WWE plans for Royal Rumble and WrestleMania events are revealed

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 30: Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar face off in the ring with Triple H during Monday Night RAW at Madison Square Garden on March 30, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Rich Wade/WWE via Getty Images) | WWE via 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 19, 2026 Advertisements popping up in Riyadh seem to indicate Tatum Paxley, Lola Vice, Thea Hail, Joe Hendry, Ethan Page, and Oba Femi are all scheduled for the Royal Rumble, alongside all the other major stars expected to participate, like Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. Femi, Brock, & Roman were in it. The rest were not. (3/8) Speaking of Lesnar, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter indicates WWE is considering doing Lesnar vs. GUNTHER at WrestleMania 42. They went with Oba instead. And that was the right move. The argument can (and has) been made that they’re failing Gunther after he tapped out John Cena. But I also think that Oba matches up with Lesnar better and deserves the rub for possibly retiring Lesnar than Gunther, given he’s still in his 20s and his ceiling is higher than the Ring General. Are they wasting Cena’s submission retirement? Maybe. But maybe Gunther was never the right choice for that in general. There are no plans for Stephanie Vaquer to vacate the women’s world title, despite her injury, says Fightful Select. She did not, though she’s been out injured since losing the title at WrestleMania. (1/1) They also say WWE is being cautious about Kevin Owens’ return from injury, and there is no talk of any sort of creative plans for him at this time. His health is being prioritized over everything. I wonder if he wrestles again at this point. Per the Daily Update, and according to TKO’s Andrew Schleimer, WWE is expecting to hold three premium live events in Saudi Arabia in 2026. Two so far. Although he suffered a broken tailbone in the Ambulance Match against Damian Priest, Aleister Black was always scheduled to take time off after, says the Wrestling Observer. He’s since been released (though this wasn’t his last match). His 90-day clock should be expiring soon and it’ll be interesting to see where he goes given he may not have left a great impression in AEW. January 20, 2026 Roman Reigns is set to return at Royal Rumble, says the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, and his WrestleMania direction should be clear coming out of the show. That’s accurate. (1/1) On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer speculated Royal Rumble is likely going to be Oba Femi’s coming out party on the main roster. I’d also say that’s accurate. It set up the Brock match. (1/1) He also said the current thinking in AEW is that “if someone is a really good worker on the indies, WWE might sign them so you have to sign them first.” Interesting. Per the WON, William Regal doesn’t really have a creative role in WWE right now but rather he critique’s the style and believability of the matches at shows. I mean that’s a very good job for him. Elayna Black (formerly WWE’s Cora Jade) signed a one-year contract with TNA. That per Fightful, who says Black is expected to be full-time with the company in 2026. She is full time. I’m not seeing an actual confirmation it’s for a year. (1/1) For what it’s worth, Booker T said on his “Hall of Fame” podcast that he’s still waiting on the call to go to Saudi Arabia for Royal Rumble. I don’t think he was there. January 21, 2026 There has been talk within WWE of a big push for Liv Morgan, possibly including a Royal Rumble win and challenge Stephanie Vaquer for the women’s world title at WrestleMania, says Self Made Pro. That’s the case. (2/2) PW Insider notes Roxanne Perez has received praise within WWE for working around how banged up she is and the way she has carried herself throughout the European tour. I wonder if she gets a bit of a push in the next year. They also say there have been pitches within WWE for Chad Gable to return as early as this next Monday’s episode of Raw. He returned at the Rumble. (0/1) Another from Insider: Rusev and the Street Profits have been kept off WWE television for strategic reasons, keeping them fresh for when they have a creative direction later on. The Profits won the tag championships and held them for a bit. Rusev has less of a direction but he does have a partnership with Ethan Page and is on TV often. WWE is high on Dragon Lee right now, especially the Raw creative team, according to Self Made Pro. He’s on TV a little bit more but not like he’s truly featured. Per Fightful Select, talent within AEW is unhappy about how the Trey Miguel situation was handled, with some upset about how standards are upheld for wrestlers as opposed to other personalities on WBD properties. That’s understandable. Muhammad Hassan is writing a book that will release in October, per PW Insider. The book was announced in 2025 so this isn’t really a rumor. January 22, 2026 Don’t expect Chris Jericho at SmackDown or Saturday Night’s Main Event in Montreal this weekend, according to PW Insider’s Mike Johnson. Jericho’s band Fozzy has a booking Friday night in Anaheim, California at this year’s National Association of Music Merchants convention, which they’re planning on staying all weekend. He was not there. Because he never signed. (1/1) WWE filed to trademark the name “Royce Keys”. It’s led to speculation that could be Powerhouse Hobbs’ WWE name, but no one is reporting that at this point. That’s correct on the name. (1/1) Will Ospreay was backstage at AEW’s show in Orlando last night, per Fightful Select. Sean Ross Sapp’s sources say Ospreay was there “to start the early parts of getting checked by medical for a return.” It was believed he’d be out a year, so everyone’s excited he seems to be ahead of schedule. He returned in March. In addition to his guest commentary during the main event of Impact’s AMC premiere last week, Fightful Select reports that Bully Ray helped produce backstage segments involving AJ Styles, Frankie Kazarian & Mike Santana, and gave a well-received speech to the locker room before the show. Did he also give any fans a good talking to backstage? Fightful says TNA has talked about continuing to have Bully involved, but there’s no plans for him to get back in the ring. He hasn’t worked a match since last year. Dave LaGreca of Busted Open said AMC execs “were over the moon with TNA” after Impact’s premiere last Thursday. One network source told LaGreca that the show’s rating on cable is “means s*** by itself”, but using ratings along with other data “it becomes like an equation.” LaGreca also said, “AMC and TNA are looking at this like a marathon.” That’s good. Hiromu Takahashi may also be exiting New Japan, per the Voices of Wrestling Flagship Plus pod. The junior heavyweight great could join a growing list of names who have or are rumored to be leaving NJPW, with Evil reportedly on his way to WWE, David Finlay and Gabe Kidd said to be drawing WWE interest, and Sanada’s open-ended hiatus having been confirmed after New Japan’s first 2026 events. There’s rumors of Takahashi to WWE. Finlay & Kidd are All Elite. EVIL is in NXT. (3/3) January 23, 2026 According to WrestleVotes Radio, WWE is “locked in” to a match of AJ Lee vs. Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas. That was one of the matches. (1/1) In case there was any doubt, Fightful Select says with 100% certainty that former AEW star Powerhouse Hobbs has signed a WWE contract. He debuted at the Royal Rumble. (1/1) On his latest vlog, WWE star Logan Paul responded to the recent “banned from Japan” chants on Raw by saying he’s not banned from the country “in an official way.” Either way, it’s not good. F4WOnline’s Bryan Alvarez’s is under the impression that AEW President Tony Khan tried to sign Trey Miguel five or six years ago, but WBD didn’t allow it “for the same reason” why he was released by AEW earlier this week. So he figured giving it some time would do the trick? After he announced his exit from WWE, Tommaso Ciampa filed for trademarks on the terms “Psycho Killer” and “Psycho King.” Does he use those? Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer mentioned that Jimmy Uso’s absence from WWE’s European tour is “probably” not related to his past arrests. His wife was still rather pregnant at the time. Regarding AEW’s decision to book trios champions Speedball Bailey and Kevin Knight in singles losses against Samoa Joe and Swerve Strickland, respectively, on this week’s Dynamite, Meltzer said “the idea is you look good against the top guys and end up like Kyle Fletcher.” I feel a lot of folks “look good” against top guys so it is hard to differentiate folks in that realm. January 24, 2026 Sources told BodySlam.net that Drew McIntyre is expected to walk into WrestleMania 42 as the WWE champion. A rematch against Cody Rhodes is “the likely match” for McIntyre at WrestleMania. He lost that championship prior to Mania. (0/1) The Wrestling Observer Newsletter heard that WWE doesn’t currently have any plans to turn Cody Rhodes heel because “his merchandise numbers are nothing to be tinkered with.” So far, he’s a babyface. But folks are speculating one could be coming. While I wouldn’t be shocked, I will still believe it when I see it. Fightful Select mentioned there were tentative plans at one point for Sami Zayn to get a WWE championship match before WrestleMania 42. He won it last month – and held it for nine days. Sources in Saudi Arabia told The Observer that The Rock will get “the largest offer ever made for someone to do a pro wrestling show” with respect to his potential involvement in WrestleMania 43 next year. Given how his live action Moana is doing, maybe we see it. Andrew Baydala says there is “a ton of noise” about WWE running a “major show” in August 2026 at Principality Stadium in Wales. The event is not currently planned to go head-to-head with AEW All In London at Wembley Stadium. There’s no Wales show in August. (0/1) BodySlam.net claims that Powerhouse Hobbs’ new name in WWE will indeed be Royce Keys. Yup. (1/1) People in AEW told F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer that Hobbs’ decision to sign with WWE was made “based on his family,” which implies WWE offered him a bigger money deal. However, he left AEW on good terms. Nobody in AEW “had anything negative to say about him.” If he could cash in, good for him. Meltzer also said there’s been talk about Tommaso Ciampa trying to get into New Japan Pro Wrestling after his WWE exit. He hasn’t but it’s always possible given the AEW/NJPW partnership. Wrestling Intel’s Alex McCarthy says AEW has “parted way with Nik Sobic, the Senior Vice President of Business Development, Partnerships, and Video Games.” It’s not clear if his exit from the company is related to mixed reviews for the AEW: Fight Forever video game. I don’t think we see another major AEW game in a long time if ever. This week: 17/25 – 68% Overall: 6,387/10,858 – 58.8% Have a great week, everyone!