NJPW picks up top UK name, TV producer back with Impact, Mania sponsorship revenue grows, Aries return note, Waltman stepping out of the ring, Rock on calling Punk, Interview with Jarrett, Raw audience, AJ on Paige movie, Y2J update, Lovelace's new NXT name, NXT dark matches, WWF/SMW name passes, and Questions on Rusev's place on the card, booking Roman, WCW winning the war, announcers leaving ROH, and Carmella at Elimination Chamber

Zack Sabre, Jr. will join NJPW on March 6. If he becomes a regular there, he could end up working ROH as part of the talent agreement between the two sides. I look forward to seeing what he does there.

TV producer Kevin Sullivan has returned to Impact Wrestling. In addition to his tenure there, he had worked for WWE and GFW. Good to see Jarrett bringing qualified names back into the fold. Please note this is NOT "Taskmaster' Kevin Sullivan, nor the WWE author by that name.

Wrestlemania's sponsorship revenue quadrupling was covered by Forbes. WWE's control of its talent and content are key for this. They can basically have their wrestlers as actors in silly sponsor segments. That's more important to them than "five star matches."

Austin Aries will return to action as part of 205 Live soon. So, he's no longer going to compete in NXT. Aries vs. Neville at WM33 would be natural.

Sean Waltman is not taking in-ring bookings past April. So, he's at least temporarily moving away from being a wrestler.

The Rock commented on calling C.M. Punk from the ring after Raw. Oh yeah, a lot of people loved it, but members of WWE management were not among those people.

Jeff Jarrett talked Impact Wrestling in the UK:
- Touring the UK has been a big deal for Impact in the past. Running that market and getting good crowds there would definitely be a good sign of them bouncing back.

- I fully expect Jeff back on TV in some form at some point. I don't expect him to compete, though, at least not regularly.

- Impact needs to make use of all available sources of talent, from GFW to the UK and more.

- Jeff's got his work cut out for him in picking up UK names with WWE on the hunt there.

- It costs money to produce Impact. Without Challenge paying for it, the company is at a loss of a lot of money. So they're trying to recoup some of that in the UK.

- I'd like to see Chyna go into the Hall this year. It could be awkward if it's HHH or Waltman inducting her, so I'd suggest a female talent do the honors.

Raw drew 3.22 million viewers this week, slightly up from the previous week.

AJ Brooks (formerly AJ Lee) commented on Thea Trinidad's portrayal of her. I'm glad she's seemingly OK with it; I wouldn't think Rock would bury her.

Chris Jericho is making appearances on Raw live events, cutting a promo on crutches before being attacked by Kevin Owens. That's a good use for someone who's already been booked for those events.

Heidi Lovelace is now working as Ruby Riot in NXT, dropping the name Dori Prange. Ruby's a MUCH better ring name. She beat Kimberly Frankele, the former Kimber Lee, before the recent NXT taping.

After the recent NXT taping, Shinsuke Nakamura defeated TJ Perkins and Finn Balor made a special appearance.

The former Johnny K-9/Bruiser Bedlam has passed away at the age of 51. Sounds like he had a pretty tough life. Best wishes to his family and friends at this time.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Another case of "they can only push so many people at once." Owens, Joe, and Strowman are the current important heels being pushed, and Brock and HHH are in that class, too. So, Rusev's in a midcard feud for now. It doesn't mean they don't realize he's talented or they're "burying" him or anything; they just currently have him in a different role.

2. Yes, the logic is Steph sicced some pretty big dudes on him and neither side took a clean loss. It lasted four minutes and ended in a big fight with a chair involved. Literally any time Reigns doesn't do the clean job, someone complains about how he's booked. It's time to chill with some of this.

3. I can see WWE/Vince going into regression for a few years before bouncing back once WCW imploded. Ted Turner couldn't save WCW, so he wouldn't have been able to buy WWE. It's still possible Impact would have been started up with people who didn't join WWE after WCW went under. I definitely don't think it would have been the end of Vince.

4. From a kayfabe perspective, yeah, probably. It's a pretty noticeable change to turn on the show and that aspect has completely changed in the past few months. But I think ROH pretty much operates on the assumption all of their fans follow the dirtsheets and know why people are leaving, so they're not going to waste time with a fictional explanation. They've probably got a point there.

5. I think WWE was doing something to make sure she got to be part of the show (since almost everyone else did) and adding an active WWE superstar to what's usually just a bunch of non-wrestlers talking and not really advancing angles.

More wrestling tomorrow.