Reported Backstage News On WWE Royal Rumble Deals

After WWE announced IMPACT Knockouts Champion Mickie James would be competing in the 2022 Royal Rumble, wrestling fans began buzzing about the prospect of WWE breaking down ‘the forbidden door’ and working with other wrestling companies.

This speculation only intensified yesterday when WrestleVotes reported that WWE are allegedly ‘open’ to bringing in surprise talent for the Rumble.

Now a report from Fightful Select has shed a little more light on WWE’s processes regarding Rumble moves, saying that WWE reached out to outside talent far earlier than usual, with WWE known to have contacted talent within nine days of the show in past years.

The report continues that those contacted were led to believe their appearances would be a surprise until buzzer time in the Rumble, but as seen with those pre-announced for the women’s Rumble on last week’s SmackDown, WWE have made the decision to announce legendary talent to boost ticket sales and buzz, and that there is "plenty of room for more surprises, and likely will be.” Fightful noted that they had heard of pitches for 'interesting' and 'big' outside names, but nothing in terms of who has been discussed, or if any such appearances will happen.

With Mickie James announced on WWE TV as the IMPACT Knockouts Champion, IMPACT themselves are said to have been pleased with the announcement and subsequent buzz, with the news coming the day before James headlined IMPACT’s Hard To Kill PPV.