Lance Russell Has Died

[The Green Meanie]

I'll admit right away I'm not really familiar with his work since I never really kept up with the whole Memphis area, but I'm a little surprised that he's regarded as the best announcer ever. Not putting him down at all, just curious as I thought people like Gordon Solie, Bobby Heenan, and JR were regarded as the best.

From what I have seen, he seemed like a very entertaining and honest announcer with that down to earth kind of style and feeling, like someone said above, like your friendly wrestling-loving grandfather.

[w. josh]

Solie and JR had/have prolonged periods of flat, disinterested (and, let's be honest, alcohol-impaired) commentary at the end of their careers, and Heenan was a color guy, not a lead. Even when Lance was being used as a third-tier guy in WCW,  he always came across as engaged and excited by pretty much everything. He made you feel like the bad guys were the worst human beings to walk the face of the earth and the good guys were world-conquering underdog heroes to their core. When the bad guy is Barry Darsaw dressed as a golfer and the good guy is named Z-Man, that's an impressive feat.

[Rev Ray]

allan_cheapshot posted this blooper of Lance with Al Costello on twitter:

 

 

[Infinit]

My first exposure to Lance was when he hosted WCW Pro with The Freebirds. And he was pretty great in that role. Didn't get to see his amazing Memphis work until years later. It's a shame Jerry Lawler or Michael Hayes didn't pull some strings and get Lance into the WWE HoF while he was still alive. 

RIP Lance

[BobbyWhioux]

Lance Russell was the platonic ideal of a wrestling broadcaster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thee Reverend Axl Future]

On 10/4/2017 at 11:00 AM, Rev Ray said:

allan_cheapshot posted this blooper of Lance with Al Costello on twitter:

 

 

Potty-mouth LR just makes me appreciate and miss him more.

- RAF

[Hagan]

Watched some '86 Memphis today. Man, was Lance good. I mean, I watched the end of his Memphis run when I was a kid and, even 30 years later, I knew that Dave Brown and Lance were just incredible. Going back, however, it really does blow everyone out of the water. I don't think anyone could do what Lance did, honestly. 

Now, I never have watched any CWF with Solie. For those familiar with both in their prime, how would you compare? 

[Pete]

From Meltz' obit, a passage on Lance's rough final week with his daughter in hospice care in Memphis:

Quote

(Lance) was having trouble getting around, but when his son went to see his daughter and Lance stayed at his daughter’s house, he was supposed to stay inside. But he would want to go out. He took (their dog) Buddy for a walk in an area he wasn’t familiar. And then he disappeared. He had fallen and didn’t know where he was and panicked. His son came back to the house and couldn’t find him. He called 911 for help, saying his father had disappeared. When they asked the name, he said, “Lance Russell,” The dispatcher said, “Lance Russell from wrestling, well we’d better find him.”

Somebody had already found him and of course, this was Memphis. As soon as they saw him, they instantly knew who he was. If you lived in Memphis and were over the age of 35 or 40, you knew him on sight, even if he was 91 years old and it had been 21 years since he was last regularly on television.

The person who found him knew exactly who he was. If you saw Lance Russell in trouble, what’s the first thing you would think to do instinctively? They called Dave Brown.

 

[NikoBaltimore]

I admittedly didn't watch much of Lance's work as I mainly grew up on WWF announcing.  But from what I did see he was amazing at what he did.  I was more appreciative of how in this wacky world of wrestling he was one of the absolute nicest guys around.  I can't imagine anybody having a bad word to say about him, and if anybody did you'd think they were crazy.  He was like the awesome grandpa you wish you had.

I feel so horrible for his family though.  It's tough losing one member (his daughter)  But to lose Lance soon after must take one helluva emotional toll on them.  Hopefully they make it through okay.  RIP Lance.