As usual, there's a lot of talk tonight (January 27) in St. Petersburg, Florida about what's set to be an eventful evening at WWE's annual premium live event, the Royal Rumble.
This special edition of our rumor roundup is a way to bring these various tidbits together in one place and give you a chance to discuss them. Feel free to share anything you've heard or read in the comments (the usual rumor reservations apply*)!
Rumble Rumors:
- According to a PW Insider Elite report, Jordynne Grace will be at the Women's Rumble, doing her TNA theme and being introduced as the “Knockouts World Champion.”
- Grace could be the “outlandish surprise” that Fightful heard about when they learned this past weekend that WWE had contacted other companies about using their talent at the Rumbles.
- WWE has talked about Jade Cargill making her in-ring debut at the Women's Rumble, according to Fightful Select. They also heard that she was present at the rehearsal for the game on Thursday.
- Fightful also heard that WWE intentionally didn't announce many names for this year's Rumble matches to leave room for surprises.
- One of them should be used by Brock Lesnar, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. Meltzer said Lesnar would make a surprise return at the Men's Rumble before The Wall Street Journal mentioned him by name in its report on the recent allegations against Vince McMahon.
PW Insider adds that Lesnar is not in Florida and last night on SmackDown it was stated that he would not be at the premium live event tonight, with some sources using the word “retired” to describe his status. It is believed that an NXT talent could take Brock's planned spot.
- When it comes to NXT talent, Fightful says Blair Davenport, Tiffany Stratton and Carmelo Hayes are at Tropicana Field ahead of Royal Rumble.
- CM Punk fueled speculation about AJ Lee's surprise return tonight by posting a picture on his Instagram Story of himself at airport baggage claim with a woman who could be his wife.
- Another possible surprise return could be Sonya Deville. PW Insider reported that she recently trained at the Performance Center for her comeback from a torn ACL and was in Tampa/St. Pete this weekend.
If you have heard of any interesting rumors that you would like to add, feel free to post them in the comments section below. Remember, these are rumors and not confirmed facts, so please treat them as such. And check out our weekly rumor recap Here to keep track of how often rumors turn out to be correct.