nia jax speaks on rodney rousey, Brother Luke on the 'Bucks, Rusev on McGregor

[The Prince of All Saiyans]

On being excited for Ronda Rousey's WWE debut: "I'm very excited. Ronda Rousey was a huge part in the women's revolution around the world and part of the WWE and now she's coming to the WWE. It's going to be absolutely amazing. She's so talented and has so many things to bring to us. It's literally going to expand the women's division and people don't realize how much she's going to bring to us and how far it's going to take us. I personally am very excited for her to come. She's willing to put in the hard work. I've seen her put in the hard work in the UFC and how hard she worked to get to where she got. I know she's going to prove herself in the WWE. I'm very excited to step in the ring with her and see what we can do together. I have nothing but positive things to say for anyone who wants to come to the WWE because it is not an easy place to get into and not an easy place to get through, so if you feel like you can make it here and get through, I say welcome. Let's do it."

On Rousey needing to show respect to the WWE locker room: "Respect is number one in this business. You definitely have to walk into the door with a lot of respect: a lot of eye contact, a lot of handshakes, introducing yourself. We are a very tight-knit family at WWE. We are very protective of our family. When an outsider comes in, you want to make sure the outsider is worthy to step into the family. When Sasha Banks says she had nothing nice to say (on a previous episode of Busted Open), it's not necessarily that she wants to go out and be mean, but rather making sure that this outsider is worthy to step into her family."

On backstage incident with Torrie Wilson backstage at the Royal Rumble: "That's something I really am not comfortable speaking on as every story the people hear will get spun differently and i'll leave it at that."

On being inspired by The Rock vs. John Cena at WrestleMania 28: "I got to sit front row with my aunt and watch Dwayne and just see the energy not just in the ring, but the fans. At the end of the day, they are what make us who we are, and just seeing their energy and passion that they had watching that match is what gave me the bug. I said 'oh my god, I want to do this. I want to put on a great match and I want these people to be interested in what I'm doing'."

On Seth Rollins' performance in the Gauntlet Match on RAW: "I was standing by Gorilla staring at the screen just watching and these guys were putting on an amazing show. Seth Rollins, I think, tore the house down. All of them did, but Seth outdid everyone. Seth has always been such a great athlete. You've always seen that since he's been on the road, but watching last night made me a bigger fan of his. It was really cool. I almost forgot I was on the show!"

John Cena & Seth Rollins inspiring the youth

WWE Superstar Luke Gallows recently spoke with Sky Sports for an interview.

During the discussion, Gallows made some interesting comments regarding The Young Bucks -- Nick and Matt Jackson -- potentially signing with WWE in the future.

"I hope the Young Bucks come in," said Gallows. "I think they're highly, highly talented and if you want to make your mark in sports entertainment, if you want your name to go down in the annals of sports entertainment history, you absolutely have to come to WWE. This is the pinnacle. It doesn't get bigger than this. There's no bigger worldwide stage than WWE. So I think the Young Bucks owe it to themselves to come out here and thrive."

Gallows acknowledged the perks of working overseas, having established himself as a top star in the market alongside Karl Anderson before coming to WWE, but said WWE is a worldwide platform that "can't be beat."

"Japan is a great place to wrestle but WWE is a worldwide platform and you can't beat that," said Gallows. "Their reach is all across the world."

we need a @Superkick Party on the new day

WWE Superstar Rusev recently took part in a WWE media conference call. Featured below are some of the highlights.

On if he was surprised by WWE fans cheering him considering the way they have reacted to foreign heel characters throughout history: "No, no, it didn't take me by surprise. I mean – yes and no. It's because, they think I'm more than that (a foreign heel). They think I'm more than a stereotypical guy from a country that speaks broken English. They see more than that. They see my passion and connect with me, and I connect with them. That's why, now, instead of boos, you hear the Rusev Day chants. So, I'm still Bulgarian, and I'm still speaking, and I haven't changed anything. But it all happened organically, and that's how the best things happen."

On if he feels WrestleMania 34 could be the turning point for him in 2018 now that the fans are behind him: "Well, I don't even know what I'll be doing at WrestleMania, so it's very far – fetched for me to think that WrestleMania is going to be my moment, to turn 2018 (around). I don't even know; I take it day by day. Each Rusev Day by each Rusev Day. As long as I open my eyes in the morning, that's a great opportunity for me, and that's how I look at it."

On having a war of words with UFC mega-star Conor McGregor in 2016 and if he would welcome McGregor to WWE the way Ronda Rousey has come from UFC to WWE: "McGregor? He's not coming to WWE. What is he going to do here? He just made $ 160 million (against Mayweather). What is he going to do here? He's going to sit at home."

On what he would do if McGregor did sign with WWE: "Yeah, I'd definitely like to see him, me and Sheamus get a pint of Guinness, and go from there (laughs)."

 

[Grifter]

On backstage incident with Torrie Wilson backstage at the Royal Rumble

 

[The Prince of All Saiyans]

In a followup to his story from last week, Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, wrote in more detail about Dolph Ziggler signing a new contract extension with WWE that will see him with the company for at least the next two years.

-- As noted before, Barrasso claims that the contract is for $1.5 million annually, up from Ziggler's previous deal which paid him a downside guarantee of $1 million. WWE reportedly "overpaid" for Ziggler because they didn't want to see him pack up and leave for New Japan, where he would likely become a star.

-- The story adds that WWE views Ziggler as a "necessary piece of the WWE machine" and that keeping him with the company and happy is money well spent

this is more then when they gave the big show that money

According to a recent Sports Illustrated article, Triple H was one of the key people who pushed for having Jeff Jarrett inducted into this year's class of the WWE Hall of Fame.

-- Jarrett, who has a long and rocky relationship with owner Vince McMahon, has interesting dynamics with a number of people within WWE. He is close with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, who in turn are friends with Triple H. He also has friends in AJ Styles and Bobby Roode, with both remaining "grateful" at the opportunities that Jarrett afforded them when they were in TNA.

-- On the other side, apart from McMahon himself, Jarrett obviously has a strained relationship with Matt Hardy, stemming from their time in TNA and then the fallout related to the Broken Universe trademark dispute. Jarrett also has a complicated relationship with Kurt Angle, due to his wife Karen who happens to be Kurt's ex-wife.

-- With the recent hire of former and longtime TNA employee Jeremy Borash by Triple H, another question that immediately comes up is whether Jarrett would fit into any succession plans for NXT or at the least, be a member of the team when Triple H takes on more responsibility with Raw and Smackdown.

to the Game

Last night's rare and lengthy Gauntlet match proved to be a major viewership ratings success, being watched by an average of 3.27 million people, a three week high.

-- In a telling sign that the audience was well into the 107-minute Gauntlet match can be deciphered from the hourly figures with barely a drop from hour one to hour two. The third hour took a massive, yet expected, tumble but overall, WWE is likely extremely happy at the number of people who tuned in and stayed for most of the show.

-- The Olympics on NBC was watched by a nightly high 16.36 million viewers, which while extremely high, was down from the prior week's 20.3 million. On the night, Raw was #1 on cable.

-- Hourly numbers were:

• 
  * Hour 1 - 3.52 million
  * Hour 2 - 3.51 million
  * Hour 3 - 2.82 million