Buy or Sell CM Punk's Latest WrestleMania 41 Rumors, Ricky Starks' WWE Plan, More

The Royal Rumble might be a thing of the past now, but the road to WrestleMania doesn’t let the rumor mill fade much. 

If anything, it only gets wilder from here. With Elimination Chamber creeping up and fan reactions to apparent ‘Mania directions starting to pour in, the buzz around the mill continues to increase. 

Case in point, major WrestleMania match plans and possible changes take the forefront this week. That goes for multiple matches, including a singles match and a possible triple threat that could be the main event. 

Not far behind? Buzz about whether certain major surprises that changed everything fans thought they knew about ‘Mania were actually planned or not. 

Oh, and of course, there’s the shocking, short-notice surprise debut to chat about. 

Here’s a look at the most notable rumors making the rounds and whether fans should buy or sell on each. 

The Rumor

Drew McIntyre might be getting a major ‘Mania change. According to SportsKeeda's Chris Featherstone, fan backlash to the current plans has put WWE in a tough spot, to the point of changing up the planned match. 

Reaction

There has been a strange buzz around McIntyre since the rumble. He’s right in feeling he deserves a bigger spot at the biggest show of the year. The weird might-be-a-work elimination at the hands of Damian Priest to apparently set up the ‘Mania match just didn’t come off well, either. 

Buy or Sell?

Buy. It’s a shame Priest might get hurt in this if WWE changes McIntyre’s feud and match up this late in the process. But he’s the guy who once targeted and took out Brock Lesnar and just had an incredible feud with CM Punk—he should’ve been in bigger plans from the beginning. 

The Rumor

The fallout from Jey Uso’s shocking Royal Rumble win continues. According to Fightful Select (h/t Randall Ortman of Cageside Seats), Uso winning and going on to challenge Gunther for the world heavyweight title at ‘Mania was always the long-term plan.

Reaction

On one hand, it’s easy to think that Uso was always the plan, given that long-term storytelling has been a staple of the Triple H era of WWE creative. Planning on the guy who gets the biggest reactions (and likely merchandise sales) to be in a top spot only makes sense. 

Buy or Sell?

On the other…this is a sell. There are just too many moving parts to think that Uso’s upset was locked in for long. The Rock was hovering around as a question mark, which held up each ‘Mania night’s main event outlook. CM Punk and Seth Rollins were right there and so was John Cena’s retirement tour.

The Rumor

Right now, it sure seems like WWE is locked in on a Punk-Rollins-Roman Reigns triple threat. But according to WrestleVotes (h/t Ortman), some in WWE would rather have Punk inserted into the likely Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena title match. 

Reaction

WWE can't really go wrong here, right? If Punk gets away from Rollins-Reigns, that lets the history-laced blood feud spotlight. If he goes to Rhodes-Cena, he has plenty of incredible history with both and adds an unpredictable element—before probably eating the pin. 

Buy or Sell?

Easy buy. There are bound to be at least a few people within the company who want that option. How they actually decide which one to go with is impossible to say, though. It wouldn’t be a shock to see them delay and gauge fan reactions for as long as possible. 

The Rumor

Ricky Starks shocked the world by showing up on NXT, though it left some fans wondering why that was the locale. According to Fightful Select (h/t Ortman), it merely had to do with the logistics of current WrestleMania plans. 

Reaction

While some fans might wonder if Starks showed up on NXT as a sort of “developmental” move, the explanation makes sense. Specifically, dropping the word “fluid” in the report seems to explain it all. 

Buy or Sell?

Buy. Most feuds for Raw and SmackDown ahead of ‘Mania seem set and they need to give those airtime. Throwing Starks out there now might set unrealistic ‘Mania ideas for fans. One can imagine he’ll either win gold or get promoted to one of the other two programs once the “new season” starts after ‘Mania. 

The Rumor

Speculation about the next WrestleMania is already underway. According to WrestleVotes, WWE will soon unveil the WrestleMania 42 location as New Orleans, giving the city its third such event (30 and 34).  

Reaction

It was fun to focus on how WWE might “takeover” a city for a weekend alongside UFC after the TKO merger. But how about another fun idea instead? WWE keeps following the Super Bowl around for its biggest event of the year (Los Angeles in 2023, Las Vegas in 2025). 

Buy or Sell?

Simple enough buy. New Orleans was just a fantastic host for the Super Bowl and has done incredibly well with ‘Mania events in the past. Popping down there, then the East Coast, then back across the country again (provided WWE doesn’t go international with it soon) would make a lot of sense.