Rumor Roundup: John Cena update, Asuka return, Royal Rumble record, 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:

• John Cena hasn’t made an appearance in WWE since announcing for the Royal Rumble, and PW Insider says that’s because he’s been in Budapest, Hungary filming the Matchbox movie.
• WWE’s started discussing creative for Asuka’s return, per Fightful Select. Those plans included a potential tag match, but that idea was scrapped. No word on when Asuka will be back; the site was unable to confirm if Asuka’s resumed training, or what her status is for Royal Rumble.
• Indiana Sports Corp’s Patrick Talty told Inside Indiana Business this weekend’s Royal Rumble in Indianapolis could draw 65,000. The would break the long-standing Rumble record from 1997’s San Antonio show, when 60,447 were at the Alamodome. That’s in line with WrestleTix’s latest report on the show.
• “Tony Khan has been more in the weeds creatively” for AEW “over the last couple of weeks”, according to a Fightful Select report that also said their sources at the company were “very pumped with the execution and reaction to” last Saturday’s Collision.
• On Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez said he’d heard from fans that AEW is running a buy-one-get-one-free promotion for Grand Slam Australia tickets. Dave Meltzer replied that doing that multiple weeks before the show indicates to him that “there are a lot of seats left.”
• Matt Riddle missed his scheduled booking with Memphis Wrestling on Sunday after attending Nick Hogan’s wedding the night before. PW Insider says Riddle informed them he wouldn’t be coming the day of the show, with the site’s Mike Johnson adding, “I am sure that didn’t cause any last minute rewrites at all, since the taping was built around his appearance in terms of promotion.“

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.