Know What? I'm Gonna Rapidly Bang My Hands Together In Appreciation Of Matt Striker

[Uncle Sam]

Matt Striker. Quite good, isn't he? If you're going to take anything from this post, let it be that Sam thinks Matt Striker is quite good. As a commentator, I mean. Never bothered to watch any of his stuff as a wrestler. I'm now under the impression that his teacher gimmick might have actually been somewhat entertaining.

Like I said in some NXT thread criticising Striker, he's the best colour commentator I've listened to since, well, Jerry Lawler used to be any good. It's primarily because he understands the role of a colour commentator. The two roles - though discernible - have blurred together considerably in the last ten years. Basically:

Matt Striker right now is the only good commentator in the WWE. No, he doesn't focus on the matches. Yes, he does spend most of his time coming up with nicknames, talking about the back stories of characters and all that sort of thing. So yes, finally, a colour commentator that understands the distinction between colour and play-by-play. Not to mention the guy is genuinely humorous.

Compare him with other commentators. Taz, who loved (or, indeed, loves) charging headlong into play-by-play territory, talking about the proper application of moves and so on despite, presumably, being a colour commentator. Also, yelling "FUUUUUUCK" on live TV. Nice one, champ.

King, whose vanilla face gimmick is enough to put you into a coma. Not to mention that, these days, he knows less than the viewer. This week's classic: "I think Edge's rope came loose herp derp." No, Jerry. No. I just saw him untie himself. It took him about a minute, you blind cunt.

Cole, who's only interesting when Daniel Bryan is about.

Todd Grisham. Whenever there's someone on the news who's done something unspeakably heinous, I'll say, "Wow, that guy's a real Todd Grisham."

And "How dare he speak like he knows what he's talking about!"? My hypothesis, unorthodox as it may be, is that he actually knows what he's talking about. His holier-than-thou attitude? Textbook heel persona.

Just to emphasise: he's actually quite funny. Funnier than a thousand Santino promos, in fact. And less grating than a twentieth of a second of Cole's fake laugh. And not, "Hmm, yes, how droll" funny - where I polish my monocle, twirl my moustache, smoke my pipe and *********e furiously - but actually broadly funny; without coming over as Seinfeld on ecstasy.

 

[Rhonda Rousey's Sports Bra]

I'd have to agree with you ther Sam, I too think Striker is the best commentator in the WWE presently. He never ceases to entertain me, and the nicknames aren't really a bad thing, since you know everyone has at least one. I haven't been more impressed by someone in his position since King back 10 years or so ago. Great job for that Striker. A team of JR and Striker would be quite a pairing, and I would love to see it if Ross comes back full time.

 

[gd]

I guess he's the best, but without much competition, really. I do quite like Josh Matthews though. He's a nice little fella, that's for sure.

I remember thinking Striker was great back in his ECW days with Grisham, then thinking he was quite annoying, but coming to realize he isn't that bad every time Cole opens his mouth. Some of his nicknames can be fun. I'll always remember Yoshi Tatsu as the "Poison Fist of the Pacific." It's fitting, really.

They should move him to Raw at some point, don't you think. As you said, Lawler obviously doesn't care anymore. He's creepy comments towards the women folk aren't even as creepy anymore. Striker and Josh Matthews on Raw. Make it happen.

 

[Balls_of_Jericho]

Absolutely!

I enjoy the way he uses the English language. I believe, Jericho and his "discombobulation" aside, he is one of the only on-screen persona to use words with more than three syllables. It is also nice that he tries to give us a feel of what it's like to be in the ring when such and such happens, rather than have some overweight dude in shades say "yeah, that hurts!"

Anyway, Striker has my vote, I enjoy listening to him work.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

You know somebody is bad when Jerry Lawler, who gave up about a decade now, can pick holes in almost everything you say.

If Striker is funny, it's unintentionally so.

It's fairly obvious to me that he did used to be a teacher. In his endeavor to master a certain subject he's managed to neglect basic common sense. When he speaks I usually think ''No Matt, that's just silly''. So does The King, evidently.

 

[Ferbian]

Matt Striker, while I do have to admit I find him to have some awful moments where I just cringe a little bit about him due to the fact that he managed once again to screw up, I do know it's a human thing, and everybody screws up.

I do like Matt Striker, he does indeed come off as one of, if not the most entertaining one, and the most intriguing one to listen to when Michael Cole isn't in Bryan Danielson's presence, and none of them are anymore, so that won't work, leaving Matt Striker on top of the mountain of active commentators.

 

[dotty_84]

I'm a big fan of Striker by far the best commentator in WWE i like his nicknames i like how he gets into the psychy of wrestlers, sure he can be cringey but it's not that bad a thing. He's pretty funny too. And he looks like he's into what he says it's not forced. When it went to the Camera at the commentry Lawler looks out of it, Cole looks fake. Only Matt gives some conviction.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

I hate Striker with a passion. He makes up complete crap to try and get people over, and not in the good way that JR used to do it, leaving the audience thinking 'did he actually just say that?' and also makes himself look like a total moron everytime he says 'potential submission hold'.

That means the wrestler could potentially lock on a submission, yet Striker says it when the hold has already been applied. 'Potential submission' or 'submission hold' makes sense, but 'potential submission hold' in the context he uses it, makes no sense at all, and this guy's portraying himself as an ex-teacher for fuck sake.

Ok, Cole is infinitely worse, but after 10 odd years you know he's not going to improve, but every time Striker opens his mouth I feel that little but more angry. So personally, the day they get rid of him can't come fast enough.

 

[the wrestling guru]

I like strikerhe gives the midcarders that extra umph. He's good on sd but he's no good for nxt. But next to Todd he looks like a superstar. He's no jr but he's not bad

 

[LitasRevenge79]

I would stand up with you and applaud for Striker. He is the best thing to happen in a long time. I didn't think anyone could stand up to the team of JBL and Cole. Granted, I love the bragadocious (See...striker's big words are rubbing off) guys on announce teams, and something about him, maybe his background in education, kind of gives him that extra 'oomph.' I like his ability to explain the technics of a match when you are watching one go on. Albeit, his explanation is more on the humor side than educational, but I think there is a reason he and Grisham won announce team of the year on Slammy's.

He is a very likable person to me. He does have a vast knowledge of anything. His voice is very soothing, and yet when you watch him on the Randy Savage dvd, his impersonation is spot on hilarious. I really do find him one of THE best fits for calling matches.

 

[J-Dogg]

Im a Matt Striker fan, i've always enjoyed his commentary, his had some very funny moments, and he engages himself into the matches he's announcing and always has, Matt's verbal exchanges with Todd Grisham have been funny. But Striker also knows how to call a match, and get very technical with out sounding stupid, its even interesting how he gets a back story on nearly every wrestler's match he calls, no matter who the wrestler is he gives us a backstory to them.

Another thing i like about Matt is that he uses slang terms to sound cool, and when he say's it its funny but thats him broadening his vocabulary and obviously beign a former teacher thats how he is.

So yes i will applaud Matt Striker on his good commentary skills.

 

[Suneeboy]

While Striker is no Heenan, Ventura, or Lawler of the Attitude Era he has struck me as very entertaining. He has been at his best when he works with Cole and Lawler and plays the heel commentator role. He puts the wrestlers over, which I think has transferred over to the other commentators a little bit as well.

He entertains, sounds good, knows his stuff, and at the same time doesn’t draw attention to himself. It’s always about the wrestlers and the show. Striker/Grisham on Smackdown and Cole/Matthews on RAW with Cole playing the heel. Cole and Matthews have been gold together.

 

[.]

Personally i love Matt Striker but he does have his pros and cons.

Pros: He is the only heel commentator when Daniel Bryan is not around.
He is hilarious as a heel.(Once during a Swagger/Kingston match swager did a heelish thing and Striker said "Yeah well the ref didn't see it so NaaaaH")
He knows moves so he rarely ever mistakes them for other moves like Todd Grisham.
He has great talkative skills

Cons: He always refers to Layla as "My little english flower"
He often mistakes PPV history

Fact is he is here to stay for a while and hopefully he doesn't become another Jerry Lawler

 

[J-Dogg]

Striker has developed his own image and uniqueness as a commentator, he is articulate in his talking but at the same time always comes up with something funny to say, not funny like JR and Lawler funny like back in the day, but Striker especially has good chemistry and banter with Grisham. Matt makes a valuable asset out of himself on an announce team and even when its the 3 man commentary team at PPV's even, just more reasons to like the guy.

 

[The Crock]

Striker is pretty good, everybody else is just shit. I miss JR but that's a whole other topic. Striker plays the asshole role well, Cole on the other hand is a dumbass. Cole rants about Bryan Danielson and because he does that I'm supposed to appreciate him...? The King had lost a step.. Or two but he's not all bad. Striker will actually entertain me even if he is unintentionally funny.

 

[Hawkeye]

I nearly died laughing during the Cryme Tyme implosion when he said"Whas good now,huh?"

He's my favorite commentator ever,and he's great on NXT.Y'know when he's not getting assaulted for no other reason than jealousy

 

[Mr. Steve]

Matt Striker, while I do have to admit I find him to have some awful moments where I just cringe a little bit about him due to the fact that he managed once again to screw up, I do know it's a human thing, and everybody screws up.

I quoted you since I'm about to echo this as well. Yeah, he'll screw up, but it's not really something where it borders on the "wow, what a fuck he did, huh?" situation, in my opinion

I do like Matt Striker, he does indeed come off as one of, if not the most entertaining one, and the most intriguing one to listen to when Michael Cole isn't in Bryan Danielson's presence, and none of them are anymore, so that won't work, leaving Matt Striker on top of the mountain of active commentators.

I agree with parts of what you said. Striker's good, even with Cole hating on Bryan back then. Thing is that, once you compare, Striker stands above Cole, even myself regarding Cole's role on NXT 1. I just really prefer Striker since he's bringing something different with his "I can say words with more than 3 syllables" mentality.

So yeah, Striker's leading the pack when it comes to WWE announcers.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

If by good you mean "shit, to the point of being a distraction" then yes, he is very good.

I am harsh upon him, only becuase he has it in him to be pretty damn alright. He has good knowledge, is funny, and does a VERY good job of putting over the lesser known guys.

On the other hand, his descriptions of moves, nicknames, and other things become just SO over the top its absurd sometimes. That and a lot of times, the shit he says is just flat out brazenly fucking wrong. Like "the color of the sky is green" kind of wrong. Ah well, "E" for effort, I suppose. The commentary in the WWE is so shit, and lazy, that as long as someone tries, people think they are great. Never mind them being shit, while trying.

 

[The Doctor]

I'm of a mixed mind. I like Striker a lot, but he's gone from being damn good in his ECW days to being way too ridiculous and wrong sometimes in his SD days. I wouldn't call him "shit", because he's the best commentator they have right now, but he really needs to learn to tone it down. The man has a brain for wrestling and is good at putting people over, but sometimes he gets rather silly. I love that he sounds like he's enjoying himself and actually putting some effort into it, though.

I like him, but he needs to go back to how he was during ECW, because right now he's gone crazy.

 

[MissCG]

I like Striker. He and Todd Grisham have pretty good chemistry and he can be funny. I can see people`s point about him being over the top and a bit goofy sometimes and maybe he could tone it down a notch, but I appreciate his enthusiasm. I think you can tell he`s really a fan and that he`s having fun out there.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

I like Striker, but I kind of wish he was a heel commentator. Striker can be very annoying at times, and he comes off as this preppy geek. If Striker were to play this role more often, then he would probably be the best thing we've seen as far as commentary goes in the WWE for a while.

I would have to say Striker is easily the best commentator WWE has. Jerry Lawler hasn't been entertaining ever since the attitude era, I would be able to tolerate Michael Cole if he still had JBL by his side, Josh Matthews is decent, and Todd Grisham is passable. Also, I prefer the team of Grisham and Striker over Grisham and Jim Ross. Grisham and Striker work very well together, but Grisham and JR never really seemed to click.

Striker is the best commentator in the WWE, and he always manages to entertain me during Smackdown

 

[The Insano Shiekh]

I'm actually very fond of Striker, I enjoy his persona and his actual ability to see what's going on in a match

On an offnote, I actually like him better as a wrestler than as a commentator, I've seen some old footage of him, which I can't provide a link for, in Ohio Valley Wrestling in about 2003 or 2004, and he was very talented, and I've always been a mark for the intellectual yet athletic beast gimmick. I liked his segments on ECW (which I can't remember the name of) and some of his matches as well. To me, he kind of "made" the New Breed in a way, because the rest of the people were terrible gimmicks wise, I mean, they had Edward Cullen- excuse me, Kevin Thorn, "I'm Going to bite your Ear off" Elijah Burke (Which I was fond of in the ring), and Mr. The Only Catchphrase I can Come Up With is "POOOOOOOOOOOOOUNCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE", Marcus Cor Von, and Punk isn't even worthy to be in the group of those fools, besides Da Pope, of course.

But I absolutely despised Matt Striker during his managerial stages, mostly because I didn't like the way he was being used, sure, he still had the intelligence and the wit, but just not that "pizazz" that some managers need. The worst part about it was who he was managing, I mean, who wants to manage Big Daddy V? I missed the pajamas at that stage, and one night, I just got so desperate, when the Double D Man walked out with his instructor to neanderthals, I just screamed out, "HERE COMES THE HOEEEE TRAIN!" but no Godfather came out. Terrible.

I'm still fond of him in the commentating stages, but I always wish that the WWE would put him back in the ring. Some in-ring ability, that fellow has.