Rumored WWE character shifts and plans for WrestleMania 42 evolve

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PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - APRIL 07: Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes look on during Night Two at Lincoln Financial Field on April 07, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images) | Getty Images Welcome to the weekly Rumor Look Back, where we look at the rumors from six months ago and see which played out as originally stated. Let’s jump right to it. January 12, 2026 According to Fightful Select, LA Knight is scheduled to travel to Germany this week, so his return to WWE television looks imminent. He returned at the Royal Rumble and not in Germany like this implies. (0/1) Bodyslam.net claims while Cody Rhodes won’t be turning heel right now, he will be undergoing a “character shift.” He would not say he’s changed character at all. (0/1) They also say the top of the card for WrestleMania 42 is now locked in. With the Royal Rumble on a couple weeks away, you’d think so. Another from Bodyslam.net: Blake Monroe will not be getting called up to the main roster as had recently been discussed and instead there are plans for her in NXT through Stand & Deliver. She did work through Stand & Deliver. (1/1) They also say Jaida Parker is scheduled to return to NXT television soon. It was within days. (1/1) Per Fightful, Killer Kelly is now gone from TNA after her contract expired in December. She’s working sparingly at different promotions in 2026. January 13, 2026 Per Wrestling Observer Live, the original plan before Jacob Fatu was injured was a three-way pitting Fatu vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre for the WWE championship. So they basically went back to where they were originally going to go anyway. They never did a three way though. (0/1) As for McIntyre winning the title, Fightful Select indicates there were those within the company who believed McIntyre “needed to win this match” so he could be “taken seriously as a top guy moving forward.” Yeah, he couldn’t keep losing to Cody. There has been interest within WWE of using TNA’s Leon Slater on the UK leg of the European tour, says PW Insider. He had a match in Wembley against Carmello Hayes for the US title. (1/1) Insider also notes that the Motor City Machine Guns are scheduled to work this coming weekend’s AAA tapings. That’s the case. They’ve since been released and are teasing something new. (1/1) Cedric Alexander has signed a new contract with TNA, according to Fightful. Unsure contract specifics, but he is still working with them. January 14, 2026 On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said the previously rumored Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns plan at WrestleMania 42 is “probably not happening.” The change happened last week when they decided to put the WWE title on Drew McIntyre. I wonder if we ever get that rematch. We’re two years out since their Philly Mania main event and it doesn’t seem we’re closer. Maybe if Cody beats Punk at SummerSlam they can do the Crown Jewel match, but that almost feels like a waste. I think we will see them one on one one more time in a couple years, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t. (1/1) For whatever it’s worth, Liv Morgan said on Raw Recap that Dominik Mysterio will be back “soon” and they’re just playing it safe with his injury. He didn’t wrestle for about a month. Bodyslam.net says Tiffany Stratton is medically cleared and factored heavily into the Road to WrestleMania, with a possible return set for Royal Rumble. The Rumble is where she returned. But she wasn’t on Mania so she didn’t factor in the build heavily, if at all. (1/2) Not only will there be a new Adam Copeland memoir, PW Insider notes it will have an audio book release. Don’t most? They also say Steve Maclin has come to terms on a new deal with TNA in what they said was described to them as an extension on the deal he currently has. He’s since asked for and was granted his release. According to Fightful Select, AEW signed independent talent Tatevik last fall she just hasn’t been used on TV yet. She’s not on their website’s roster page but her twitter retweets some AEW content and has a couple photos with an AEW logo in the back. She’s only wrestled one match for them though. Zachary Wentz, Trey Miguel, and Myron Reed may be done with TNA, with the company no longer advertising Reed for a match against Leon Slater, per PW Insider, and the rest of the Rascalz group seemingly having had their contracts come up at the end of 2025. They all went to AEW, though Miguel was released immediately and re-signed with TNA. (1/1) January 15, 2026 With the caveat that WWE doesn’t know what the Women’s World title match at WrestleMania 42 will be yet and a reminder “there are no guarantees”, Self Made Pro shared that WWE has discussed a Rhea Ripley vs. Iyo Sky match for Las Vegas. They added that it’s “been mentioned in meetings” that “Iyo vs. Rhea would be a match that could main event one of the nights.” They still haven’t gone back. For what it’s worth, Iyo didn’t even get a match on the show. Discussing the latest changes to the WrestleMania 42 card he’s heard about on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said a three-way match between Drew McIntyre, Jacob Fatu and Cody Rhodes for the WWE title is ”kind of a possibility”, but “that may not necessarily be at ‘Mania”. That match never happened. (0/1) R-Truth told TV Insider the new WWE contract he signed after last summer’s drama was a “four-year deal with a three-year option”. He’s a tag team champion, but they use him pretty much the same way as they always have even in that role. In their reporting on The Rascalz signing with AEW, Fightful Select noted that Myron Reed offered to work his scheduled match with X-Division champ Leon Slater on Impact’s AMC premiere tonight. Despite the offer, the match was scrapped because WWE wanted Slater for today when its European tour hits the UK. A lot of moving parts here. Queen Aminata said on her vlog that her AEW contract was extended until next February, which has her feeling “very happy and very, very motivated” as she works her way back to the ring from a neck injury. She’s not high in hierarchy of the women’s division but she’s a good member of the roster. January 16, 2026 Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer said WWE was “pretty confident…for months” that Powerhouse Hobbs was planning to leave AEW and sign with them. Meltzer indicates that President Tony Khan didn’t know Hobbs wanted to go. However, no bridges were burned and Khan will gladly take Hobbs back if things don’t work out for him in WWE. Hobbs did sign with WWE. (1/1) Meltzer speculates this is a good time for Hobbs to make the jump because WWE is “better when it comes to big, muscular guys” and is “heavily recruiting bodybuilders again.” I like his story with Jacob Fatu, but he’s not heavily featured. Sources told Insider Gaming that CM Punk will narrate and be a focus of this year’s Showcase mode in WWE 2K26, which includes a “what if?” scenario where he doesn’t walk out on WWE in 2014. The video game is expected to be released in March. That is correct. (2/2) BodySlam.net says there are several people in WWE who believe AJ Styles will work a match in TNA before he retires this year. He did not. (0/1) WrestleVotes Radio mentioned that WWE has quietly made a change to Raw’s format on Netflix where there will be fewer commercial breaks going forward. The change began with this week’s (Jan. 12) episode. I don’t think that’s the case. Do you? (0/1) Regarding Jake Something’s name change to Jake Doyle in AEW, PW Insider says there was no trademark issue in play. It was simply “a Tony Khan call” to change his name. It’s a better name. Fightful Select says TNA internally expects there will be a “significant roster shift” to freshen up the product now that Impact airs on AMC. I don’t know what this means. People were granted their release after asking for it. And they re-signed some folks. But I don’t know if that constitutes a “significant roster shift.” (0/1) The outlet also claims that The IInspiration (Jessie McKay & Cassie Lee) are leaving TNA after losing the Knockouts tag team titles on Impact’s AMC debut last night. They’re in AEW now, not that you’d know by watching it. (Unless you’re one of the few who pay for HonorClub.) (1/1) January 17, 2026 According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, one of the reasons why WWE went ahead with Drew McIntyre defeating Cody Rhodes for the WWE championship is because Rhodes felt “it would be fresher to go into this year’s Mania chasing the title rather than defending it.” McIntyre was also said to be “pretty vocal” that a title change “was the best thing for all concerned.” That wasn’t really the case though. Maybe that was Cody’s argument, but it was Randy Orton chasing Cody (and some bullshit with Pat McAfee we’d all like to forget). Per The Observer, the original idea for the WWE championship match at WrestleMania 42 was Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns. However, those plans changed within 48 hours of Three Stages of Hell. Triple H decided “doing a Rhodes vs. Reigns match for the third time in four years and spending months building the direction would lead to audience fatigue.” While I think the Game is right, they didn’t settle on something better in regards to Rhodes. However Reigns vs. Punk definitely delivered more than Rhodes/Reigns III would have. We’ll see if this is the narrative that they put forth on this seasons Unreal. As a result of the change, the Observer was told that Reigns “will be the odd man out of the WWE title picture” at WrestleMania. The current plan is to book either Rhodes vs. McIntyre for the title, or Rhodes vs. McIntyre vs. Jacob Fatu in a three-way. He was in the world heavyweight picture. Neither of those listed matches happened. (1/2) WON claims that WWE President Nick Khan “has a voice when it comes to creative,” even though he publicly denies it. Khan bypasses the rest of the creative team and only deals with Triple H. I wonder what kind of suggestions he’s making. Regarding AEW’s recent signing of Persephone, Bryan Alvarez clarified that she didn’t actually choose AEW over WWE. Even though WWE was interested in her, they didn’t make an offer because she’s “been under CMLL contract and hasn’t been able to talk with WWE at all…she took the opportunity to add the AEW contract to the CMLL one.” AEW swooping in before free agency. Fightful Select notes that even though LA Knight was listed on some of WWE’s internal travel plans for Germany, they didn’t actually fly him out there. That’s why he wasn’t on this week’s episode of Raw. Yeah, that makes sense. F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer said Charlotte Flair missed last week’s episode of SmackDown in Germany because she “was very ill,” which led to a change in plans on TV. That sucks. Meltzer also mentioned that Rey Mysterio missed this week’s episode of Raw due to a minor injury, but “he’ll be back quickly.” He wrestled just a couple days later. (1/1) Social media star Sallie Grace said she’s “facing repercussions right now” after suffering a concussion at the latest WWE tryouts in Orlando. She warned that, “Everyone’s getting concussed left and right. And they’re saying that there’s going to be more happening.” Repercussions how? Outside not signing her, what else can they do? Are we referring to legal repercussions? (There is nothing I see about her and WWE outside this incident.) This week: 13/22 – 59% Overall: 6,370/10,833 – 58.8% Have a great week, everyone!