Backstage WWE Rumors: Latest on AEW, CM Punk, Cain Velasquez and More

This is the biggest week in pro wrestling in 25 years and we haven't even gotten to the Fox debut of SmackDown or Hell in a Cell yet.

AEW Dynamite debuted Wednesday night while NXT had its first two-hour episode on the USA Network after being split with the WWE Network for its first two weeks.

Finn Balor returned to NXT, Jake Hager made his AEW debut on Dynamite, Lana returned alongside Bobby Lashley instead of Rusev, and Bray Wyatt attacked Seth Rollins to close Raw.

With everything going on in the industry right now, it would be easy to miss some of the bigger rumors and news stories happening behind the scenes.

In addition to everything mentioned above, this week saw more rumors pop up about CM Punk working for WWE and Cain Velazquez potentially joining the WWE roster.

Let's take a look at some of the biggest rumors in pro wrestling and how they might affect the future. 

Rumors of CM Punk possibly working for WWE began swirling a few weeks ago, but we didn't have confirmation until the man himself appeared on Collider Live to discuss his audition for WWE Backstage on FS1.

Punk has been avoiding making any concrete statements, but Triple H told Jefferson Lake of Sky Sports:

"Any time anybody goes 'that'll never happen', sooner or later it ends up being wrong maybe. The desire has to be there on both sides. I don't know if it is on his (Punk's), and I don't know where we would be if that desire was brought up to us."

The former WWE champion left the company in 2014 and ended up in a lawsuit with WWE doctor Chris Amann followed by another with Colt Cabana that was recently settled.

Punk returning to WWE in any capacity would make a lot of fans happy, but according to WrestleVotes (h/t Randall Ortman of CageSideSeats.com), we won't see him back with the company any time soon. 

WWE Backstage is set to be hosted by Renee Young and Booker T, so Punk may have been auditioning for a role as a correspondent of some kind. This is one of those "time will tell" situations. 

At UFC 121 in 2010, Cain Velasquez defeated Brock Lesnar to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Almost 10 years later, their paths seem destined to cross once again.

The Beast Incarnate attacked Rey Mysterio and his son, Dominick, on Monday's Raw. While this might just look like another display of his dominance heading into his WWE Championship match with Kofi Kingston on SmackDown, it may have been done to set up something else down the road.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc), the angle with Mysterio may lead to Velasquez facing Lesnar on behalf of the Luchador.

Velasquez has been training to become a pro wrestler and recently made his debut at AAA's TripleMania 27 with a win in a six-man tag team match alongside Psycho Clown and All Elite Wrestling's Cody Rhodes.

If WWE gets Velasquez to sign on the dotted line, we could see him take on Lesnar as early as next year. This has WrestleMania 36 attraction written all over it. 

For the most part, the USA Network has allowed WWE to run its shows the way it wants, but it sounds like Fox might be taking a more hands-on approach. 

According to the Wrestling Observer (h/t Randall Ortman of CageSideSeats.com), Fox executives might be giving WWE notes on how to run the blue brand.

Fox paid $1 billion for SmackDown and is creating companion programming for FS1, so it makes sense that it would want a say in how things go.

If the goal is to present a more sports-centric program than Raw, Fox might not want as many outrageous storylines as the red brand, such as Bray Wyatt becoming a character from a horror movie.

Friday's SmackDown debut on Fox will be a good indicator of the way things will be moving forward. It might not look drastically different, but we should notice any significant format changes right away. 

(Warning: The above contains some NSFW language.)

According to Justin Barrasso of SI.com, Chris Jericho and Hiroshi Tanahashi are rumored to be facing each other at Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 4 inside the Tokyo Dome.

The article notes AEW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling do not have a working relationship at the moment but this bout could lead to something in the future between the two companies.

Jericho previously held the IWGP Intercontinental Championship before losing it to Kazuchika Okada on May 4. After the match, Tanahashi saved Okada from a beatdown by Y2J.

If AEW and NJPW are able to work out some kind of talent exchange, we could see The Bullet Club or Suzuki-gun show up on AEW Dynamite.

Let's not forget, Jon Moxley is still the IWGP United States champion so there is already one person connecting the two promotions. 

Remember, rumors are not guaranteed to be true, so all of this is subject to change.