WWE Rumors: Buying or Selling Buzz on WWE Backlash, Drew McIntyre and More

After a massive Greatest Royal Rumble spectacle in Saudi Arabia and just days before an afterthought of a WWE Backlash pay-per-view, the rumor mill is relatively quiet in regard to Vince McMahon's wrestling empire.

Curiously so given the Superstar Shake-up that just shook the WWE Universe to its core.

Still, that does not mean there are not a few interesting tidbits regarding upcoming PPV extravaganzas and one of the brightest young stars on the Raw roster.

Championship Changes at WWE Backlash

There are not expected to be any championship changes at the Backlash PPV this Sunday night, per Randall Ortman of Cageside Seats.

The WWE Championship will be on the line as AJ Styles battles Shinsuke Nakamura. The Intercontinental Championship is up for grabs when Seth Rollins defends against former champion The Miz. Jeff Hardy puts his United States Championship up for grabs against Randy Orton, and both the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships will be up for grabs on the show.

Buy or Sell?

Sell. Yes, it is refreshing to go through a WWE show where a title does not change hands, especially taking into consideration the number of switches in recent weeks. With that said, Backlash already feels like a C-level pay-per-view that exists for the sake of existing.

Not giving fans any significant talking points or buzzworthy moments to speak of only further solidifies the uselessness and meaninglessness of the show.

Given the sheer amount of wrestling pumped out by WWE, the last thing its fans want to experience is the feeling that they have wasted their time. That could very well be the case Sunday night.

Reason for Drew McIntyre's Absence in Saudi Arabia

There were 50 Superstars involved in the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia.

Drew McIntyre was not one of them. Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com reports, "Drew McIntyre wasn't on the show because they didn't decide to call him up in time to have a visa ready for him. Ironically they did know that far ahead of time for guys like Babatunde Aiyegbusi and Dan Matha."

McIntyre returned to television Monday night on Raw during a backstage promo with Dolph Ziggler.

Buy or Sell?

Buy. It is an indictment of WWE's infrastructure that it did not know McIntyre, a Superstar who appears destined for greatness in McMahon's company, was going to be called up to the main roster. Or that he would appear at the Greatest Royal Rumble show.

Yet, it knew ahead of time that NXT afterthoughts like Matha and Babatunde would make the trip to Saudi Arabia for the event.

Perhaps management needs to get itself in check and have a better idea of how to best utilize its talent rather than missing little details that allow things like this to slide under the radar.

Money in the Bank Update

According to Ortman, it appears as though WWE will treat Money in the Bank as one of the so-called Big Five pay-per-view events, alongside Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series. As a result, it will carry a longer run time.

Continuing, it appears the other shows "will remain three hours long, even with both Raw and SmackDown Superstars on every show."

Buy or Sell?

Buy. What better way to represent that those shows are bigger, more important and spectacular than by adding more time to them and presenting them in a way that separates them from the B- and C-level fare?

The one element that may alter the "buy" is just how long those shows will be.

WrestleMania running six hours at least makes sense given the grandeur of the show. Even as a Big Five broadcast, there is no reason Money in the Bank or even SummerSlam needs to run that long. Four hours, as opposed to three, would be just the right amount of time for those shows.