I have just discovered that Joey Styles is currently Vice President of Digital Media Content for the WWE website. Why on earth is he not being utilized in an announcer's role? Seriously- not even on NXT?? Do we chalk this one up to brainless politics as is usually the case or do you think maybe Joey preferred the website gig?
As I understand it, Joey could go back to announcing whenever he wanted, but chooses to do the website gig because he doesn't have to put up with the bullshit involved with being an announcer and can run his much more profitable side ventures selling coins at the same time. He never wanted to be a full time guy again.
Plus he still hosts the ECW retrospectives on WWE Classics on Demand where he tells a lot of the back stories that you saw on that first ECW Unreleased DVD. By all accounts he loves his current job and wants nothing to do with announcing again.
ReplyDeleteAlso, VP of Digital Media Content would be an awesome job.
ReplyDeleteHe's to busy plugging Amazon products.
ReplyDeleteNot everyone wants to do the same thing forever.
ReplyDeleteBecause being a WWE announcer is a nightmare. You are basically a puppet with Vince's hand up your ass, which is why Cole has emerged as the frontrunner. Joey and Foley have both said how it is basically Vince screaming into your headset for 2 (now 3) hours.
ReplyDeleteand lets be honest his "OH MY GOD" is a bit disingenuous
ReplyDeleteIts gonna be the future of the WWE once the network gets up and running (IF)
ReplyDeleteTo this day, he is the only guy who has seemed capable of replacing JR. Coachman, Matthews, Grisham, Adamle, Cole, etc. have all tried and failed. Some tried admirably and had potential at various times, but no one could really seem like "the" voice. Someone who was an intriguing storyteller that you wouldn't mind shooting the shat with after a show. Most importantly, someone who could have some bass in his damn voice.
ReplyDeleteThen again, my favorite current play-by-play guy is Scott Stanford and my favorite color man is Regal, so what do I know?
Anyway, like all the others are saying, Styles seems pretty happy and satisfied with his life (which sucks for us, but oh well). In fact, he has stated emphatically many times that he doesn't want to return to announcing and loves his job right now.
Yeah, the announcing for Cena-Ziggler was brutal and you can tell completely directed by Vince. Here's an example:
ReplyDeleteCena comes out. Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOO
Cole: This is what Ziggler is jealous of, this reaction of the WWE Universe
Crowd: Let's Go Ziggler!
Lawler: This crowd is tough, they would boo Santa Claus.
Yeah, I don't feel the loss b/c I still get requisite doses of Jo-Jo from the 24/7 ECW shows. I have a feeling that Vince doesn't monitor those b/c Joey often times doesn't hold things back.
ReplyDeleteOne memorable example was soon after he knocked out JBL, and there was some reference to JBL and Joey made a veiled reference to punching him out, and he followed it with "If you get it, you get it. If you don't, you don't" that was funny largely b/c of his timing when saying it.
The announcing for that whole show was brutal, particularly the Big Show match.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really care for Joey's WWE run. I think it's because they always stuck him with other commentators when he works best as a solo act. That, and the silly "OH MY GOD!" shit. It was annoying enough in ECW, but on a WWE show it came off as really bush.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most overrated announcers ever.
ReplyDeleteI think he's also on record as saying he'd never go back full time as he didn't enjoy the travel schedule that comes with it
ReplyDeleteHe and Joel Gertner were a great announcing team when they didn't become a sad shell of themselves.
ReplyDeleteTo tell you the truth, I'm not sure I WOULD want to shoot the shit with Joey after a show. The guy frequently comes across as an arrogant know it all. Like if you ever refer to the ECW brand as "ECW," even in a complimentary fashion, he'll say "Actually, that was WWECW, not the real ECW." Or we could have an unseasonably cold day in Spring, and he'll say, "See idiots, global warming is a myth." Showing that he doesn't even know what "global warming" means.
ReplyDeleteYeah, his Twitter gets bad when he starts yelling about Obama being the Kenyan Communist Devil that's coming to take our guns and give us our new Muslim names.
ReplyDeleteOh, he's on that bullshit now? Fuck him then.
ReplyDeletehow? he wasnt bad. i always thought he called the action very well and did the oversell of the action when it needed.
ReplyDeleteOn the flip side, WWE.com has been pretty darn good under his watch.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he's pretty darn right wing.
ReplyDeleteCornett did a HILARIOUS shoot were he shit all over Styles and the far right
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I will probably get heat for this but I think Gordon Solie is one of the most overrated ever...
ReplyDeleteThey never really seemed to let him do what he does... which was both obvious and confirmed by the worked shoot promo he cut when he was written out.
ReplyDeleteGordon Zzzzzzzzolie more like it.
ReplyDeleteThat makes me very sad
ReplyDeleteI like Solie but I do agree that I think a lot of his love comes from nostalgia more than anything else.
ReplyDeleteI really miss announcers that sell big moves and spots in the manner of "Fucking hell! Did you see that?" Nowadays everyone does the sombre "I think he could be really hurt ladies and gentleman" to try and make it seem more "real"
ReplyDeleteCornette the old school southern wrestling manager is liberal, and Joey Styles the voice of extreme counter-culture wrestling is conservative. That's irony
ReplyDeletePeople keep saying that Raw isn't appointment TV anymore, and they're right. But as far as I'm concerned, WWE.com IS an appointment website visit. I'm not a huge sports fan so I don't visit sites like ESPN.com and such, but WWE.com feels like that sort of website. They evaluate statistics and patterns and delve into histories and rivalries that are often forgotten or disregarded on the TV shows.
ReplyDeletePlus, it's pretty damn sleek looking. Their Superstar page looks awesome and they update their Alumni section every Thursday. Their lists can be headscratchers at time, but at least they've informative and fun.
But am I the only one getting overloaded with that f'n Boost Mobile pop down? Like, if you go to a photo page, it'll come up EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU view a photo.
CCC- Crazy Conservative Crackheads? IIRC
ReplyDeleteCCC-Crazy Cristian Cocksuckers if I remember right
ReplyDeleteThere you go. This guy gets it.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's pretty fucking bizarre.
ReplyDeleteCornette is a guy that I think I could really get along with, (yes, I know he's an asshole) but wrestling has left him so far behind it's unreal. Guy should pack it up.
i stopped goin to wwf.com dec 31, 1999
ReplyDeleteas a head Booker he's been left behind--but if I'm head Booker of a fed, I want Cornette on my dream team of advisors-you can't book like it's the 80's anymore, but sometimes it pays to have a little old school
ReplyDeleteWell said. Cornette is behind the times by mid-90's standards, he never bothered to catch up, and just carried on under the opinion that he's the only one who gets it. It's sad.
ReplyDeleteThink he's okay on his own. Meh with color guys especially if it's Shane Douglas.
ReplyDeleteJoey was an awesome announcer and captured ECW perfectly.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite was Jesse Ventura, he told the game the way it should be told.
Joey's delivery was well suited for ECW classic, but he's too raw and blunt for WWE's announcing style. His "OH MY GOD" call got over because Joey could sell highspots for a company that excelled at them. Joey calling the current "story first, action second" product would't end well for anyone.
ReplyDeletei just stumbled across that randomly on youtube a few weeks ago and at some point when joey's rant becomes tedious, there was a crowd shot of a guy holding up his phone to his ear with a "i am not part of this" look on his face that struck me as fucking hilarious.
ReplyDeleteannouncer angles.
CCC- Conservative Christian Cocksuckers.
ReplyDeleteI hate when people use unseasonably cold days to "prove" global warming is a "myth."
ReplyDeleteJoey punched out JBL? If so my respect of him went up 100x.
ReplyDeleteSo, hijack this thread for Monday Night Raw??
ReplyDeleteOh god. Why am I watching a taped Raw on NYE?
ReplyDeleteI didnt read the spoilers, so what the heck.
ReplyDeleteTHE FUJ IS IN THE BUILDING FOR NYE SON!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't know. His approach was much more conversational, like you were sitting down and this guy was describing the match directly to you and no one else. I like that. It's not everyone's style, I get that, but I'll take it over almost everything I've heard for the past decade.
ReplyDeleteI did and I thought the show sounded terrible. And yet I'm still watching.
ReplyDeletetrue dedication to your hobby
ReplyDeleteBecause I have to be at work at 6am? Oh, you meant you. Yeah, bud, I have no clue.
ReplyDeleteI'm just gonna post whore since nobody is here so I can finally catch jobber.
ReplyDeleteI am just......so far behind.
ReplyDeleteI can put a live thread up if you guys want one.
ReplyDeleteFinally got an HDTV for Xmas. At least Raw looks fantastic in HD.
ReplyDeleteSounds like the last segment is going to be awesome!
ReplyDelete#sarcasm
I think it's gonna be the shit myself.
ReplyDeleteUm....I can only make fun of that post.
ReplyDeleteDo it.
ReplyDeleteIt's like watching a bad movie that you've already seen before.
ReplyDeleteI don't get it.
ReplyDeleteThey were pretty good during the Shield match. Especially JBL. Cole tried to say how the Shield had only been winning because of the "numbers game" and JBL shut him down with what are you talking about it's 3 on 3! They have the same amount of people the Shield are just smart. they are using strategy and team work. Owned!
ReplyDeleteCornette can be as behind as he wants, just don't fuck with his Dairy Queen.
ReplyDeleteHe still might have some decent ideas about certain gimmicks and angles, and as an on-screen talent he still has it, but as far as the overall artistic director of a promotion?
ReplyDeleteThough, to be perfectly fair (to Flair) I don't think Heyman has it either, his recent booking ideas about TNA were pretty awful. Wrestling is not MMA.
Yeah. IIFC, it happened around the first ONS.
ReplyDeleteI liked when he worked with Cyrus.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've never really cared for Solie. He's not awful by any stretch of the imagination, but he's just not what I prefer to listen to when watching a wrestling match.
ReplyDeleteI always thought Heyman was really overrated as a booker.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts on Heyman are the same as cornette, on a team yeah he could be helpful-as head guy? stuck in the late 90's
ReplyDeleteIIFC?
ReplyDeleteFucked up. Replace the F with a R.
ReplyDeleteI mean, he had what...2 maybe 3 years before everything went completely to shit? Say what you want about Vince, at least he concludes angles in a satisfactory way (honestly, he's really good at that).
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that most of his booking ideas are basically designed for smarks. Making Daniel Bryan the unbeatable submission guy who taps everybody out in 5 seconds is pure masturbation fodder, a guy as talented as Bryan doesn't need to win every match to stay over, and turning Dragon into GoldBryan wouldn't really do much for Bryan.
ReplyDeleteFair. I Googled that and kept getting Islamic Finance stuff.. Something didn't add up.
ReplyDeleteThe only ECW angle I remember having any conclusion at all was the Raven/Tommy/Beulah thing (which, BTW, was a total Raven creation), and that's only because Raven left for WCW.
ReplyDeleteThe best Play-by- Play announcers of all time are
ReplyDelete1) Jim Ross
2) Gordon Solie
3) Lance Russel
4) Joey Styles
5) Gorilla Monsoon
Color Commentators:
1) Bobby Heenan
2) Jesse Ventura
3) Paul Heyman
4) Jim Cornette
5) Johnny Polo
I think it was Joey's Receipt for JBL taking liberties with the Blue Meanie at the first ONS.
ReplyDeleteYou know me, I go crazy for Islamic Finances.
ReplyDelete