The new voice of ECW
So Mike Adamle is now doing play-by-play on ECW. As Joey Styles used to say, “Oh my God!”
There’s no denying that WWE does a lot of things right. That’s why 2007 was the company’s best year ever in terms of total revenue. When it comes to choosing announcers, however, WWE has been in a slump recently.
If having Jonathan Coachman do color commentary on Smackdown isn’t bad enough, we now have Adamle on ECW. The change was announced last night at the beginning of ECW, as Tazz said that Styles had been promoted and will now oversee WWE.com.
If this is really a promotion for Styles, then I suppose it’s a good move for him. For viewers of ECW, not so good.
Although Adamle is a veteran broadcaster, he hasn’t looked comfortable on camera since his inauspicious WWE debut at the Royal Rumble, when he referred to Jeff Hardy as “Jeff Harvey.” Last night, Adamle again seemed tentative and didn’t know the names of moves. He also had a few groan-inducing moments, such as when he said, “Kofi Kingston is Jamaican me crazy,” and, on a pin attempt, “Uno, dos, adios.”
I realize that WWE, like most of the entertainment world, strongly considers whether someone has the right look when it comes to hiring on-air talent. But as far as wrestling fans are concerned, they would much rather have someone like Jim Ross, who admits that he has not-ready-for-prime-time looks, call a match than someone like Adamle, who brings nothing to the wrestling announce table other than good hair.
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Since we’re on the subject of on-air talent -- or lack thereof -- I will be calling in to The Rob Long Show on WNST (1570 AM) every week to discuss the latest news in pro wrestling. The day and time isn’t set yet, but I’ll pass it along when I know for sure. Once we get underway, the segments will be archived on WNST.net.
Two more shameless plugs: I was on the Between The Ropes show last week discussing a variety of wrestling topics. The show has been archived and can be found at BetweenTheRopes.com. Also, I will be previewing Backlash on the Monday Night Mayhem show on Monday at 8 p.m. You can listen live at MondayNightMayhem.com.
Comments
Wow ! Mark this day on your calender folks . Kev actually criticized a McMahon product . Even though its just regarding the announcers . I had to pinch myself . As far as the yes , "shameless plugs " , we'll let you slide Kev . The truth is you do great work and I'm sure many of us will check out your contributions to those other venues .
Posted by: jack in hebron | April 16, 2008 9:06 PM
Even worse, I think Adamle actually called Jeff Hardy "Jess Harvey," if I'm not mistaken. Adamle's nothing without Larry Csonka at his side.
Posted by: Jimmy Bellamy | April 16, 2008 9:17 PM
I loved when Adamle said that the "Undertaker was getting busy with Morrison."
My other favorite was when he inexplicably yelled "Reach out and touch someone, Michael!" during the Brothers of Destruction vs Miz/Morrison match.
He'll improve ratings because everyone will want to tune in to see the train wreck.
Posted by: John | April 16, 2008 10:26 PM
last poster said it best "train wreck".
Every now and then the WWE tries to show itself as a legitmate sports product, see the WBF and XFL, I think Vince has a deep seated need to be accepted as a Pete Rozelle or David Stern figure.
I was hoping for Styles and Tazz to replace JR and the King one day but it looks like that won't happen. bummer they were second best team in the biz
Posted by: Andrew | April 17, 2008 10:47 AM
Is this another case of Vince purposely sabotaging ECW in every way possible because it wasn't his creation?
Even David "Watch him now watch him" Crockett was a better announcer than Adamle.
Posted by: Adam Annapolis | April 17, 2008 11:23 AM
Did you say 2007 was WWE's best fiscal year ever?? Coming off the Benoit tragedy, I would never have thought that possible. It had to be in side ventures other than the wrestling promotion itself. Kev, do you have a breakdown of this? I would love to see how much of this was from movies or DVD sales and how much was strictly PPV sales and gate receipts.
RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: I don't have the breakdowns for the year, but have some numbers for the fourth quarter (final three months of 2007). All figures are in millions.
PPV: $19.8
House shows: $30.9
Arena merchandise: $4.6
Television rights fees: $23.8
DVD sales: $19.8
Licensing: $9.4
Magazine revenue: $6.0
WWE.com revenue: $4.2
Shop zone revenue: $7.7
"See No Evil" profit: $3.1
I discussed the topic briefly back in February. Here's the link:
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/wrestling/blog/2008/02/talking_dollars_and_sense.html
Posted by: Lee | April 17, 2008 1:28 PM
I was looking at those 2nd quarter numbers where WWE took a bath after the Benoit tragedy. Turns out, "The Condemned" hurt them a lot more than Benoit. For the year, DVD sales were way up and I am sure that WWE 24/7 probably had a good year also...adding to the PPV numbers. They did release several solid DVD's this year including "Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen" & "DX: New and Improved."
Posted by: Lee | April 17, 2008 2:53 PM
Adamle stinks.
Ok, with that being said, have you seen The Miz lately? I was waiting you talking about ECW to bring this to the table.
He still has a lot a flaws, but he has grown a lot. Last week match with Punk was a prove of that.
His gimmick is not the best, but he is far from that nervous guy that only knew "huurray!".
RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: Miz has improved in the ring, but I still find him unlikable, and I don't mean in a heel heat kind of way, but in a "I want to turn the channel when he's on" kind of way.
Posted by: Gaston | April 17, 2008 5:19 PM
I have to wait until tomorrow to watch the replay in Canada. After reading some of the comments, I'm looking forward to hearing the train wreck.
Posted by: Christopher | April 17, 2008 9:43 PM
Okay, yeah, I think Mike stunk as well. I was hoping he'd be in a role similar to Mean Gene...the on your toes interviewer who also does those kind of feature stories (videos) that tells us why we should get behind someone and care about someone's push. He does great with those kind of things here in Chicago on his NBC role and I was hoping that is what they kept him doing. Moving him this fast to the announce table was a horrible move. He hasn't announced live tv in years. I think once he gets his feet wet and his research done (and I mean a LOT of research) I think we might see him at least become tolerable if not okay. While I was against putting him at the announce table, it's happened and it's done and over with. Are we going to moan and complain every week? Let's hope he finds his footing fast, or he is going to be hung out to dry by the fans (especially the old-school ECW fans). May I be the first (and only?) one to say: "good luck Mike, I have hope that you'll get better."
Posted by: Jason | April 18, 2008 12:45 AM
Maybe I am easy to please, but I don't think that Adamle did horribly. For sure, there was alot of name botching, both of wrestlers and holds, and I don't know why Kane, a former world champion, would hope for a "breakout year," but if the guy does some homework about the product, maybe he will be okay.
Posted by: Christopher | April 19, 2008 3:11 AM
I live in Australia and I have not seen
Mike in action before he joined the
WWE. This guy is bad bad bad and I cant see him improving. Surely there has to be some one else/ anybody else in the WWE who can do a better job. I cant see Vince sticking with him for to long
Posted by: Marnie McGowan | April 19, 2008 8:04 PM