Having been at this job for many years now, I have seen plenty of Bully Ray takes that have made me stop in my tracks and ponder just what on earth what he going on about. That said, the only time a Bully Ray opinion has left me as confused as this one he has on Jacob Fatu was when he rage quitted on the Wyatt Sicks eating at Whataburger right after their debut. Let’s reiterate; over the past couple of days, Fatu all but defeated Roman Reigns to win a World Title, got his heat back immediately afterward, left Reigns and his goon squad laying to close out “Raw.” And I am supposed to sit here and think that he’s in a bad spot?!

Normally this would be the part where I’d try to see where Bully was coming from, but I can’t; there is no other way to see what’s going on and suggest anything other than Jacob Fatu being in a really, really good position right now. Roman Reigns is the biggest star in WWE last I checked, and Fatu isn’t just hanging with him, but he’s besting him time and time again other than in winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Sure, I would not expect him to beat Reigns in this feud, and the follow up could be a spot where WWE very easily drops the ball with Fatu. But right now, at this very moment? Jacob Fatu doesn’t just look good; he looks great. And I don’t think the crowd reacting to him either way changes that as long as they are reacting. The fact that they are, and the fact that Fatu’s been booked as strong as he is tells me this is working. How anyone could suggest otherwise is beyond me.

The highly anticipated fight between Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano takes place this Saturday on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. It will mark the first fight of Rousey’s career in nearly ten years, while Carano hasn’t been in an MMA fight since 2009, but the two women are arguably the biggest names in the history of women’s MMA, making it a dream bout for long-time fight fans. 

Someone who knows the weight of the bout is Rousey herself, who stated in a recent interview with Complex that she understands the expectations surrounding the fight and event, but knows that she and Carano can deliver something special. “I mean there’s big expectations. I’m expecting this to be the most viewed MMA fight of all time. It’s the first MMA fight on Netflix, and we’ve got the biggest stars in the sport, and Gina is my dream fight. She’s the only person I would come back to fight for, and she’s the whole reason why I got into fighting in the first place.”

The event is being hosted by Jake Paul’s MVP organization, marking the first time the boxer is hosting an all-MMA event, but as far as getting the fight going, it was Rousey who spear-headed the idea after getting some inspiration from her opponent, and an old boxing legend. “I was sitting in an office chair nine months pregnant, and I saw a video of Gina giving an interview and there was a lot of things that kind of led up to me being primed for this. I think a big thing was Mike Tyson making his comeback at nearly 60 being the most viewed combat sports event of all time, and so I kind of put it in my mind that like that wasn’t a nostalgia-fest, that was people missed something that he brought.”

Please credit “Complex” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Two weeks ago, WWE President Nick Khan teased that WrestleMania 44 would be held in a major location, and though it’s been a rumored destination for years, it doesn’t seem like “The Show of Shows” will be coming London, England.

On Tuesday, the office of the Mayor of London informed “POST Wrestling” that negotiations about bringing WrestleMania to the city have been non-existent despite recent speculation of the 44th edition of the show taking place in a prominent location.

“There are general discussions with WWE, but at present no specific discussions around bringing the 2028 WrestleMania to London,” Tom Degun of the Economic Desk with the Mayor of London’s Press Office said, but claimed that Mayor Sadiq Khan is “determined to bring even more sports from around the world to London, including the biggest WWE events, and continues to discuss future opportunities.”

At this time, Nashville, Tennessee seems to be the front-runner to host WrestleMania 44 after it was reported that the city put in a 3.5 million dollar bid to hold the event at Nissan Stadium. In addition, another international location that has become a potential candidate is Ireland, but WWE currently views the country as a “long-term project” and will only be possible if the Irish Government considers the nation to be a global sports hub. At Money In The Bank 2023, John Cena lobbied for WrestleMania to take place in London, and the following year, Nick Khan and WWE CCO Triple H met with Sadiq Khan to discuss the idea.

WrestleMania 43 is currently scheduled to occur in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which would be the first time in history that the event has taken place outside of North America. That said, there is reportedly contingency plans in place to move next year’s show with the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Last Wednesday, media mogul and philanthropist, Ted Turner died at 87. In addition to founding CNN and the Cartoon Network and owning the Atlanta Braves, he was the owner of WCW for many years. During his time as owner, he put WCW on national television and they were a direct competitor of WWE.

On “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy,” Hardy reflected on Turner and WCW. When asked by Jon Alba why he thinks WWE’s Vince McMahon hated Turner so much, Hardy paused before finally answering, “Ted Turner was just doing business.”

Hardy pointed to how McMahon would say he was ‘just doing business’ when he was buying up territories. He thinks Turner saw what he was doing as investing in pro wrestling and trying to help it grow and get better.

“Vince took that as ‘this motherf***er is trying to put me out of business,'” Hardy said. “I think Vince justified that in his mind.”

Hardy believes that the competition between WWE and WCW made both companies want to put on the best shows. He called it a “game changing time for pro wrestling” because it forced them to be creative and think outside the box. Hardy thanked Turner for investing in wrestling and for pushing McMahon.

“Thank you for making WWF become something different and cool,” he said. “Thank you Ted Turner for pushing that forward because pro wrestling is not the same right now if not for you, so thank you for your contributions, Ted.”

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.