Rumor Roundup (April 25, 2023): Vince makes major changes to Raw, Punk backstage reaction, Mercedes Moné a free agent, 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:

• Vince McMahon wasn’t at Raw yesterday, but he worked on the show remotely... and we don’t just mean allegedly telling security to show CM Punk the door. According to PW Insider, “major changes” were made to last night’s script “at Vince McMahon’s request.”
• On their Elite pay site, Insider reported that Vince’s changes resulted in “talent unhappiness.”
• Back to Punk, PW Insider says he was greeted “warmly” by WWE talents he met with backstage at All State Arena. Multiple sources told the site Punk met briefly with The Miz and the two “cleared the air”.
• Fightful Select, on the other hand, said wresters they talked to about it were “shocked that he got backstage” and “numerous wrestlers in WWE believed that the move was a publicity stunt for a return to AEW soon.”
• On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said Mercedes Moné was “very, very well received” backstage at Stardom. Moné didn’t act like a big star, and had no complaints about dropping the IWGP Women’s title to Mayu Iwatani.
• Moné is not currently contracted for any more Stardom dates, per what Fightful Select heard from “members of her team”. The promotion is very happy with how her brief run went so both sides are open to continuing working together, “but that it would likely require a bigger renegotiation after the business she drew there.”
• Fightful also says the extension Mercedes signed with New Japan covers the already announced U.S. date, but it’s not clear what else: “Sources we spoke to in NJPW weren’t sure how long the deal ran, but did say there weren’t matches scheduled in Japan for ‘at least a while.’”
• Trinity “Naomi” Fatu used her Instagram Story to refute last week’s report her asking price was too high for Stardom. Insider also says that on April 15, Fatu abandoned her trademark claim on the name “Trinity Starr”.
• Andrew Zarian tweeted that AEW’s new Saturday show will air on TNT.
• NXT’s Cora Jade & Joe Gacy worked last night’s Main Event taping, and WRKD Wrestling claims “both also seen as potential Draft call-ups.”

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.