Matt Striker

[BigT_HolyShit]

Tonight I watched my taped version of ECW and oddly noticed something that all you ECW viewers noticed as well. Where was Matt Striker?

Josh Matthews introduced "the newest member of the ECW Broadcasting team, Byron Saxton", with no mention of Matt Striker. No mention on WrestleZone of any indication of Striker being absent. I admire Striker's commentary and his unique play-by-play commentary, even though all play-by-play commentary has been watered down by Vince as suggested previously here on WZ.

Byron Saxton really impressed me tonight and meshed really well with Josh Matthews. I do realise that commentary is not THE most important aspect of the wrestling show yet, in my opinion, is very significant in the way i view the show.

Will Matt Striker be back on ECW?, or is he potentially being moved to another show as his commentary, back me up guys, is very neat. Is Byron Saxton here to stay?

 

[Lee]

I imagine Striker is being moved to another show to cover for JR whilst he is absent. Nothing serious on Strikers part, just getting him on another show.

Striker has been great on ECW so if he is on SD! temporarily that will bring us a bit more excitement on the announcer team.

 

[The_Instant_Classic]

Matt Striker was awesome as big daddy v's manager. i honestly hope that both of them return to ecw soon even though big daddy v probably never will again

 

[JBK2008]

I like Strikers style on commentary and Saxton was pretty darn good working with Josh Mathews. I hope this isn't the end of it. If Striker goes to SmackDown, we'd get to see him and Todd Grisham back on commentary and they were pretty damn good on ECW, so SmackDown would be getting a treat. Even when J.R. comes back, Striker could be the 3rd guy and that would be a nice group.

 

[Mavericks fan]

i think Matt is "The next big thing" or the next J.R.I always admired his commentary because it`s funny...

 

[dansaint]

I've seen Saxton work on FCW (YouTube clips) and he's pretty good with Dusty Rhodes. Saxton actually played the lead man in FCW and looks like he's gonna be color man (no pun intended, I assure you) on ECW.

I was always impressed with Saxton and a couple days ago was wondering when he'd come up. Either at the announce table or as an interviewer.

 

[Theo Mays]

I love Matt Striker. I've always been a big fan of his work, whether he is wrestling, managing, or commentating. He has obviously found what he was born to do in the wrestling business and that is being a commentator. He is going to be great and will be around for a long time. I'm gonna have to tune into ECW next week and see how the new guy, Mr. Saxton performs.

 

[BigT_HolyShit]

Guess my question was answered with WZ reporting that Matt Striker will replace JR on SD! for the time being. Im glad everyone else here digs his commentary. Were you guys impressed with Byron Saxton?

He was real enthusiastic, had a lot to say and don't think he messed up. I didn't notice a difference in the Broadcasting team and that essentially means that he did well in my opinion.

 

[Layne]

If Striker goes to SmackDown, we'd get to see him and Todd Grisham back on commentary and they were pretty damn good on ECW, so SmackDown would be getting a treat.

I thought the same thing. Grisham/Striker have a solid chemistry as a broadcast team. They seemed to play off each other without one seeming to get the upper hand over the other. SD! fans are in for treat.

 

[SuperSteve16]

I thought the same thing. Grisham/Striker have a solid chemistry as a broadcast team. They seemed to play off each other without one seeming to get the upper hand over the other. SD! fans are in for treat.

Yeah, the team is offically back and while its all bad news for JR fans, the slammy winning commentators are back, for the time being anyway

 

[goodlay]

I don't really watch ECW too much so I had never really heard his work, but he did a great job on this weeks SD. Striker/Grisham have really good chemistry together, it almost makes you forget about ol JR.

 

[Freddy4190]

I love Striker. He's the best announcer in the WWE right now. J.R's still good, but once you've heard every BAH GAWD or ATHLETICISM you've heard them all. Matt is a very well educated announcer, he knows his wrestling, he's pretty damn funny, and just a overall cool guy. I met him after a show in July and he was really cool, got a picture and autograph with him. He's a really funny dude, really nice guy, stayed about 20 mins with the fans. I hope Matt sticks around for a while, he's a better announcer then a wrestler, althought I wouldn't mind seeing him lace up the boots every once and a while.

 

[Henry Hill]

Yes sad to say for JR, his health has taken him out of the game. Matt re-teaming with The Grish, however? Epic. Those two were awesome together. Striker's ability to use the English language is top notch. His nicknames and catch words are great too. but where does that leave JR when he returns? I personally hope he returns to Raw as a third man on the announce team. It would give him a little bit of a break as he wouldn't have to carry as much of the weight, and could continue being the color man.

 

[J-Dogg]

Im really happy Matt Striker is back with Todd Grisham, both guys are excellent together, great chemistry and Matt is well educated that his commentating is top notch and is good at using words, giving nicknames, knowing move after move, his catchy words to describe something is amazing. Striker is one of the only announcers to actually mark out for so many wrestlers and thats something that doesn't always happen and he knows how to joke with Todd.

 

[Mat FTW]

I joined ECW late, and the weird thing was, i didnt notice that Matt Stricker wasnt there. I beleive that commentating is a very important aspect. Matt Striker is a great commentator, and to mimic Striker is great. It feels like Striker is on 2 shows now. Kudos to Saxton.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Matt Striker is a great commentator, but he should be a heel commentator. I don't understand why the WWE ditched the Heel/Face commentary from their repertoire. Lawler STILL doesn't sound right rooting for Cena. Striker is a great asset as far as education and knowledge of his craft. I don't see him getting many shots called out to him as much as he's just told to talk about a general subject and run with it.

JR and Lawler should be on Raw, Striker and Grisham on SD, and Put Cole on ECW. Striker is too good of a commentator to be on the minor league show. Period.

 

[Henry Hill]

Matt Striker is a great commentator, but he should be a heel commentator. I don't understand why the WWE ditched the Heel/Face commentary from their repertoire. Lawler STILL doesn't sound right rooting for Cena. Striker is a great asset as far as education and knowledge of his craft. I don't see him getting many shots called out to him as much as he's just told to talk about a general subject and run with it.

JR and Lawler should be on Raw, Striker and Grisham on SD, and Put Cole on ECW. Striker is too good of a commentator to be on the minor league show. Period.

I couldn't agree with you more, Lariat. The days of the Heel commentator seem so far gone, but i truly miss the days of Ventura making excuses for why it is ok for the heels to do what they did, and even as recently as Taz, though being more of a tweener and staying fairly objective, laughing off major cheating and saying something like, "well if it works..." Stryker as the heel commentator was really making it seem like we'd get that back, but more and more WWE has dulled down the face/heel aspect of every announce team and many of its wrestlers. I genuinely hope that one day soon we see a rebirth of the heel color commentator.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

I couldn't agree with you more, Lariat. The days of the Heel commentator seem so far gone, but i truly miss the days of Ventura making excuses for why it is ok for the heels to do what they did, and even as recently as Taz, though being more of a tweener and staying fairly objective, laughing off major cheating and saying something like, "well if it works..." Stryker as the heel commentator was really making it seem like we'd get that back, but more and more WWE has dulled down the face/heel aspect of every announce team and many of its wrestlers. I genuinely hope that one day soon we see a rebirth of the heel color commentator.

Yeah, it was unfortunate.

When I saw Striker get into the booth after managing Big Daddy V (I guess you could call him a manager, as they never officially made his role quite clear .... and you know how much they despise calling people "managers" these days)

.... I also had hopes that they were going to keep him in a Heel role. But that got shot to Hell when they turned him into Matt Striker, The Analyst. Just like they did to Tazz, The Analyst. And of course Jerry Lawler, The Analyst.

I personally feel they have the same concept and view upon Commentators that they do Managers, though. Just like Vince McMahon feels that Managers are an outdated concept that represents "rasslin" more so than a modern product, he also feels that a Face/Heel broadcast team is also more representative of "rasslin".

Call it what you will, but if Vince refers to that kind of stuff as "rasslin", then I'll take "rasslin" any day over whatever he wants to call today's product. It was simply far more entertaining, and I personally felt kept viewer's interested. Face/Heel Broadcast teams could take viewers who were getting bored by the action and actually entertain them through their dialogue back and forth with one another .... while managers added a whole new element to the match at ringside, to keep things interesting. Not to mention, they could rile up the crowd if the match got a little slow.

 

[Tastycles]

I think Striker is actually far more believable a character than the vast majority of commentators in the past. He adds his own flair to the booth, and has good chemsitry with Grisham. People will bitch that he should be a heel, but what he actually does is roots for indiviuals he likes, for example he cheered on Zach Ryder. I much prefer this to the old school the heel blindly cheers for the heel, because it is quite boring, and I feel that Striker is operating on a higher intellectual plain than that. It makes more sense, to me anyway, for him to like, say, Ryder but not like Regal who terrorises a woman in a cast. I'm obviously in the minority, but I find the realism that Striker professes much more engaging than Lawler screaming "get him" over and over again when someone is chasing Stone Cold.

 

[PEP3]

Matt Striker was awesome as big daddy v's manager. i honestly hope that both of them return to ecw soon even though big daddy v probably never will again

Personally, I thought this was a great combo too. I'm sure it won't make me very popular, but I was entertained by Big Daddy V. He reminded me of One Man Gang from back in the day. Not to mention, having a bona fide "manager" was a great throwback too!

:::sigh:::

Ahhh, the good ol' days.

 

[BladeRunner]

Matt Striker is the best announcer besides the king and good ol JR. I always enjoy listening to the guy. Todd Grisham on the other hand can be a sarcastic prick for no good reason, and I don't really like people like that. But then again, maybe that's why they're better together?

It's like sweet and sour. Matt's a real positive upbeat guy, Todd's a negative sarcastic "thinks he's smarter than everyone" type.

You know who doesn't go well with Todd? JR. JR is not the type of guy to deal with a sarcastic partner. He just gets pissed. Matt just rolls with it and attacks back sometimes.