BS Meter on WWE WrestleMania 43 and Survivor Series Plans, Massive AEW Stars Return Date, More

The pro wrestling rumor mill has WWE WrestleMania 43 on the mind this week.

That's an exclamation point of a discussion point, considering WWE's fast approaching a possible event in Saudi Arabia and AEW has a big show of its own on the way.

Naturally, the rumor mill loops in conversations about counterprogramming between the two companies, plus a major retirement and quite a few other things of note.

To help fans keep pace with the latest buzz on the rumor mill, let's put the must-know rumors on the BS Meter, with 10 being the highest form of unbelievable buzz fans can safely dismiss.

It feels like Toni Storm is on the way back to AEW soon. But according to Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp (h/t Cain A. Knight of Cageside Seats), Storm won't actually be back competing in a ring until "2027 at the earliest."

A huge Storm marketing campaign fired up at WrestleDream in mid-October, but it didn't feel like the little hints that created viral moments were a sign of an immediate return. Fans haven't seen her in the ring since early in the year, so little hints by the month could build some serious hype, though.

We'd probably hear even more buzz if an in-ring return was about to happen. AEW seems content to dripfeed this one for the next several months, which is great: There's a lot of storyline and character stuff they could do to explain away the absence in kayfabe before a big return next year.

Let the counterprogramming talk begin in earnest. According to Wrestling Observer Live's Bryan Alvarez (h/t Geno Mrosko of Cageside Seats), NXT's strong showing against an episode of AEW Dynamite has given them a green light to load up big time against the upcoming Blood & Guts.

WWE hasn't had any problems counterprogramming AEW with pretty much anything in the past. But the fact a normal NXT show is sparring well in the ratings with AEW's big weekly hitters is a pretty big deal right now.

Fair enough. WWE would counterprogram Blood & Guts anyway. But feeling good about recent head-to-heads enough to take the risk makes sense. And if WWE can somehow win or come close, it's going to cause a ruckus online.

Here comes the obvious faction stuff. According to Wrestling Observer Radio's Dave Meltzer (h/t Mrosko ), WWE is indeed positioning The Bloodline to go against 946 at Survivor Series.

Cliche or not, the writing has been on the wall for a while. WWE kept Roman Reigns out of it for as long as it could, but it was stretching believability that he wouldn't take issue with, you know, his family members getting hit by cars and stuff. Now, 946 has Carmelo Hayes in the fray as another member, too, setting up the big event.

Trust that there have been much, much worse builds to a Survivor Series event. This is great. It's a great use of Hayes, and there's room for Jacob Fatu to come back for this too. Fun wrinkle: One could see Fatu actually aligning with either faction, so that's a wild card. And if he does, that probably means even more people will get involved, making the next few weeks really interesting.

A legend could be on his way out next year. According to Wrestling Observer (h/t Mrosko ), Rey Mysterio could be getting his own retirement tour next year, something called "quite possible" in the report.

It's easy to look at Mysterio's body of work and current role as a general manager and think that he wouldn't go on the long retirement tour. That feels reserved for guys like John Cena, who is just a cut above everybody else. Meaning, it's refreshing to hear Mysterio might get one.

There's way too much Mysterio could do to merely have a one-off. There's Dominik Mysterio. There's Penta. His daughter, Aalyah, is in WWE now. Others like Dragon Lee could use nods, never mind callbacks to some of his best-ever matches that are still possible, like with Randy Orton. A farewell tour is almost a must .

One predictable, one a mild surprise. Not hard to tell which is which. According to Wrestling Observer (h/t Mrosko ), WWE is still on track for Roman Reigns vs. Oba Femi to main event Night 2 of WrestleMania 43. CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes, however, is not the plan for Night 1.

Call it a mild surprise. There's too much volatility around the other top championship right now to declare that Punk vs. Rhodes is inevitable. Nobody would complain if it was, but we don't know what either guy's character will look like by 'Mania, never mind what WWE wants to do with Sami Zayn, Bron Breakker and Money in the Bank briefcase holder Penta, to name a few.

Sort of an eye-rolling rumor here, really. Everything is penciled in at best around the main event scene and worked toward for months. Injuries and other changes mix things up. Reigns-Femi feels inevitable. Punk and Rhodes could just as easily not even need a title or main event in a few weeks, let alone by WrestleMania.