slabinski611 Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 Name some matches that were really enhanced by the commentators doing an excellent job of calling the match. Here are a few examples. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP0AfWLeDok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnival Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 Jim Ross is now most familiarly associated with the calling of Stone Cold Steve Austin matches, but I love his work on the Flair matches of 1989. The Steamboat trilogy, the Funk matches, oh and go back and grab Sting/Flair from the first Clash, too. I just couldn't imagine those matches without his commentary. I also have to admit I'm partial to Jim Ross, passionate sports commentator, over JR, cowboy in the booth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Redman Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 For some recent examples, I thought JR and King were immense calling two of my favourite matches, Cena vs Umaga ("And even a monster's gotta breathe!") and Team Austin vs Team Bischoff from 2003 (with the Shawn Michaels miracle comeback that turns then-heel King around to start cheering for him by the time it's over). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 I thought Jim Ross did a stellar job calling Vader vs Sting at the Great American Bash in 1992. I'm also not a huge fan of the match, but Lance Russell was amazing getting over the Empty Arena match between Terry Funk and Jerry Lawler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 Jesse Ventura and Tony Schiavone at Superbrawl III, Erik Watts and Marcus Bagwell vs. The Hollywood Blondes: Tony: Erik Watts in!! Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (one of the loudest I've ever heard) Jesse: Why do they boo every time Erik Watts comes in the ring Schiavone? Tony: Are you sure that's "boo" or is that "woo"? Jesse: I don't know, I'll listen next time he makes a change. Tony: Stop talking and listen once in a while, and you might find out something. Jesse: You sure are mouthy this Superbrawl evening. Tony: You don't like it? You don't like that? [quickly goes back to calling the action] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s1rweeze Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP0AfWLeDok Nikolai Volkoff comes out... Gorilla: Well, things are pretty rough right now over there for those Russians... Bobby: Too bad. Obvious choice but 1992 Royal Rumble gets my vote for best commentary ever. It has anything and everything you could want -- a huge sense of urgency, excitement, history, importance and at least 10-12 laugh out loud moments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrainfollower Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 The 1992 Royal Rumble Match. Hands down the best commentary in wrestling history (at least in English). Gorilla is able to make Barbarian and Haku, on their way out the door, seem interesting and important. The match is as much a triumph of the greatness of Bobby Heenan as it is Ric Flair. When Flair and Heenan (and Hennig but his contribution was zilch) cut that promo at the end you almost get the sense of two men who know they've just outperformed the entire company and are on cloud nine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrainfollower Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 And I can scare the hell out of my new school wrestling friends when I showed this to them by being able to do Bobby's commentary word for word in sync with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 Jim Ross is now most familiarly associated with the calling of Stone Cold Steve Austin matches, but I love his work on the Flair matches of 1989. The Steamboat trilogy, the Funk matches, oh and go back and grab Sting/Flair from the first Clash, too. I just couldn't imagine those matches without his commentary. I also have to admit I'm partial to Jim Ross, passionate sports commentator, over JR, cowboy in the booth. Agreed. The Chi-Town Rumble Flair-Steamboat title change is my choice for the best I've ever heard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 Both Terry Funk and Jim Cornette have tremendous performances on colour during late 89-early 90. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 I have always loved Vince and Lawler calling Bret vs. Owen at WM10. Another under the radar pick for me is the main event of WM 7. That is a match where the commentary could have been really bad, and yet even with Regis in there was really good at putting over Hogan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 Chad, can you remember which matches we really loved Corny on and which ones we loved Funk on? They might both be on Starrcade 89 but I can't seem to remember anything these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 My favorite match with Funk on commentary was the Clash 6 Flair vs. Steamboat match and I think my favorite overall Cornette commentary performance was on Clash 8. Both were very good as the respective singles/tag experts on Starrcade 89 though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 I'm partial to the Steamboat/Flair series. Ross"and a deeeeeeeeeep arm drag from the Dragon!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stomperspc Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 I really love Jim Ross' call of War Games '92. His genuine enthusiasm and excitement for Steamboat and Dustin's entrances is contagious. He gets nearly tongue-tied with excitement during Dustin's come back just prior to Madusa climbing the cage. His back-and-forth with Ventura is spot on. Ross in WCW was so good at reacting to the action in a way a good sports broadcaster does where you can tell he is just observing what is happening, processing it intelligently, and spitting it back out without getting too theatrical or spinning what he sees. There's a spot in the match where the cameras ease drop on Dangerously who is holding an impromptu strategy session with his team members outside of the cage. Dangerously says something like: "If we get him into the corner and we can keep him alive. . ." It cuts off there so there is no way to really know what Dangerously is referring to. Ross pauses, tries to process what he heard, and goes: "He is talking about a corner or something . . . I don't know." I love that reaction. No attempt to weave a story based on a half of sentence we overheard. Just a pause to try and figure out what he meant followed by a frank statement that he doesn't know what Heyman is babbling on about. It's small things like that which gave him an air of legitimacy back then. Meltzer mentioned this in the 1996 back issue the other day but Tony's call of the entire Bash at the Beach '96 PPV, particularly the six-man main event and aftermath, is really excellent. He sounds legitimately concerned as the match is about to begin, asks really good leading questions to Dusty and Heenan, and just puts the entire match over as the landscape altering moment that it really was for WCW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 Also: "THE JAPANESE HAVE ATTACKED FLAIR!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slabinski611 Posted September 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 I'll second the vote for Schivoni during the BATB96 main event. The best part is the final exchange. Gene: Tony,Bobby,Dusty DAMNIT lets get back to you ! Tony: Alright we have seen the end of hulkamania. For Bobby the brain Heenan, For for Dusty Rhodes. I don't know. I'm Tony Schivoni HULK HOGAN YOU CAN GO TO HELL! WE'RE OUTTA HERE. STRAIGHT TO HELL !!!. (slams headset) end of show. Unlike some of the later nwo stuff where tony goes over the top, I thought this was appropriate and the best possibly response to the biggest heel turn of all time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 I'll second the vote for Schivoni during the BATB96 main event. The best part is the final exchange. Gene: Tony,Bobby,Dusty DAMNIT lets get back to you ! Tony: Alright we have seen the end of hulkamania. For Bobby the brain Heenan, For for Dusty Rhodes. I don't know. I'm Tony Schivoni HULK HOGAN YOU CAN GO TO HELL! WE'RE OUTTA HERE. STRAIGHT TO HELL !!!. (slams headset) end of show. Unlike some of the later nwo stuff where tony goes over the top, I thought this was appropriate and the best possibly response to the biggest heel turn of all time. I always enjoyed Heenan in the aftermath of that match, and for years after, basically being able to say "I told you so!" after 15 years of telling everyone how Hogan was a liar and a cheat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 Tony: Alright we have seen the end of hulkamania. For Bobby the brain Heenan, For for Dusty Rhodes. I don't know. I'm Tony Schivoni HULK HOGAN YOU CAN GO TO HELL! WE'RE OUTTA HERE. STRAIGHT TO HELL !!!. (slams headset) end of show. That's one of the all-time great line ever. Just perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chess Knight Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 I love Austin's call with Ross and Heyman in the Angle/Benoit cage from 2001. I hate the match too, so the commentary's actually a reason to watch it for me. "I hate 'im, the little snaggle-tooth baystard'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lust Hogan Posted September 21, 2013 Report Share Posted September 21, 2013 I would add the Booker T vs. HHH Wrestlemania match with Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. Ross is trying to call the match straight the whole time and Lawler keeps trying his schtick which for some reason annoys Ross to the point he almost curses Lawler out on air. Ross' reactions to Flair constantly interfering and Lawler's attempts to explain it are PRICELESS!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted September 21, 2013 Report Share Posted September 21, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p34JujfVKkw&t=34m6s Through the end. Of course 37:32 is off the hook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnival Posted September 21, 2013 Report Share Posted September 21, 2013 Meltzer mentioned this in the 1996 back issue the other day but Tony's call of the entire Bash at the Beach '96 PPV, particularly the six-man main event and aftermath, is really excellent. He sounds legitimately concerned as the match is about to begin, asks really good leading questions to Dusty and Heenan, and just puts the entire match over as the landscape altering moment that it really was for WCW. I don't, however, like Bobby Heenan speculating that Hogan was the third man when he came down the aisle. It's defensible, I guess, in that it is probably what the Heenan character would have said under normal circumstances, but I do think it kinda degrades the shock a little bit. On the other hand, I didn't get back into wrestling until after all that had occurred, so I don't really know how much of a "shock" it was live, anyway. It's presented as the biggest surprise in the world in retrospectives and it was surprising to hear about as a lapsed fan, but sometimes history gets distorted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCampbell Posted September 21, 2013 Report Share Posted September 21, 2013 I highly recommend seeking out the 1994 version of the Coliseum Video "Bloopers, Bleeps, and Bodyslams." Almost all of the matches are done by the awesome team of Gorilla Monsoon and Johnny Polo, and it's obvious they're having a blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted September 21, 2013 Report Share Posted September 21, 2013 I highly recommend seeking out the 1994 version of the Coliseum Video "Bloopers, Bleeps, and Bodyslams." Almost all of the matches are done by the awesome team of Gorilla Monsoon and Johnny Polo, and it's obvious they're having a blast.Holy shit, that sounds awesome. That's the first time I've ever heard of that, I'd imagine its hilarious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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