And You Thought Cole Was Bad - Ladies & Gentlemen, I Give You - Matt Striker!!!

[Robstar]

I truly thought I liked Matt Striker's announcing. I felt certain that in time, he'd iron out the kinks and find his own stride. I was convinced that he would one day be the voice of WWE. And hey, all those things might still one day happen. But 2 things happened in the past few days that have given me a new perspective.

One was I participated in a discussion here about Good Ol' JR and the other was watching this weeks Smackdown.

The discussion made me appreciate what we had with JR and his ability to sell the action and make you feel involved. As someone on that forum put it so aptly, you just don't know what you have got until it's gone. So it was with this in mind when watching Smackdown and listening to Striker, I came to realise just how large JR's shadow looms. People bag Cole but listening to Matt Striker I realised the only thing he's selling is himself.

I used to find Striker's knowledge of wrestling and quirky anecdotes and jibes quite entertaining, only to now hear that he's more interested in being heard than translating the action to the viewer; he never lets you forget that you are listening to Matt Striker calling a match and he knows stuff. He's not selling me what's happening right in front of me and while I'm a big boy and can work it out for myself, it made me long for JR's natural gift for making us all a part of the show.

Matt Striker - DO YOUR JOB!!! Quit making Smackdown your own personal radio show. Don't you get enough of the spotlight on NXT? But wait - you try and steal that too! While being in the invaluable position where you might actually help new talent, you manage to not help - actively hindering the rookies on many occasions.

Thoughts?

[IPEEINTHESHOWER]

Since this is a discussion, allow me to give you some of my thoughts on this matter. First, no one will ever replace JR he simply was that damn good at his job. Matt Striker is doing his job. It's hard to make cupcakes out of horse shit and that's what he has to do every Tuesday on NXT. His knowledge of wrestling is just awesome. Most importantly he has an earpiece on and he say's what he is told to say. Last but not least, this is a dog eat dog world, you have to sell yourself and simply put if he upsets you, it shows you care so in the end that is all that matters. And i think you forget my friend that when he was rasslin he was a heel teacher so in other words he is so good at what he is doing you fail to realize he is the same heel teacher persona he has always been. can i add you to my facebook friend.hahahahahah

[Necroyeti]

I don't have much to say, except that I personally like Matt Stiker's style and his obscure wrestling/pop culture references.

Here's what good ol' JR has to say about Striker. Dunno who Bobby Knight is, but I'm sure it's a compliment.

[Robstar]

I just get frustrated because I know he has all the natural ability in the world without the necessary focus. But I guess he's the heel role/colour commentator and it's mainly Grisham's job to do the play by play

[TheDevilsAdvocate]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Matt Striker has his moments, but what gets under my skin is that NONE of the commentators are completely focused on the match. For example; One time Dolph Ziggler was going up against Kane.. During that match they were talking about Big Show, Straight Edge Society, Jack Swagger, and through out that entire match they only call a neck breaker, and a sleeper hold. That just isn't right..

[eyehatecena]

I have to agree with the shower peeing guy, lol.They are just doing what they are told to do. As great as JR is, he was having to do the same thing- talk about other crap other than whats going on in the ring.

[djsoulslayer]

I like Striker but sometimes he just makes me cringe from an adjective overdose. I think he just tries too hard.

[Splattered-Dreams]

I like Striker but sometimes he just makes me cringe from an adjective overdose. I think he just tries too hard.

a bit like coach

[jethro]

I'm fine by his style of commentating,sometimes he mentioned some of wrestlers name outside wwe like Kobashi and I thought wwe prohibited mentioning certain wrestlers.

[Robstar]

I'm fine by his style of commentating,sometimes he mentioned some of wrestlers name outside wwe like Kobashi and I thought wwe prohibited mentioning certain wrestlers.

I love it when he does this. Some people make it sound as if everything they say is fed through the headphones - not so. They do get a chance to improvise and Striker just happens to be very good at that, since he has such an extensive knowledge of the business. "Adjective overdose" - that's the name for it!!! Well put. Also, how often is Vince in the gorilla position? Is it Laurinitis who does Smackdown?