Vince McMahon

With Sunday's Backlash pay-per-view in the books, WWE has already begun preparing for next month's Extreme Rules event, which will be the precursor to SummerSlam in August.

Even as the coronavirus pandemic continues to force WWE to run its shows at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, without a crowd in attendance, it is largely business as usual with angles moving forward and big matches getting booked.

Here is a look at some of the biggest rumors that have been making the rounds since Backlash, along with some analysis regarding how likely they actually are.

McMahon Getting More Involved with NXT?

WWE NXT has been running head-to-head against All Elite Wrestling Dynamite on Wednesday nights ever since October.

While NXT has only won the viewership battle on a handful of occasions, the numbers have been close, and NXT's presence has likely prevented AEW from securing even better ratings.

It has long been assumed by fans that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon would eventually have a bigger hand in the NXT product since it now airs on USA Network, and a new report suggests that may be the case.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), McMahon has "taken an interest" in NXT and his influence was being felt on Wednesday's episode.

Meltzer pointed to the finish of the Aliyah vs. Xia Li match, which saw Robert Stone vomit into the ring. He also noted that the Keith Lee vs. Finn Balor vs. Johnny Gargano Triple Threat match for the North American Championship being followed by an eventual winner-takes-all match between the winner of that match and NXT champion Adam Cole felt like McMahon-style booking as well.

NXT founder Triple H has been fairly clear publicly about the fact that he is the chief decision-maker for NXT. Even so, NXT is a brand under the WWE umbrella, so it is always possible that McMahon could dictate what happens.

Wednesday's NXT didn't feel significant different from any other episode, though, and there is no true indication that anyone other than Triple H is calling the shots for now.

Vince Sees Big Things in Garza

Angel Garza has been one of the breakout stars on Raw in recent months, and McMahon's affinity for him may have something to do with it.

According to Alex McCarthy of TalkSport, McMahon has referred to Garza as a "young Eddie Guerrero" when discussing him backstage.

Garza is a former NXT cruiserweight champion who is oozing with potential. He is a strong in-ring worker, has the perfect look and cuts strong promos despite having been born in Mexico.

At just 27, Garza has a lot of wrestling ahead of him, and he may have a chance to become one of WWE's top stars if Vince's opinion of him is true.

It is easy to see how someone could get an Eddie vibe from Garza, especially since his Lethal Lothario character is fairly similar to Guerrero's Latino Heat gimmick. Garza often hits on interviewer Charly Caruso, while Guerrero was in a storyline relationship with Chyna early in his WWE tenure.

Garza is in a stable with Andrade and Zelina Vega, but there have been major issues between Garza and Andrade, which suggests there may be a plan in place to break them up and allow Garza to go off on his own soon.

Seeing as he recently beat former universal champion Kevin Owens in a match, the sky may be the limit for Garza.

There is some uncertainty regarding whether some of the young talent getting pushed in recent months under Paul Heyman will continue to be utilized in that way now that Heyman has been relieved of his duties as Raw executive director and replaced by Bruce Prichard.

McMahon has always had influence over Raw, though, and the fact that Garza has been receiving a push is almost certainly due in part to Vince seeing something special in him.

McIntyre and Lashley Pitched Feuding with Each Other

The WWE Championship feud between Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley is reportedly a result of both Superstars wanting to work together.

According to Louis Dangoor of WrestleTalk, McIntyre and Lashley pitched the idea jointly since they enjoyed working with each other and felt they could put on some great matches. Heyman reportedly played a big role in booking the program as well.

At Sunday's Backlash pay-per-view, McIntyre and Lashley did battle in a quality match that resulted in McIntyre retaining after Lana distracted Lashley.

On Raw, McIntyre was forced to put the WWE title on the line again in a tag team match on Monday's Raw, as he teamed with R-Truth against Lashley and MVP. Truth pinned MVP, which allowed McIntyre to retain.

Despite the fact that McIntyre has now retained twice in matches against Lashley, it is possible that their rivalry could continue leading up to Extreme Rules given the manner in which both matches ended.

It makes sense that McIntyre and Lashley would want to work with each other since they're both physical forces who can believably go toe-to-toe, but it also feels like the type of matchup that McMahon would support as well.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Additional details regarding WWE's post-WrestleMania 36 roster cuts came to light as part of an ESPN article about the XFL's rise and fall on Tuesday.

According to ESPN's Kevin Seifert, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was planning a number of releases and furloughs ahead of WrestleMania in anticipation of the company having lower-than-expected revenue because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The cost-cutting measures were officially announced April 15, as WWE furloughed several producers and employees from other departments while releasing roughly 20 Superstars who were under contract as on-screen performers.

Wrestlers Rusev, Drake Maverick, Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Heath Slater, Eric Young, Erick Rowan, Sarah Logan, No Way Jose, Mike Kanellis, Maria Kanellis, EC3, Lio Rush, Primo and Epico were all released.

WWE also parted ways with announcer Aiden English, referee Mike Chioda and WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, who was working as a producer at the time of his release.

Of the aforementioned names, Maverick has since been re-signed and joined the NXT brand, while Angle has made a couple of appearances, including as a special guest referee for the Fight Pit match between Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher in NXT.

COVID-19 has impacted WWE significantly, but unlike essentially all major sports leagues in the United States and across the world, WWE never stopped producing shows.

While fans have been unable to attend shows since March, WWE has run episodes of Raw, SmackDown and NXT plus pay-per-views from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. There was initially nobody in the crowd, but WWE has used Performance Center trainees as fans in recent weeks.

Also, on Monday's Raw, WWE allowed some friends and family members of those involved with the company to sit in as fans.

Although the coronavirus has resulted in WWE losing all potential gate revenue from live events, the company has remained profitable because of its massive television contracts with Fox and NBCUniversal. Both contracts are reportedly five years in length and worth in excess of $1 billion apiece.

In April, WWE reported strong earnings for the first quarter of 2020, as it made $26.2 million in net income largely because of the TV deals. WWE also predicted that it would remain profitable during the pandemic as a result of the television money and the cutbacks that were made to offset some potential losses.

Most of those who were released on April 15 have been out of the spotlight because of the 90-day non-compete clauses in their contracts that prevent them from appearing for other companies until July.

Since those restrictions are set to run out soon and more and more wrestling companies are getting back to running shows, there could be a major influx of talent into competing companies in the near future.

Meanwhile, WWE still boasts a stacked roster in its own right, which speaks to how much depth it had in terms of in-ring performers before the April 15 cuts.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

WWE is preparing for Sunday's Backlash pay-per-view, and there is seemingly no shortage of major happenings going on behind the scenes leading up to the event.

The coronavirus pandemic has put WWE in a unique position, as shows have been held at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, with no fans in attendance for the past three months. Even so, WWE has continued to produce content, and it has been business as usual.

With the WWE pay-per-view calendar continuing Sunday in the form of Backlash, here is a look at some of the hottest and latest rumors emanating from WWE.

Mahal Was Set to Feud with McIntyre

Jinder Mahal was apparently in line for a significant push before he announced last week that another knee surgery has him back on the shelf.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Marc Middleton), WWE had been planning for Mahal to feud with WWE champion Drew McIntyre because of their history as former tag team partners with 3MB.

Meltzer added that the feud wouldn't have been a long-term program and that WWE wanted to do it because of the lack of top heels on Raw.

Instead, McIntyre is set to defend the WWE Championship against Bobby Lashley at Backlash on Sunday. Lashley is being built into a credible top heel due, in part, to MVP's presence as his new manager, replacing Lana.

Per Meltzer, Mahal initially went in for a minor procedure on his knee, but the "damage ended up being more significant than expected."

While it is unclear how long Mahal will be out, it is a major blow to the former WWE champion since he just returned from a knee injury in April after missing nearly 11 months.

Mahal had fallen from WWE champion to midcard talent prior to getting injured last year, but all signs pointed to him being presented as a main eventer once again, which is why his latest injury comes at the worst possible time.

McMahon Had Been 'Very Upset' with Raw

WWE announced Thursday that Paul Heyman is no longer serving as the executive director of Raw and that he will instead focus on his on-screen role as Brock Lesnar's advocate.

According to PWInsider's Mike Johnson, WWE said the following about the decision in a statement: "In an effort to streamline our creative writing process for television, we have consolidated both teams from Raw and SmackDown into one group, led by Bruce Prichard. Paul Heyman will concentrate on his role as an in-ring performer."

Johnson reported that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was "very upset" and openly "frustrated" with the way things have gone on Raw as of late.

Raw has been drawing record-low ratings during the coronavirus pandemic as Heyman attempted to focus on building new stars. SmackDown's ratings on Fox have been down as well, but it has usually drawn in the neighborhood of 2 million viewers, which isn't the case for Raw.

Prichard took over for Eric Bischoff as the executive director of SmackDown in October, and he is now set to serve in the role for both Raw and SmackDown. Heyman lasted about one year as Raw's executive director, as he was given the role in June 2019.

While it is possible that Heyman's focus on building new stars could be a good thing for WWE in the future, it was difficult for McMahon to ignore the constantly falling ratings.

The absence of fans in the crowd because of the COVID-19 pandemic likely has something to do with it as well, and WWE may not see a true ratings increase until fans are allowed to start attending shows again.

WWE Talent Concerned About Creative Changes on Raw

Some of the Superstars who have been getting pushed on Raw are reportedly concerned now that Heyman is out as executive director.

According to Meltzer (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Raj Giri), the concern stems from the fact that some of them had never gotten a big push before and were "floundering" before Heyman took over as the head of creative on Raw.

Some of the Superstars rumored to be favorites of Heyman are McIntyre, Andrade, Angel Garza, Zelina Vega, Aleister Black, Apollo Crews, Austin Theory, The Street Profits, The Viking Raiders and Murphy. Of those Superstars, Meltzer reported that McIntyre and The Street Profits are the most likely to still succeed since McMahon has an affinity for them.

Heyman reportedly sold McMahon on the idea that it would take 18 months to build new stars, and McMahon was on board with the idea before the coronavirus pandemic. McMahon has since changed his focus, however, and Heyman was only given 12 of the 18 months he said he was required.

WWE has long had a penchant for leaning on its established stars rather than building new ones, and it is fair to wonder if that will be the case now that Heyman is no longer in power.

There is a great deal of young, underrated talent on the red brand, and many of them could potentially become stars over time if given the opportunity.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

The XFL suspended operations and laid off all employees April 11 before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy April 13, naming the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason. 

Ben Fischer of Sports Business Daily reported Monday that a judge ruled in favor of the defunct league's auctioning its assets this summer:

The XFL began its inaugural reboot season in February and played only five weeks' worth of games before the COVID-19 pandemic forced sports around the world to suspend action.

"[XFL CEO] Vince McMahon has pulled out of bidding for his bankrupt XFL, but dozens of bidders are looking over the league's financials and interested in relaunching it next February," The Athletic's Daniel Kaplan relayed last week.

McMahon has been accused of filing for bankruptcy just to buy the league again.

McMahon is also being sued by former XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck over the handling of the latter's contract. Luck is seeking $23.8 million.

The auction is scheduled for Aug. 3 (h/t Pro Football Talk). 

Triple H has a unique idea for a match featuring Conor McGregor and Vince McMahon one-on-one inside the squared circle.

Speaking to TMZ Sports, Triple H said the Notorious One vs. the WWE Chairman with the winner getting the rights to a distinct walking style would be a "match made in heaven" (starts at 1:52):

McMahon's walk to the ring—known as the "Billionaire Strut"—is one of the most distinctive character features in professional wrestling history. It's a power strut that includes exaggerated use of the arms and legs.

McGregor has used the strut throughout his mixed martial arts career, and some have attributed the walk to him in recent years.

"I'm thinking Vince McMahon must be pissed," McGregor told reporters in January 2017 when asked for his thoughts about famous athletes in other sports using the walk. 

McGregor has teased working with WWE in the past, so maybe the two sides can join forces at some point. Having a match against the 74-year-old McMahon might be out of the question, but the two would certainly be able to trade verbal barbs in the ring.