by Brian Phelps
A couple of days ago, the WWE released long time wrestler, commentator, interviewer Matt Striker. Matt Striker is one of the most underrated commentators of all-time. Striker was a throwback to the realistic commentators of yesteryear like Sean Mooney, Lord Alfred Hayes, and Tony Shiavone. I'll never forget when watching a boring episode of WWE's Tuesday night ECW that as Yoshi Tatsu won the #1 contendership for the ECW Title Matt Striker yelling "Yoshi Tatsu has done it. And they're celebrating on the streets of Tokyo!". Was it over-the-top and cheesy? Yes. But this sort of commentating is what pro wrestling is sorely missing. Matt Striker was able to make a boring match on WWECW seem like the most important match of all-time. I haven't seen a commentator really sell such a low brow match since Tony Shiavone was selling Disco Inferno vs La Parka on WCW Saturday Night as the "Greatest night in the history of our great sport". Striker, much like Shiavone, is able to make even the most low brow matches seem important.
I know Striker is going to bounce back. TNA desperately needs a guy like Matt Striker to modernize the announcing booth and relieve us of the poor lackluster commentating of Taz. No offense to Taz, but he was never a good commentator. He just adds credibility to the TNA Booth from all his Smackdown years. Tenay needs Striker because he's been carrying the announcing booth since the company started, and now the company has grown to where it's just time for a fresh voice. They tried Todd Kennely but the chemistry just wasn't there, and he was more expendable then Tenay or Taz.
Striker was far better than Michael Cole or Jerry Lawler. Striker would actually call the match at hand rather than blabbering on about the latest Cena storyline during the undercard matches. I'm going to miss Matt Striker, but I hope that TNA signs Striker. They desperately need a fresh voice at the commentating table to join Tenay.
