SorceressKnight Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, For Great Justice said: I also will never understand the pre-internet dirt sheet crowd view of Gorilla as terrible. When I first discovered this, I thought well maybe I was a kid and it was all nostalgia and he sucked, but even watching now he’s really good. Never understoood it. Gorilla was always good, but it's likely the reason people thought he was terrible was that he was SUCH a good straightman at what he did. Once you're old enough to watch real sports and not just be enamored of the game, you realize that Gorilla Monsoon had a gimmick the whole time- he was the announcer for your home team's locally-televised games. That's basically the whole schtick Gorilla Monsoon had. Just like the home team's announcer- the home team has never committed a foul, even when they're intentionally fouling to get the ball back. The lowest man on your team's bench could drop a safe on the head of the opposing team's star and the home announcer would say it was overstated by the referee and proof the guy was on the take from the other team. Same schtick from Monsoon- whether it was Hulk Hogan or a random jobber in white boots, the guy could punch a child on the way to the ring and Gorilla would say "Eh, the kid had it coming to him." That made Gorilla far better than he gets credit for...because when you combine Gorilla being the homer announcer and being so good at selling his color men with Hulk Hogan's in-ring style being best described as "he's a classic heel wrestler who does his heel schtick to bad guys", that meant that Bobby Heenan and Jesse Ventura could tee off on Gorilla's claims and make Gorilla seem stupid for how much of a homer he was and how much he was letting the faces get away with. It worked with Heenan (because he was never supposed to be taken seriously and you knew Heenan was a homer for the bad guys), but with Ventura it never clicked as well because it was tempered with enough realism that even the most starry-eyed kid who thought it was all real would sometimes realize "wait a second...Ventura has a point there...". As far as whether Pettingill was just the real Vince's humor...I don't buy it. Todd Pettingill wasn't stupid Vince humor, he was a morning zoo guy brought into pro wrestling, and invariably his sense of humor would have fallen to...well, a morning zoo DJ. That doesn't seem like Vince's style- if Vince was doing DJ work, I'd assume he'd be the town's guy who is trying to be a shock jock, but failing miserably at the role and ends up "It's not good. It's not funny. It's not even that shocking. It's just...stupid." Edited April 29, 2020 by SorceressKnight 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 I have a soft spot for Leonard F. Chikarason & Mike Quackenbush as a team. *shrug* 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoneWolf&Subs Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 (edited) 2000’s Indie wrestling has some great lazy afternoon wrestling commentary. Dave Prazak(Non-ROH), Excalibur, Ultra Manis Black, etc... Really great stuff. I mean you got your Joey Styles wannabes in there like Eric Gargiulo, but honestly didn’t come across a lot of them. Edited April 29, 2020 by LoneWolf&Subs 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabremike Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 It will always be Monsoon/Heenan but Monsoon/Ventura was up there as well. I'll always remember watching the first Survivor Series and Hulk cleaning house at the end and Ventura going on this rant about Cleveland and how they were all losers cheering a loser and my dad and grandpa are completely laughing their asses off. With Heenan in WCW people seem to forget that he really went downhill when he know the company was going down the toilet. One thing I wish they had done was after Hogan turned have Heenan cut a promo on how he always saw through Hogan and that he always knew the guy was a fraud. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 1 hour ago, Johnny Sorrow said: My favorite announce team is Lance Russell and Dave Brown. As far as worst, nobody comes close to Bill Mercer. I agree with you that Mercer was terrible, but he at least provided a lot of unintentional hilarity. He said something like, “The Von Erichs are about to explode all over the Freebirds!” once and it had me rolling. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 (edited) 43 minutes ago, Edwin said: Man, this is a tough one. I'd take "OH, WHAT A MANEUVER!" and "ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN THE WWF!" Vince over Bischoff from what I recall, but to be honest I haven't revisited any RAW's or Nitro's in a while. I'd take Vince over Bischoff, but that's like having to choose between being kicked in the balls or having your balls stepped on. I can't think of too many things I wouldn't listen to over Eric Bischoff. Edited April 29, 2020 by Nice Guy Eddie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoneWolf&Subs Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 (edited) One thing about Bischoff was that if something wasn’t working he wouldn’t try to sell it, he’d practically give up on air. He wouldn’t take a dump on it, but he wouldn’t even try. So he’s the opposite of Vince when it comes to extremes. It’s pretty much is a pick your poison with those two. Edited April 29, 2020 by LoneWolf&Subs 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo-Yo's Roomie Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 I think that at least 90% of all commentators for all sports ever are terrible. Jesse Ventura is the GOAT. Heenan is overrated. Gorilla outright sucked. Tony is awesome. Lance Russell is better than almost everyone ever. Frank Bonnema is the most underrated/unheralded. Just my opinion, obviously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoneWolf&Subs Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 (edited) Heenan I’ll agree is overrated. He only had one really great night as a color guy for Flair’s Rumble, but Ventura always had a great night on commentary whether it be a syndicated show, or a big PPV. Heenan’s best stuff was on Prime Time as the comic foil to Gorilla. But he was definitely suited for commentary, unlike say Mean Gene who wasn’t, and tried to stay far away from it eventually. I’ll add that Heenan was the better overall on-air personality between him, and Ventura. He could do not only commentary, but also managing, presenting, PR tours, being one of the main antagonist of the top star in the company, and also still a great wrestler when needed. The guy could do it all. But just going by strictly on commentary, Ventura beats him all the time. Edited April 29, 2020 by LoneWolf&Subs 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 43 minutes ago, Log said: I agree with you that Mercer was terrible, but he at least provided a lot of unintentional hilarity. How about the dreaded "sleep hold"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edwin Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 (edited) I was rewatching the funny 8 man tag from IWA-MS with Punk, Claudio, Nigel, Sydal and Candido on YouTube and I noticed it's been 15 years ago today we lost Chris. Edited April 29, 2020 by Edwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Edwin said: I was rewatching the funny 8 man tag from IWA-MS with Punk, Claudio, Nigel, Sydal and Candido on YouTube and I noticed it's been 15 years ago today we lost Chris. I imagine Candido would have ended up booking for somebody or maybe a coach at the Performance Center, unless of course the Kliq still held a grudge. Edited April 29, 2020 by Nice Guy Eddie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ka-to Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 2 hours ago, Johnny Sorrow said: My favorite announce team is Lance Russell and Dave Brown. As far as worst, nobody comes close to Bill Mercer. My friends and I still speak of Shawn Mickels, Mils Mascaras and the sleep hold. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 3 minutes ago, ka-to said: My friends and I still speak of Shawn Mickels, Mils Mascaras and the sleep hold. The best thing about Shawn Mickels is that right before he called him that, he mentioned that he spoke to Shawn backstage but Shawn didn't have much to say, other than make sure you say my name right. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ka-to Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 (edited) A pet peeve of mine. It is the announcer's team (or table) or announcing team (or table). WTF is it called announce? Edited April 29, 2020 by ka-to x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kang Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 The Sleep Hold. Nice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt925 Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 1 hour ago, Yo-Yo's Roomie said: I think that at least 90% of all commentators for all sports ever are terrible. Jesse Ventura is the GOAT. Heenan is overrated. Gorilla outright sucked. Tony is awesome. Lance Russell is better than almost everyone ever. Frank Bonnema is the most underrated/unheralded. Just my opinion, obviously. I dislike most commentators too, but it must be incredibly difficult to just talk for 3 hours and be good. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dewar Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantel in SMW were a good announce team. Lance and Dave doing Memphis shows together we great, and Jim Ross and Jim Cornette together were always good. Cornette's OVW announcing was great as well. I always enjoyed Don Callis and Joe Aiello calling the local promotion's television together back in the 1990s. WWE has a good announce team between all of their shows, but they have the announcers working with people who suck. If we could have a Cole/McGuinness duo, and a Phillips/Samoa Joe duo, I would be quite happy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southside Jim Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 (edited) Edited April 29, 2020 by Southside Jim 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southside Jim Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 One announcer who doesn't get enough love is Gator McAllister on the earliest IWA Mid-South shows. Yes, he was announcing alongside sub-human piece of shit Ian Rotten, but he was still very entertaining. I'd love to see AEW pick Gator up to do some guest announcing. Corey Maclin was awful in USWA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordi the former AEW fan Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, Edwin said: Any speak Japanese and want to chip in on what the Japanese commentators are saying? I've always wondered what the Samurai! TV, GAORA, Nippon TV, etc. commentary teams were talking about during the events. I know they do a lot of recaps at the start and end, but I'm not sure what else are they talking about. What do they say during DDT on Samurai! TV, Toryumon JAPAN on GAORA or classic All Japan on Nippon? I'm hoping someone like @gordi can chip in. Hey @Edwin what I've done here is translate some of the commentary from the legendary Kawada vs Misawa June '94 match. My Japanese is good enough for most daily life situations, but listening to news or sports commentary at full speed is still tough for me. It's likely I've missed some of the nuances of what the announcers are saying. At the top of the show: Fukuzawa: If you're even thinking about changing the channel to our competition, fans, do not., because we've learned that at our competition, Yoshiaki Fujiwara is going to wrestle Shinya Hashimoto for their world title! Heh. That's gonna put some butts in the seats.. Hah. Baba: Will you stop! Wakabayashi: Fans, we've got a great night of action here for you here on Super Power Series! Abdullah The Butcher and Giant Kamala are here! In tag team action, we've got Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs Akira Taue & Tamon Honda... and what a main event we've got for you this evening! Baba: A Triple Crown Title Match. Wakabayashi: Champion Mitsuharu Misawa takes on top contender Toshiaki Kawada. It should be a real slobber-knocker! Fukuzawa: Both of those ham 'n' eggers attended Ashikaga Institute of Technology in Tochigi. What do you have to do there to graduate? Milk a cow with your left hand? Baba: Gimme a break! Fukuzawa: It's the greatest night in the history of our sport! At around the 25-minute mark, Kawada crushes Misawa, whi is bleeding from his ear, with a dangerous backdrop followed up by two folding powerbombs: Baba: Oh! Right on the external occipital protuberance! Wakabayashi: Will somebody stop the damned match? Baba: Good Gawd almighty! Wakabayashi: Buh Gawd! Count faster! Put them out of their misery! Fukuzawa: You know what's at stake? A man'll do anything! Wakabayashi: Pulling out all the stops, Toshiaki Kawada doing whatever necessary to hang in there. Fukuzawa: I'd do that to my own grandmother if I had to. Baba: I'm sure you would. Misawa puts Kawada away with the tiger driver '91: Fukuzawa: Tiger Driver '91! Tiger Driver '91! Tiger Driver '91! Wakabayashi: As Gawd is my witness, Kawada has been broken in half! Baba: What a maneuver! Wakabayashi: He gave us everything he had in him, tonight. Baba: This was the greatest night in the history of our sport. Fukuzawa: The pleasure was all yours, Baba. Edited April 29, 2020 by gordi 7 1 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edwin Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 2 minutes ago, gordi said: Fukuzawa: If you're even thinking about changing the channel to our competition, fans, do not., because we've learned that at our competition, Yoshiaki Fujiwara is going to wrestle Shinya Hashimoto for their world title! Heh. That's gonna put some butts in the seats.. Hah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rehabilitated Rick Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 Brock is probably the greatest ever. On all fronts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 6 hours ago, Rehabilitated Rick said: Brock is probably the greatest ever. On all fronts. I was just telling a friend the other day that Bobby Heenan has to be at least top -5 for best all-time wrestling performers. He was great at everything he did. Great worker, manager and announcer. If I was building a promotion, and could hand-pick any performers throughout wrestling history, Heenan would be at the top of my list. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 Suplex City Brock has the worst formula in pro wrestling history. I can't think of anything else that's even in the argument. That his matches are exciting is both a testament to the current stale WWE product and the fact that if you tear down narrative rules all the time instead of following them you can have short term excitement but at a high long-term cost. It's a hell of a lot easier to tear something down than to build it up. 2003 Brock was loads better than the current version. Greatest wasted talent maybe. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts