No, this is not a late "April Fools" joke. PWInsider says starting tonight, Mike Adamle will take over for Joey Styles as the lead PBP man for ECW, with Styles moving to a different part of the company. Meltzer says it's permanent.
I really would like to hear the rationale behind this move. I understand that Styles has had problems "WWE-ing" up his announcing, but replacing him with Mike freakin' Adamle? Jeez...
Ladies and gentlemen, the following public service message is brought to you by your friends from D-Generation X, who would like to remind each and every one of you that if you're not down with that, we've got two words for you... I think it's a good idea to make Adamle a play-by-play man. It's certainly a better role for him given his past success on AG and held in comparison to what they've done with him since they hired him in January.
I am not a fan of taking Joey Styles away from commentating though. I would put him on Smackdown next to Cole as a color guy - I'm sure Joey can pull it off given that a) He essentially had to handle both roles in the days where he commentated ECW by himself; b) Anyone would be an improvement over Coach.
Hopefully they'll listen to reason on the latter problem after a month or two.
smark/net attack Advisory System Status is: Elevated (Holds; June 18, 2006) While the switch from Cena to RVD should alleviate some complaints, the inevitability of the belt's return to Cena (note where Summerslam is this year) and the poor initial showing by the new ECW are enough to keep the indicator where it is for now. The pieces are in place, though, especially on RAW, for improvements to be made to the IWC's psyche in the near future.
Originally posted by spfThis would never happen if ECW were still alive.
Because they wouldn't be able to afford an announcer! BA DUM BUM
I'm so glad everyone's going to give the guy AT LEAST ONE SHOW before they make their minds up.
(I won't consider this move a success for the WWE until I hear Adamle repeatedly saying "OOH!" in sync with every hard forearm shot)
I've spent over 20 years dealing with Mike Adamle invading my tv. He is like the Rasputin of Chicago sports television. He has been terrible in every other venue that we've ever seen him in. Is anyone out there ever compelled to turn up the volume on ESPN Classic broadcasts of the old American Gladiators to hear what Adamle has to say? He's worked pretty much every station in Chicago except possibly public access, and even that I can't vouch for him not having done a few shows. So to replace someone who has been a wrestling announcer for many years with someone who has failed to impress in any venue...call me skeptical or pessimistic if you must, but this does not seem like a move that will work out well.
Originally posted by BigDaddyLocoThat being said Taz on ECW is now a total waste.
Tazz was way better on SD! with Cole than he is on ECWWE with Styles now. Is that because he feeds off Cole better, or is there someone different feeding him things in his headset during the show? What the hell happened there?
Well, there was also a lot of effort by MVP and Michael Cole talking about how much Coach sucks on commentary during this last Smackdown! broadcast. Perhaps they are shaking up the commentary teams. Perhaps I am just hoping.
I don't care for Adamle one way or the other...he just doesn't inspire excitement. Cole/Tazz, and Cole/JBL were AWESOME teams. I loved their chemistry, and their banters were great.
Will Tazz and Adamle work out? I don't know. I think, if it doesn't work, they should put Armstrong back on the desk and make it a three man team...that is, if Armstrong is still with the WWE.
Admale didn't win any points with me with his interview segment on Raw. It almost sounded like he was mumbling incoherently.
Joey Styles is being wasted in WWE...and I would love to know what (or if) McMahon has against him.
Some way or another, regardless of which show it ends up being on, Tazz needs to be re-united with Josh Matthews. That was hands down the greatest announcing team in the history of announcing. Give them a Pokerface match to call each week and they'll be inducted into the Hall of Fame within 2 years.
As for Adamle, I hadn't read about the replacement until I was watching ECW tonight (and missed the beginning of the show) so it took me awhile to figure out that Joey Styles wasn't on Valium.
Man...Adamle was pretty awful. Like, sub-Coach awful. Like, maybe sub-Elvira at Wrestlemania 2 awful.
How is it that I am a good actor? What I do is I... pretend to be the person Im portraying. Youre confused. Case in point: in Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson comes to me and says I would like you to be Gandalf the Wizard, and I said You are aware that I am not really a wizard? and Peter Jackson said I would like you to use your acting skills to portray a wizard for the duration of the show. So I said Okay and then I said to myself Mmm.. How do I do that? And this is what I did: I imagined that I was a wizard, and then I pretended, and acted, in that way on the stage. How did I know what to say? The words were written down for me in a script. How did I know where to stand? People told me where to stand." -- Sir Ian McKellen, Extras
I have never been to a JAPW show and I am going to tomorrows 12th Anniversay Show: INTERNATIONAL ATTRACTION Zero 1's Masato Tanaka vs TNA Superstar Homicide JAPW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP Dan Maff (c)