VIP Slick Posted July 3, 2014 Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 Hello all, This is my first topic so don't beat me up too hard! I was thinking about ring announcers today, so I would like to get some input on who everybody's favorite ring announcer was/is. I will go first by giving my top 3, along with a short description and favorite call by each announcer. 1. Dr Tom Miller (Greensboro/JCP/NWA) I loved everything about the late great Dr Miller. His booming voice, authoritative tone, enthusiasm for the product, and rapid fire delivery. How he referred to the Horsemen as the "dreaded Four Horsemen." My favorite call by Dr Miller occurred when he announced Dusty as the new champ at Great American Bash 1986, after Big Dust defeated Flair in a bloody cage match. I am far from the biggest Dusty fan, but I love the way Dr Miller basically screamed the announcement at the top of his lungs. It really made Dusty's win seem like a legitimately huge event. 2. Gary Michael Cappetta (NWA/WCW) Like Dr Miller, I really enjoyed the enthusiasm of GMC. While he did have a great voice/tone, I simply liked Dr Miller's better. GMC was also an excellent promoter for the product. It was a big letdown to me when they brought in Penzer/Buffer to replace GMC. I loved all his Flair calls, but my fav was after Flair beat Steamboat at Wrestle War 1989. "Here is your winner, and for the sixth time, World Heavyweighf Champion, Nature Boy, Riiiiiccc Flaaaaiiirrr!!!!!" 3. Howard Finkel (WWF) Like my top two, the Fink always came on strong with his top notch voice and delivery. He always made title changes sound huge. My favorite Fink call was when he announced Sgt Slaughter as the "neeewwwww" WWF Champion after Sarge's shocking victory at Royal Rumble 1991. This was after Fink gave a dramatic pause for effect, which I found awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blehschmidt Posted July 3, 2014 Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 GMC is definitely my favorite overall, but Finkel announcing Steamboat as the IC champ at Mania 3 is my favorite ring announcer moment ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petey Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Nothing better than Fink saying, "newwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 GMC is the best overall but no one announces a new champion like Howard Finkel does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tholzerman Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 There are only two ring announcers in my mind. Howard Finkel and Gavin Loudspeaker/Louden Noxious. Everyone else is just background. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Other than GMC, Fink and Tom Miller, is anyone else even in the conversation? I assume everyone hates Michael Buffer, as I do. Mike MGuirk seems like a kitsch / ironic choice. Dave Penzer is boring. I don't know who the ring announcers were for a lot of the territories. St. Louis had Mickey Garagiola. Did Boyd Pierce do it for Watts? There's the old dude with the sloooowwwwwwwwwwwwwww voice on 70s / early 80s WWF TV -- where Fink announces at MSG and GMC does the Philly shows, he is the ring announcer on the TV tapings. Very slow deliberate voice. I can never remember the guy's name. Who did AWA have? Was it basically just Okerlund? Georgia TV was notable for not having a ring announcer a lot of the time. Anyone else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Gavin is hit/miss for me. I love him sometimes and other times he annoys me if I'm in the wrong mood. I think it might be when he's doing play by play that he bugs me a little more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steenalized Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Gavin was the stand out performer at the Chikara show I went to a few weekends ago. Thought he was actually really, really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Did he sing for you guys? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmo Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Mel Phillips in 80s despite an utter creep as a human being wasn't bad as a ring announcer, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steenalized Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 No singing, just a mix of ring announcing and overall MCing the event. He's extremely charismatic and has a great voice for announcing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Yeah, I'd have to go Finkel too. Gotta love Tom Miller though. "Thhhuuuhh Nachure Boy ... RICFLAIR!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 I have special affection for Miller now because of the amount of times I've heard him say "This is a one-fall match, with a 60-minute time limit!" On the subject of Miller, has anyone ever corroborated my theory that he didn't work for Crockett but was an employee of the Greensboro Coliseum? I'm convinced that Miller was just an arena employee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 I think that's probably true too, since he was not around consistently. It would make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Wow, turns out Miller worked as a colour commentator and even co-hosted World-Wide in 1978: http://studiowrestling.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/truckin-tom-miller.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 I've been digging around for more info on Tom Miller, which is very thin on the ground. I've managed to find a match with him and George Scott on commentary: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x96lf6_richard-blood-vs-charlie-fulton-geo_sport This is Tito Santana working as "Richard Blood" (Steamboat's real name) vs. Charlie Fulton. Dick Murdoch joins them on commentary after a minute or so. The show was called "Wide World" at this point and then was changed to "World-Wide" Miller seems like a very competent play-by-play man. Piecing together his background, it seems to me that Miller was sort of smaller-time Carolinas version of Kal Rudman. He was on local radio for years and had a show called "Truckin Tom". It is even mentioned in this 1985 Billboard newsletter, which calls his an "oldies show": http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4yQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT16&lpg=PT16&dq=Truckin+Tom+Miller&source=bl&ots=3xWSpX5nBr&sig=JdNw02uJo19CVLu8u3XXfsua0BU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0-62U8W6OZDG7AaVioHQDA&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=Truckin%20Tom%20Miller&f=false He was used as a commentator circa 76-78, but I think his ring announcing duties were a different deal. JCP used a lot of local DJs and celebs as their ring announcers in different towns, and Miller only ever really did Greensboro and VERY occasionally Atlanta (for example, he did the first War games at the Omni). On a side note: the ring announcer at The Omni half of Starrcade 85 remains a mystery to me. I floated the idea before that it was Rodger Kent, but no one corroborated that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 GMC is the best, but my favorite will always be Don Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteF3 Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Gary Capetski has a few quirks that irrationally annoy me. "The following contest, it is set for one fall" being the biggest. A guy whose former day job revolved around grammar and language shouldn't be making announcements with dangling modifiers, dammit. i give him credit for getting through, "From A LITTLE TOWN IN FRANCE" without corpsing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 To me this thread only has 2 names:GMC & The Fink. It's a shame WWE doesn't even use the best wrestling announcer voice ever. GMC is better overall because he has such a great cadence that as soon as I hear him I just get great memories of wrestling but Fink has the best VOICE for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Liska Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Never any love for Lance Russell! Love his intros at the Coliseum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantastic Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Howard Finkel. Stephen DeAngelis from the original ECW, I have a fondness for him and the aggressive passion he put into it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 I liked Arturo Rivera and the fat guy that did CMLL ring announcing that died in his ringside seat back in the mid 90's. Rivera was great when he would break into random english when announcing Americans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 The AJW announcer from the 80's and 90's always had a weird tone to how he announced the names. Very understated, very slow...it was funny to hear. GMC was always great, and Finkel gets better every year goes by with Chimmel, Lillian and especially Justin Roberts doing the intros. It's as if WWE doesn't really care that none of those three can actually give a match a big time feel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 How can anyone who watched the AWA set forget this legendary guy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted July 5, 2014 Report Share Posted July 5, 2014 The Fink is definitely #1 in my book. Have to at least give an honorable mention to the All Japan ring announcer. I may not have understood more than 4-8 words every time out (singles vs. tag), but he made those classics feel big from the get go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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