WWE Rumor Review: WWE's backup plan for The Rock vs Roman Reigns, Vince McMahon 'super-impressed' with RAW star

Welcome to another edition of WWE Rumor Review. Here, we take a look back at some of the major rumors from a few months ago and see how they have fared so far.

This week, we'll discuss the backup plans WWE had in place for the heavily rumored encounter between Universal Champion Roman Reigns and his cousin The Rock. Vince McMahon was reportedly super-impressed with a top RAW Superstar. We'll see if that rumor turned out to be true or not.

We'll also check out reports of Samoa Joe's in-ring return and Mandy Rose's main roster status. So without further ado, let's check out the five top stories in this week's edition of the Rumor Review.

#5 Reports on Samoa Joe's in-ring return

Samoa Joe was initially released from WWE in the month of April last year owing to budget cuts. However, he was brought back to NXT soon after by Triple H. Upon his return to the then black and gold brand, seeds were planted for a feud between him and the then-NXT champion Karrion Kross.

During that time, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that Joe was set for an in-ring return at NXT Takeover 36 to face Kross for the championship.

Kross vs. Joe for the NXT title is official for the 8-22 Takeover.

Indeed, the report turned out to be true as Joe defeated Kross to win the NXT Championship for a record third time. A few weeks later, a fatal four-way match was scheduled to determine Joe's next challenger.

Wow. Samoa Joe has relinquished the #WWENXT Championship. 👇 twitter.com/SamoaJoe/statu…

However, The Samoan Submission Machine revealed that he had suffered an injury and would be out of action for an indefinite amount of time and the fatal four-way thus turned into a championship match where Tomasso Ciampa was victorious. Months later, in January 2022, Joe was released from WWE for the second time in a year.