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MMA ANNOUNCERS SHOOTING ON WRESTLING, IT’S ALL GOOD FOR HEAVY MACHINERY, PROPS TO TOTAL BELLAS AND MORE

By Dave Scherer on 2019-02-26 10:00:00

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I was on YouTube and saw a full ECW Hardcore TV episode from October 2000 and started watching it. During Joey Styles promoting the ECW 900 hotline he mentions that Vince McMahon was interested in purchasing the Boston Red Sox. I did a quick Google search and could not find anything to substantiate that. Was Vince actually looking to buy the Red Sox or was this just Joey Styles BSing to get people to call the 900 hotline? Considering the time frame was just a few months from the XFL debuting I have to doubt that was true. 

I don’t remember Vince being serious about that.  I seem to remember and off hand comment being made about but I don’t remember anything serious.  Then again, that was the heart and soul of a lot of 900 lines. Throw a grain of truth out there and get people to pay to hear the whole thing.  I am glad those things are dead, and I actually had one!

So my question is in regard to Sam Roberts.  I'm not seeing the upside with him on the pre-show panels. He decimated Bianca Belair at NXT Takeover essentially saying she shouldn't be fighting for the strap, then at Elimination Chamber he starts a beef with Sheamus on air which can't lead to anywhere so it's a waste of time (not that the entire kick off isn't anyway), then on the same broadcast goes into how Balor only wins when he is the Demon but that had no payoff. These are just three examples but my other issue is that I don't see what he brings to the table. Lawler, Booker T, Beth Phoenix, Coach, Shawn Michaels and JBL all have wrestling experience. The others are all WWE based personnel and commentate, Otunga is a hybrid of both and Renee is there to guide the discussion. Sam isn't helping the product WWE produces. So my question I guess is A. Why keep him or hire him in the first place and B. Am I missing in upside?

I liked Same on the show when he first started.  He brought a fan element to the broadcast that I found refreshing.  Over the last few events though, he has been hard to listen to at times.  I don’t know if he has changed how he conducts himself or they have told him to do the things you mentioned, but as a viewer he turns me off now.  I hope he can get back to being good, like he was.  Now?  He’s like the new version of Peter Rosenberg, and that isn’t a positive.

Do you think it was total ignorance from both UFC and Bellator commentators to constantly hit the audience over the head with comments like "now they’re going to get hit for real". "This won't be a predetermined outcome"  when CM Punk and Jack Swagger made their respective pro MMA debuts?  I understand the announcers were trying to hype their fights, but considering a good majority of their fans also watch Pro Wrestling, and the fact non wrestling fans already know what  pro wrestling is (at least they think they do), it was like beating a dead horse.

I have no issue with it at all.  Those guys went from working in a tough business where they are working with another person to inside a cage where their opponent is actually trying to hurt them.  It doesn’t offend me as a wrestling fan to hear that at all.  And, there is some crossover between the products but I don’t think it’s close to a majority of people watch both.  In any event, the announcers were just hyping and both statements you quoted are true.

Why are they turning Heavy Machinery into the Bushwhackers 2.0?  I'm not sure doing the Bushwhacker strut is what will get a team over in this day and age.  Are you concerned they will be turned into a pure comedy act?

They are doing that because it’s what Vince McMahon wants.  If I were them, I would be pretty happy doing a comedy role that the owner likes.  Look at the other tag teams that have come up and gotten no real push.  Would you rather be them, The Ascension or the Authors Of Pain?  I would rather be doing the stuff that makes Vince laugh. especially if I were in a tag team.

Do you think shows like Total Divas and Total Bellas should get more credit for their place in the women's revolution, particularly for what they have done with regards to bringing in a whole different primarily female audience?

I give them credit, for sure.  Anything that exposes the product to a new audience deserves praise, even if it’s people that watch those two shows and no WWE wrestling. And in the case of the Bellas, I give them a lot of credit as well.  They were brought in during the “we want pretty women” era and when the competition in the Women’s Division changed, they worked hard and changed with it.

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