2009 Running Pro Wrestling Thread

I think Schiavone was certainly better than, say, Michael Cole. He wasn't bad. I still wouldn't put him in the class of guys like Jim Ross.

 

Kinda like Lawler when he was a heel announcer for the longest time?

 

My list:
1. Solie -- Watched a lot of shows on WWE 24/7 when I had that channel, and Solie is hands down my favorite announcer.
2. JR -- Never will forget "Stone Cold! Stone Cold! Stone Cold!"
3. Jonathan Coachman -- This may get me a lot of heat here, but the guy could bring it on the mic. Love seeing him anchoring the weekend SportsCenter now.
4. Joey Styles -- No question, the voice of ECW as I choose to remember it.
5. Bobby The Brain -- Best. Heel. Announcer. Ever.

 

Although he's relatively new to the position, I'm loving Matt Striker at the booth. He's insightful, speaks well and he gets to the crowd.

I still wish he was an active wrestler, but oh well.

 

He's a keeper. I think he's a much better announcer than wrestler. He's already way better than Taz ever was at the booth and I'd rank him No. 2 in the industry behind Ross.

 

So I'm watching the last bit of ECW, and I heard that Tommy Dreamer will walk away if he does not win the ECW Championship at Extreme Rules?

What are you guys reading online? Is he supposed to win it or is he retiring for good? I can't imagine the guy has much left in the tank.

 

Agreed on Striker.

I spent much of years 6 and 7 of my life begging my mom to let me rent the WWF PPVs on VHS (I'm 23 now), so the signature booth for me is Monsoon/Ventura. Not the best...just the one that, to me, is synonymous with pro wrestling. That being said, JR and Lawler are probably my favorite pair because of the chemistry they have/had and their ability to always add to the action, but staying enough out of the way not to take away from it. Every time I watch an old WCW match, I can't help but have my attention shift toward how terrible Schiavone was.

Heenan, of course, was fantastic. Even if he lost an argument with the face announcer du jour, he always had something witty to fight back with.

 

No mention of "Mean Gene" Okerlund? He was one of my favorites and a genuine nice guy. Had the chance to meet him and he was gracious, open and totally a real people.

 

Mean Gene's a legend, but he never called matches did he? I could be wrong there. For an interviewer, he's hands down the best, most memorable and likeable. There will never be another.

Some other thoughts on the subject:
Never been a fan of either Lawler or Cole, which makes Monday nights particularly painful. Petrie - certainly Monsoon/Ventura are high up on the best announcing teams of all time in my book...always entertaining, oftentimes more so than the match they were calling. Heenan will always be remembered for his unique style and wit, although I found him rather annoying in WCW but just brilliant in WWF. Joey Styles had a similar uniqueness and some kind of odd integrity I thought he always brought to the outrageous ECW broadcasts. Josh Mathews is not bad for a young guy (28 yrs. old) and has shown some strong early chemistry with Striker. I really enjoyed Mike Tenay's work in WCW, but he's basically a shell of himself over in TNA.

 

Mean Gene would call an occasional match, usually with Monsoon.

Schiavone wasn't bad, but he tended to get on my nerves. Plus, it got ridiculous every week that he would say that 'This is the best Nitro ever!', even if Bischoff was the one telling him to say it.

Gorilla and Heenan were the best, particularly when they hosted Prime Time Wrestling on Monday nights. I liked Ventura too. I always noticed that he would dial down the heel commentary if he was broadcasting with Gorilla. He was more funnier when he was yelling at Vince.

Ross and Lawler are great, too, particularly in big matches.

Like KY, I never heard much of Solie growing up. But the times I've heard him, he's fantastic. A true legend.

A few other underrated commentators:
1. Bill Mercer, with World Class. Very good, although he would call a simple kick to the head a dropkick, for some reason.
2. Mike Tenay. He's O.K. as a lead commentator, but I liked him better when he was the third man in the booth with Schiavone and the Brain.
3. Larry Zbyszko: Good at getting his point across.

 

Lance Russell deserves to be in this conversation.

And Marc Lowrance > Bill Mercer.

 

Todd Pettingill [ducking]