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In-Ring Announcers


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One thing that I believe is a long-lost art in the great thing that is professional wrestling is the in-ring announcer. Much like the commentators and rings themselves I'm fascinated by the vast ammount of variety there is when it comes to the different styles, such as cadence, pronunciation, etc. What are some of your favorites? Least favorites?

I'd be remiss if I didn't start with whom I've always believed to be the best of all time, Howard Finkel. I'm sure most of us grew up hearing him, espically looking forward to whenever a new champion would be crowned so you could hear him say, "the winner and NEEEEEW..."

While Finkel was national, I always liked the little quirks of arenas/regions having their own announcer.

Frank Chrzanowski usually announced at the Boston Garden.

 

Norm Kimber announced at the Maple Leaf Gardens and was probably my second favorite behind Finkel.

Honorable mentions would be Joe McHugh and Mike McGuirk.

My least favorites would be the guy they had tried to replace Finkel with in the early to mid-90's (Barry Dunn maybe?), and I know I'll get flack for it, but Gary Michael Cappetta. He was just too....nasal? And I wasn't a fan of his cadence.

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I always dug Marc Lowrance in World Class. Very smooth delivery, he dressed the part, and also had a droll sense of humor that peeked through here and there. "(One Man Gang's) opponent, standing outside the ring, where I wish I was..." 

 

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When TNA would have Borash do the ring announcements for Main Events of PPVs, instead of the one guy who did every other match, it would add to it. Especially because he'd use "Reigning, Defending" in the proper context (you're only the defending Champion if you're actually about to defend it in an actual title match). And because he was better than the usual guy.

Christy Hemme was good at it too. Way better than boring Lillian Garcia.

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Vittorino was a fantastic announcer for CMLL back in the day. Sadly he passed away from a heart attack during a show. 

Bonus: Vampiro, Mexico's most LUDICROUSLY over babyface. 

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My first taste of wrestling came in the 80s at the WWF's syndicated shows. Joe McHugh was the classic, old-school ring announcer, giving the audience a feel that this was a special event, and opening each show "boxing-style", announcing the doctor at ringside, the timekeeper and the referees we'd see during the hour. Then he concluded with "And my name is ... JOOOOOOOOE MCHUGH." Always liked that.

May be in the minority, but I think Greg Hamilton of SmackDown has potential. Shows a lot of personality in some introductions, but he doesn't seem to get the same opportunities that the Raw counterparts get.

 

 

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Well damn, you motherfuckers already mentioned a lot of my favorites (Cappetta, Cruise, Fink, Miller). I'll add to the list of great announcers with Bob Artese and Horshack from ECW. Artese had a way of adding a big fight feel to matches like Taz vs. Sabu from Barely Legal. And as for DeAngelis, I always loved his voice.

One guy that doesn't get mentioned nearly enough to me is Dave Penzer. He had that style and delivery that fit the Southern style of WCW after Cappetta left. But you know why he gets forgotten in the annals of wrestling history? Because of fucking stupid ass WCW putting Michael Buffer in that role! 

Outside of wrestling, I think one guy that would've been great as a pro wrestling ring announcer is Jeff Temkin. He was the announcer for the Rocky Balboa-Apollo Creed rematch. When I did ring announcing in the indies, that was one of the main guys that I emulated. I just loved his delivery and attention to detail.

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10 hours ago, Thomas Bugg said:

One guy that doesn't get mentioned nearly enough to me is Dave Penzer. He had that style and delivery that fit the Southern style of WCW after Cappetta left. But you know why he gets forgotten in the annals of wrestling history? Because of fucking stupid ass WCW putting Michael Buffer in that role!

Always liked Penzer as well, very distinctive, great Hulk Hogan intro.

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Of all of the nameless hot women WWE has gotten to do ring announcing over the years, I always like Lauren Mayhew from WWECW as she actually used a different cadence then every other WWE ring announcer and she always announced the ECW Champion as "Your ECW Champion!" which I thought was a nice touch.

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31 minutes ago, Shibata Is My Homie said:

Dave Zinkoff was the Sixers PA announcer for many a year. He also did some SPECTRUM Wrestling in the early 1908's and he was awesome.

The wood carvings from those old Philly shows looked amazing. 

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2 hours ago, Vgmastr said:

Of all of the nameless hot women WWE has gotten to do ring announcing over the years, I always like Lauren Mayhew from WWECW as she actually used a different cadence then every other WWE ring announcer and she always announced the ECW Champion as "Your ECW Champion!" which I thought was a nice touch.

Great call, huge fan of her as well. Very short run but memorable, wish she was around longer.

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6 hours ago, Michael Sweetser said:

Another negative for Penzer is that WCW rarely bothered to actually add his mic's feed to the show audio, so unless you were listening close, you couldn't hear him.

This is so true. I was always hearing the grown-ups from Peanuts talking during the intros  (blah blaaaah).

Fink is THE announcer for me. Everything about him was perfect. I'm sure he did mess up in his career, but I never heard / recognized it.

New Japan's 90ies ring announcer was great and added to the matches, not sure if they still use him. 

Not sure if good, and even less sure if she ever announced pro Wrestling events, but that PRIDE announcer had me entertained every time. "FROM RRRRUUSSSIA...with love!"

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I want to be in a version of the new Kia commercial "Meeting" where Gary Michael Capetta is announcing that I am on my way to work while Chancellor Warhol's Elvis is blasting in the background..

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An announcer that @James F'n X and I always enjoyed was Bill Dunn, who did the main Raw and PPV announcing for a spell in 1993.  Something about his voice cadence sounded great, even though it felt that he was new enough that he didn't quite know what to say in the right situation (a lot of instances of "for the Intercontinental championship title", although who knows if that was Vince telling him what to do and him taking it verbatim).

<oldmanyellsatcloud>

Even more so than referees, it blows me away how many shitty ring announcers there are, especially on the indies.  Everyone seems to think it's as simple as holding a microphone and mentioning the guys working, and as someone that's done a spell or two as ring announcer in ECCW several years back, it drove me insane.  

It's not that hard to spend a few minutes to:

  • Look at least halfway presentable.  I'm not saying to dress in a tux the whole time, but at least have clean clothes and don't look like another one of the fans.
  • TALK to each of the wrestlers!  Find their height, weight, hometown, and anything that might make the ring announcement more professional or interesting.  If they have a little schtick they like to do, get the details.  (For example, in DOA, Dr. Kliever has a long, written-out introduction that he likes to have for his character.  He has no problem even writing it down for you, just to get it right - but you do have to ask.)  This is where note cards come in handy.  
  • Maybe even more important, talk to the promoters!  Are there any upcoming shows to hype?  Are there sponsors to plug?  If so, those sponsors are usually pretty particular about how to be announced and how many times during the show to be discussed.  Is there a merch stand?  50/50 drawing?

It's not difficult, but holy shit do I see it screwed up a lot.  Don't just get a damn "radio personality" that couldn't care less about the show.

</oldmanyellsatcloud>

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