3 Wrestling rumors we hope are true and 3 we hope aren't: 15-year veteran unhappy with WWE, Sad reason WWE canceled Brock Lesnar-Bobby Lashley feud
Welcome to this week's edition of WWE/wrestling rumors we hope are true and those we hope aren't. It's a big week in the world of WWE and wrestling as crowds are officially back.
This edition is post-Money in the Bank 2021 and things are gearing up. This week features rumors about SummerSlam, injuries, brand swaps, WrestleMania 38 plans and more.
Let's jump right into it:
#3. Hope is true: Veteran superstar unhappy with WWE over Bayley's injury?
Bayley was expected to compete for the SmackDown Women's Championship at Money in the Bank 2021. Her match against Bianca Belair was canceled after she suffered an injury during training. The injury is expected to keep her out for 9 months.
The frustrating part about Bayley's injury is how unnecessary it was. It reportedly took place in the WWE Performance Center while training to get back on the road. For Bayley, who has been so active for the last year, even in the pandemic era, it seems to make no sense that she would be needed as a part of training.
It seems to be a mandatory rule by WWE for every superstar except a select few. It is admittedly bizarre and confusing for WWE talent since many of them don't live in Orlando and have to go out of their way on days off to train in the WWE Performance Center.
Dave Meltzer of WON was informed by a veteran WWE superstar (who chose not to reveal their name), who expressed a great deal of frustration about the in-ring drills:
"I wrestled full time for 15 years. If you are in shape enough to do TV and PPV matches you need zero conditioning or preparation to go back on the road and do live events. My entire regular career I never did a single in ring drill for conditioning. I did cardio at the gym sure but never additional ring time. The only time I did in ring drills for conditioning was when I took post "retirement" bookings and had to have a big match for the first time in a year or so but that's because I hadn't had a match in a year and was going to have to do 30 minutes at a top level. When I went from working 1 match a week locally. . to 7 nights a week I did zero drills to prepare. The only thing harder about 7 nights a week to once a week is the wear and tear on your body, so doing more wear and tear with drills to prepare makes it worse not better."
It goes without saying that we hope the veteran's frustration is true and not the WWE in-ring drills. It seems to be a step too far and hopefully Bayley's injury is a wake-up call for WWE.