WWE SummerSlam 2020: 10 Last-Minute Rumours You Need To Know
One or two big returns will cause a storm in the THUNDERDOME!
The Biggest Party of the Summer is here, and nobody's invited! Well, they are, provided they're no fewer than 1000 metres away from Orlando's Amway Centre, and confined within a two-foot square LCD screen.
Yes, that's right: despite Vince McMahon's possible plan to delay SummerSlam to the winter so WWE could reintroduce flesh fans into arenas, the show is indeed going ahead this weekend, from the wonderfully batsh*t climes of the ThunderDome. As ever, we should be grateful it's even happening, given the ongoing global health circumstances, and yadda yadda yadda.
It's not quite the big return to normality WWE were angling for then, but massive digital projections of fans, hopefully with their pants on, is about as close as we've come since March, despite how preposterous the scenario is. And so long as normality has resumed - or an approximation of it - so too can we get back into the business of sifting through all the internet rumours, gossip and tattle ahead of the big show. Just like we used to before the scourge.
And, as if to confirm the proxy-normal theme, some of them are as barmy as ever - with a slight twist. Forget CM Punk: 'John Cena returns' is the new normal we never thought we'd want.
10. 'A Return Or Two'
Morale is said to be the highest it's been in WWE since fans were ushered out of arenas back in March, owing to the introduction of the innovative and slightly surreal ThunderDome, as well the return to work of many backstage employees post-furlough.
According to Twitter handle WrestleVotes, positive energy behind the scenes is palpable, and WWE want to translate the feel-good factor to this weekend's SummerSlam. Apparently, they have a number of things planned which are "different, but pretty cool".
Effectively, the company are treating the return of fans - albeit remote ones - as something of a soft reset. WrestleVotes goes on to say we should expect "a return of two". Naturally, that has immediately led to gossip about a possible comeback for one of WWE's three major absentees: Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns, or Brock Lesnar. Any one of those men returning would end the Biggest Party of the Summer with quite a bang.