WWE Rumor Roundup: Unfortunate change to WrestleMania plans for The Fiend and John Cena; McMahon personally texts 4-time World Champion to finally return; Current Champion out of WM 36- 24 February 2020

Welcome to today's edition of the WWE Rumor Roundup where we try and bring you the biggest stories from the day. With WrestleMania season in full gear, there is a lot of ongoing speculation regarding the card. There had been a report regarding the possible matches for the WrestleMania:

Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre (WWE Universal Championship)
Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley (NXT Women's Championship)
Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler (RAW Women's Championship)
Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns (Universal Championship)
Bayley vs. Naomi (WWE SmackDown Women's Championship)
Andrade vs. Humberto Carrillo (WWE United States Championship)
Edge vs. Randy Orton
John Cena vs. Elias
The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles
Women's Tag Team Championship match
Women's Battle Royal

However, as per another report, many of these matches will get changed. Two such matches likely to be altered are Elias vs John Cena and Bray Wyatt vs Roman Reigns.

Let us take a look at the 5 biggest stories of the day:

#5 Major change to WrestleMania plans

There had been rumours regarding a leaked WrestleMania card which included matches such as John Cena vs Elias and The Fiend vs Roman Reigns. However, Dave Meltzer of WON has now stated that both these matches may be completely off.

The only two matches that I have written about that have changed and I don't know if it's a 100% changed but I was pretty much told that they have changed is Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns & John Cena and Elias. But I believe there's about 5 or 6 matches that have changed but the other ones are matches I hadn't reported yet anyway."

John Cena did not have a match at last year's WrestleMania so it will be interesting to see who WWE will choose as his opponent if it is not Elias. Also, it was widely believed that Roman Reigns was being prepared to be the one to take on The Fiend at the Grandest Stage of Them All, but with all the changes going on, it is quite intriguing as to who these two Superstars will face if not each other.

Before we move on to the next slide, gear up by listening to the latest Dropkick DiSKussions podcast, where our experts Tom Colohue and Korey Gunz address the hottest WWE news and rumors!

#4 Vince McMahon asked The Big Show to return

The Big Show recently returned to RAW in surprising fashion in order to aid Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens in their ongoing battle against Seth Rollins and his squad.

While speaking to Stone Cold Steve Austin on the recent episode of the Broken Skull Sessions, the former 4-time World Champion revealed that Vince McMahon sent him a text on Friday and asked him to make his return on Monday's RAW.

“I got that call on a Friday night at midnight. Literally I was setting my alarm to go to the gym Saturday morning. Vince text me, 12:02am… No, he doesn’t [send a lot of texts]. I think he’d rather pull his eardrums out and dive on a pitchfork than talk to me, but anyway. I look at the text, it says, ‘Can you go Monday?’ and I was like, ‘Go where and for what?’ He says, ‘I need you in a match Monday.’ ‘Single or tag?’ ‘Tag.’ ‘Yep, I’m good.’

(H/T: SportsKeeda)

Big Show has been one of the most loyal and reliable Superstars on the roster, and the fact that the former World Champion was willing to make a return on such short notice is proof of that.

#3 Keith Lee not to be part of WrestleMania

The current NXT North-American Champion Keith Lee has impressed not just the NXT and WWE fans, but even Vince McMahon is reportedly high on the Moment Maker. But, reports are suggesting that unlike NXT Women's Champion Rhea Ripley, there are no plans for Keith Lee to be a part of WrestleMania 36.

While NXT Superstars are usually not part of the WrestleMania main card, it has been widely stated that WWE wants NXT to be part of this year's 'Mania to promote the brand.

Here is what Dave Meltzer of WON has stated:

Keith Lee is not on the card, at least yet, and he probably won't be because he will probably be on the card the night before.

Lee has had impressive outings at Survivor Series as well as Royal Rumble, and it is surprising that the company has chosen to keep such a popular face out of WrestleMania.

He recently faced Dominik Dijakovic at NXT Takeover: Portland in a spectacular match and managed to retain his Championship. We may not see Lee at WrestleMania this year, but he will surely give the fans a stellar performance at the NXT Takeover.

#2 The Fiend wanted to face Jerry Lawler

While Jerry 'The King' Lawler is part of the RAW roster as an announcer, he is still on WWE's 'no-touch' list - which means that he cannot have a match or be involved in any physicality. However, that doesn't stop the 72-year old to have matches outside of WWE even at this age.

Speaking on his podcast, Lawler revealed that Bray Wyatt had walked up to him and told him that he would like to face him:

“And you know, after we did the little thing a while back on Monday Night Raw (August 2019), before I was back doing commentary. I just came on for a guest appearance. Bray Wyatt came to me afterwards and he said ‘King I would love to work with you down in Memphis.'”

I would love to have a have a match with Bray Wyatt or The Fiend either way.” (H/T SeScoops)

Even though Lawler is supposed to be far away from any physical action, Bray Wyatt had attacked the WWE Hall of Famer last year. It is highly doubtful that we could ever see a match between these two competitors, but that doesn't mean we can't hope for it to happen!

#1 Samoa Joe in trouble

Samoa Joe has not been very lucky when it comes to injuries. The former US Champion suffered another concussion recently while doing a table spot for an advertisement.

The Observer has revealed that Joe might be in 'risky territory' after this injury.

He got hurt again doing a TV commercial. Going through a table wrong, you know badly. But the problem now, here's the thing, now we're on risky ground, because now we've had two concussions within a short period of time and that's when it becomes really concerning. When he's not hurt, he's been great.

I mean he's been always underutilized in the WWE anyway, I mean because he's such a good talker and they don't give him, you know, I mean he gets his chances, but he could have had a lot more than a one-match programme with Brock Lesnar. He could have had a great programme with Brock Lesnar and they blew it off with one match.

(H/T: SportsKeeda)

Even though Samoa Joe is one of the best Superstars on the roster, the fact that he has suffered two concussions in such a short span of time is certainly a bad sign.

Edited by Nishant Jayaram