Rumor Roundup (May 5, 2023): New Judgment Day member, Baker black eye shirt, WWE Backlash, 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:

• BoozerRasslin mentioned that “JD for JD is being discussed heavily.” A lot of people are interpreting this to mean that JD McDonagh might become a new member of The Judgment Day now that he has been called up to Raw in the WWE Draft.
• Wrestling Observer Radio’s Bryan Alvarez said the controversial Britt Baker black eye shirt was AEW’s top selling t-shirt this past weekend.
• Per Fightful Select, WWE’s original plan for Backlash was a tag team match with Bad Bunny and Rey Mysterio teaming up to fight Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio. However, plans changed after WWE and Bunny decided that he is capable of having a good singles match with Priest.
• The site also indicates that Tama Tonga has not been under contract with NJPW for a while even though he is still wrestling for the promotion. WWE was interested in signing him at one point, but he might be a victim of a current hiring freeze.
• During WWE’s recent investors call, CEO Nick Khan said the company received “a 7-figure subsidy” for bringing Backlash to Puerto Rico. According to Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston, the exact figure is close to 1.5 million dollars.
• It sounds like May 17 (a Wednesday) is the most likely date for AEW’s official announcement of a new Saturday show named AEW Collision, because that’s the date for the Warner Bros. Discovery upfronts.

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.