WWE Rumors: Examining Latest Buzz Around Brock Lesnar, NXT and More

Brock Lesnar's nose and NXT's presence on the main roster headline the latest WWE rumors.

The new batch of Internet rumblings and reports provide info on Lesnar's health following a brawl with John Cena on Monday's Raw and the WWE library reportedly being up for sale.

As for NXT stars making their way to the main roster this week, it's unclear if they were just left on the bench on Monday night. WWE apparently had a plan for the show based on when the Philadelphia Eagles and Indianapolis Colts wrapped up the second quarter of their game.

Lesnar and Cena played central parts in that strategy. The timing of that segment may have kept NXT's top talents off the air.

Halftime Plan

During Monday's Raw, Cena warned Paul Heyman that if Lesnar didn't arrive by "halftime," then he would be fighting in place of The Beast Incarnate.

Some assumed that meant the halfway point of Raw. When that came and went, it was clear that he meant halftime of the Monday Night Football game. A recent report confirms that WWE was in fact trying to make use of the break in the NFL action.

Mike Johnson reports the following for PWInsider.com:

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WWE sources stated that the segment was placed where it was specifically in an attempt to get fans to watch during the half-time of last night's NFL broadcast. That was why Cena used the 'half-time' verbiage during his initial segment with Paul Heyman that opened the show; they were specifically trying to tell the audience that might tune out for football when they could come back to see Brock and Cena.

"

That decision led to the show's peak occurring long before the show was over. It also resulted in the strange situation of a Rusev and Mark Henry segment main-eventing the last Raw before Night of Champions.

Once the ratings come out, we'll have a better idea of whether waiting around for halftime to bring out the big guns benefited or hurt the show.

With as unexciting as most of the night's action was, it's a safe bet that the ploy couldn't save Monday's Raw. Ending the flagship show with the Pledge of Allegiance and two midcarders isn't a route to success.

Brock Lesnar Update

When the Eagles and Colts prepped for the second half, Cena and Lesnar collided. Their brawl seemed to feature some stiff blows in between Cena's weak strikes.

The announcers wondered aloud if Lesnar had left the fight with a broken nose.

It appears that he did not. According to Johnson, "Lesnar was 100 percent fine backstage after and everything went exactly as planned." Johnson clarifies that the broken nose was purely an angle.

Whether their Night of Champions meeting results in any legitimate injuries is another matter. The two enemies have a history of drawing blood when they meet.

Cena took a shot to the mug that bloodied him back in 2012. At Extreme Rules that year, an errant elbow or two busted Cena's head open.

WWE Library Rumor Squashed

The Wrap's Gina Hall had previously reported that "Warner Bros. is in talks to acquire the WWE library."

With as vital as that library is to WWE and the WWE Network's success, that news came as a shock. What was even the value of all that footage from WWE, WCCW, WCW and ECW?

There's no need to do the math now.

F4WOnline shoots down that rumor, writing, "The story in Thewrap.com regarding WWE selling its entire library of 150,000 hours of content to Warner Brothers is not true. What is in play is a deal between Cinedigm and Warner Brothers for the home video distribution rights to the entire WWE library."

That's a huge difference. It also makes far more sense.

Unless the price tag was a colossal one, WWE handing over its library would be bad business. The company uses it to produce DVDs, and it is the backbone of the WWE Network.

I Want My NXT

Fans who frequent wrestling news sites had high hopes for Monday's Raw. After Tyler Breeze, Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville debuted on Raw last week, it appeared that they were set to show their faces on the show again.

In terms of those men being a part of WWE's TV tapings, Johnson reported that "Sami Zayn and Tyler Breeze are currently scheduled for the next few weeks while we are told NXT champion Adrian Neville is currently scheduled to be at the tapings well into October."

However, Raw came and went with no NXT flavor whatsoever.

Perhaps Neville and company were backstage awaiting their opportunity. Maybe WWE just didn't find the time to toss them into the mix.

Instead, Raw featured one of the worst in-ring performances in recent memory from Cameron.

Fans will be curious if the NXT stars do get a shot in the next few months or so on the main roster. This may have been a case of WWE trying to cram so much stuff in for Night of Champions that it didn't get to find a spot for Neville, Breeze and Zayn.

Johnson's report does say that those guys will be around for a few weeks at least. They could help elevate Raw's recent record of belly-flopping.