ECW Rewind
by Mike Campbell
03/16/2001

I know last week I promised to do a column about Brian Pillman, but as I was watching tapes in preparation I figured that having only one match and a bunch of interviews doesn't add up to a very interesting column. But as I watched different tapes to find a better subject I came to a realization that Joey Styles would be the perfect person to take a look at, even though he had no wrestling experience he's one of the best announcers in wrestling.

Joey Styles came to ECW when it was still Eastern Championship Wrestling , I don't know the exact year but it was late '93-early '94. His look didn't exactly fit in to the ECW attitude as he was a skinny guy with glasses who had the word dweeb (no offense Joey) written all over his face. Wrestling Magazines such as Inside Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Illustrated and such praised him as the best announcer in the business. Every commentator had a phrase that just went with them, Gorilla Monsoon had "Give me a break" Jesse Ventura had "Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat", Joey Styles cool and witty line? "Oh My God!"

In early 1995 Joey Styles began to really come in to his own as an announcer and he became off the wall hilarious especially when he made jokes about Stevie Richards. One that I personally like the best was when Richards is describing being beaten up by two tough guys in a rock club Joey adds "Boy scouts right?" He constantly called Richards a "Clueless Putz" As the fans began to cheer for The Sandman and sing along with his music he would often make jokes of the ECW crowd being a "sadistic choir" and at one occasion after such a joke began to sing "Of to never never, wait what am I doing, I'm not Gene Okerlund, soon I'll be dancing on camera, and badly."

As ECW began to take shots at WCW and the WWF Joey Styles was at the front of the line and cracking away. 911 the huge wrestler who chokeslamed anyone in his path was a Styles favorite to make jokes at them on. After one occasion after he took out Doink The Clown he remarked "One clown down, McMahon and Bischoff to go." The Sandman's beer and cigarette smoking often gave way to some great jokes "ECW should send The Sandman to the Olympics in Atlanta, no Atlanta isn't ready for that, they like those tamer spots like Figure Skating".

When Taz began his path of rage in 1996 his first target was Joey Styles. At House Party 96 as he was interviewing Bill Alfonso Fonzie suddenly went crazy proclaiming "Joey Styles I hate you, I've always hated you, I hate 1976, ECW" after hearing enough Joey grabbed the mic and responded "SHUT UP!, I've had with you just shut your stinking mouth, your ruining the party, cut the cameras we got to start it all over again" Taz then came out and nearly killed Joey. When Brian Pillman came to ECW and tried to "relieve himself" in the ring Styles physically got in his way.

When Buh Buh Ray and D Von Dudley began to team up Joey Styles was not shy about his feelings proclaiming on more than one occasion "The Dudley Boyz are scumbags" He was very vocal about his feelings toward Buh Buh and D Von. On his debut night in ECW he laughed at the name of Justin Credible, When Lou E. Dangerously made his debut he proclaimed "LOU! you want me to call you Lou on television?"

More recently Styles has been doing what every announcer ought to do but almost never does, get's the talent over, ahead of himself. He and Joel Gertner hosted ECW on TNN in which they did a funny bit about injuries.

"Joel, tell me why Victory wears the leg brace?"

"Joey, it's a recurring injury just like my neck"

"Your neck, my ass"

"Is there a problem with your ass?"

His regular PPV partner Cyrus stepped into the ring for about 45 seconds to cover an unconscious Joey Matthews and after a 3 count Joey proclaimed "That Sucks".

Although his only time in a wrestling ring is doing interviews or announcing a match ECW wouldn't be the same without "The Voice of ECW" Joey Styles. As a fitting farewell here are some of the best all time jokes made by Joey Styles.

"I'll be damned, Richards likes girls"

"I heard what Paul E. said, I tend to agree with what Paul E. said, but I don't dare comment on what Paul E. just said."

"From this angle you can see the Sandman has been on a strict training regimen of cheap beer"

"I bought a new suit, it's double breasted, Like Francine"

To read past issues of ECW Rewind Click the links below  

10/27/00
11/03/00
11/11/00
11/15/00
11/24/00
12/01/00
12/08/00
12/14/00
12/28/00
01/01/01
01/11/01
01/17/01
01/23/01
02/01/01
02/08/01
02/16/01
02/21/01
02/28/01
03/08/01