

This year, the 40-year-old was supposed to pull off another miracle in the multi-man contest. However, Kingston failed to do so when his feet accidentally touched the ground near the barricade.

Bryan Alvarez stated on Twitter that the spot was mistimed and led to an unscripted elimination. Moreover, WWE had additional plans for Kofi to get involved in a few sequences with his ally, Big E.

Check out the tweet from Bryan Alvarez below:

Due to the botch, Kingston lasted only 21 seconds in the bout as Kevin Owens eliminated him. While The New Day Member entered at No. 24, Big E came in from the 26th spot.

He stayed in the Rumble for almost seven minutes and did not make much impact before getting removed from the equation by Ridde and Randy Orton. Both members of The New Day had no eliminations to their names.

#1. Reason why Roman Reigns landed chair shots on Seth Rollins at WWE Royal Rumble

Royal Rumble 2022 saw the highly anticipated WWE Universal Championship match end via disqualification. The finish was brought on by Roman Reigns' uncontrollable rage, as he trapped Seth Rollins in a Guillotine choke and refused to let go even after a rope break.

Afterward, The Tribal Chief assaulted his former Shield brother with a steel chair. Of course, this was a throwback to 2014, when Rollins broke up The Shield by delivering a chair shot to Reigns' back.

Dave Meltzer mentioned this on Wrestling Observer Radio and added that WWE wanted fans to boo the post-match beatdown instead of the disqualification finish:

"To get out of the people booing it, Roman hit him with a million chair shots when it was over, including a chair shot to the back. This was basically to mimic the Seth Rollins chair shot to the back when The Shield broke up. So, you know that was to turn boos for the match into boos for Roman at the end of the segment and it pretty much worked that way. So, that was the plan. That's the whole gist of it."

It would be interesting to see if Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins have a proper rematch on the road to WrestleMania 38.