Michael Sweetser

@Liam O'Rourke Any chance of getting the Pillman book on Kindle or another ebook provider?

All this baloney and I never got to referee an NWA World title match like I wanted. I should've just gone to CZW, apparently. (Closest I came was Bryan Danielson vs. Adam Pearce in the semifinals of the tournament in 2007 after they took the title from TNA. Had Pearce not lost the title to Blue Demon the week before a show I did in Penticton in 2008, Pearce vs. Brent Albright would've been for the title. So close.) I'm surprised at Marquez buying into CZW; everything I always heard was that he never wanted anything to do with them.

Oddly, I cannot stomach New Japan with English commentary. JR and Barnett are horrible to me, and although Kelly and Callis are better, they come across way too smarky and self-appreciative for my liking. I think part of it is that when I started watching Japanese wrestling on tapes (like a lot of people here) we didn't HAVE the luxury of English commentary, so I just got used to the Japanese announcers and it feels odd without it. Even if I don't speak the language, the passion comes across.

I actually haven't watched most WWE TV with sound for quite a while - my wife isn't that interested in it, so I watch on the TV I use for gaming that has wireless headphones. Occasionally I'll throw the headphones on for an important match, but other than that, I haven't seen the point in quite some time.

Do I think HHH is going to beat Jinder? No. Do I *hope* HHH is going to beat Jinder? Oh, dear god, yes.

That escalated quickly.

My wife loves brussels sprouts. I'm pretty sure if we ever get divorced, this will be my slam dunk to get full custody of our cats.

Do we hate Triple H this week? I've been busy and haven't kept my scorecard up to date.

Ford GT != Ford Mustang GT. Two completely different cars.

The rules for the WON HOF are: At least 15 years of experience, or; Over 35 years old and at least 10 years of experience Omega debuted in 2000 and will be 35 next year, so he already qualifies. I'm thinking the rules need to be modified, considering how many workers are not only starting out very young these days, but are wrestling for far longer, and not staying retired even when they say they will. The age requirement always seemed insanely low to me - back in the day, most guys wouldn't even get a push till they were in their 30s. As Cornette has brought up before, Nick Bockwinkel was 41 when he won his first AWA World title. It feels weird for a guy like AJ Styles to be in the HOF, despite being 40, since it feels like he's still doing the best work of his career right now.

Daryl is happy for Suzuki going in, because he doesn't want an even more painful repeat of what Bad Luck Fale did to him.

This is actually an excellent point, especially considering the hassle over Cole/Fish/O'Reilly. If anything, it's already gotten WWE's attention because of that.

You're making me want to go through WD2 again, JT. You're absolutely correct - a million times better than the original. I spent way too much time getting Marcus' look just right, and I loved the characters, especially Wrench and his LED emoji shades.

I think I'm the only person in the Northwest that *didn't* work with/for Flowers at some point in my career.

I think my character in WWE 2K18 MyCareer has that exact hairstyle.

I always thought that, but Luger went over him clean at Survivor Series '93 and they never seemed to care to return to the feud, so I'm pretty sure they had given up on him and were in the process of pushing him back down the card.

If the real number is 7898, it's 7898. As we know, the numbers don't lie.

I think this got brought up earlier/elsewhere, but I'd agree that the closest would be Daniel Bryan's impossible run in 2014 being cut short.

I'd buy Asuka more than I'd buy Balor. (Not really, but stoking the flames is fun)

At this point, the only viable WrestleMania main event might be Brock vs. Roman vs. Asuka.

By that logic, the winner of the Rumble always eliminates 29 other people. Transitive property for the big win.

Listed weights are one thing - AJ's physically more impressive looking than Balor, at least size-wise. Styles has also shown more in WWE, which isn't Balor's fault, but there you go. I'm not saying Balor can't work an interesting match with Brock - that's stupid. I'm saying that kayfabe-wise, I don't buy Balor as a threat.

I should probably have this in the WWE discussion thread, but the thing to me about Balor vs. Lesnar is this - I don't buy Balor can beat Brock with the immense size difference between the two. Even in kayfabe, skill can only take you so far, and it becomes less like Bret vs. Diesel and more like Oberyn vs. the Mountain. Bronn had the quote right and it applies here: "He's freakish big and freakish strong, and quicker than you'd expect for a man of that size. Maybe I could take him, dance around until he's so tired from hacking at me he dropped his sword, get him off his feet somehow...but one misstep and I'm dead." If Joe, Styles and Braun aren't stopping Brock, neither is Balor. Why is everyone so keen to see Balor get squashed like a bug? He's already struggling as it is.

I can't possibly see how this turns out well for Cody and the Bucks, but holy shit do I wish them the best of luck and hope they can somehow pull it off. 2017 has been an absolutely insane year for pro wrestling worldwide and it already looks like 2018's going to be even nuttier.