I've been watching these NWA World Championship Wrestling and one of the most profound things I saw was how good Tony Schiavone and David Crockett were as a commentary team. I know I'm only 19 and I deal with shitty commentary from the fed but am I the only one who appreciates these two as a commentary team?

It's been fun seeing the turnaround in thoughts on David Crockett over the years. Smark community groupthink in late 90s/early 2000s was that he was obnoxious - I myself even fell into this line of thinking for a few years during the indie/"movez" phase of my fandom.

 

But man I frigging love him now. When he is bored with a match he isnt very good but man when theres a Rock N Roll Express or Dusty match and he gets so excited about whats happening, I am so riveted.

I don't know why it's so negative towards Crockett. They actually care about what's going on in the Ring and that's what matters to me

At the time, we all loved making fun of David. Me and my buddy Wolfman had our David impressions down. I've grown to appreciate him but he still kinda stinks. 😄

He's awesome

The angle where Nikita attacks him is absolutely awesome. I liked how he always gave the heels their due.

Color me not a fan. He makes Hogan era Vince seem unbiased and reasonable. He reminds me of the younger kid who always wants to play with you and just ends up annoying you most days.

The annoyances are real, like "LOOK AT HIM TONY!!!" and "He...takes him...got him now..." But after awhile I realized I was missing the forest for the trees on good old David. He's like the embodiment of JCP fan fervor in the 80s. I think the moment I became a full disciple was when I actually liked his solo call of Flair/Garvin 9/87.

 

As for Tony, I always loved him, at least the pre-1998-ish Tony. And I think everyone knows by now his decline was mostly due to headset infection.

Color me not a fan. He makes Hogan era Vince seem unbiased and reasonable. He reminds me of the younger kid who always wants to play with you and just ends up annoying you most days.

this is precisely what makes him good

 

I am of the mindset that Vince and David Crockett are both much better and much more what I'd want than a Mike Tenay or Joey Styles.

 

The old barometer used to be "knowing the moves"

 

My new one is how emotionally invested can they get to you into it.

I get that Jerry. Vince did that for me at the time so he worked but David fails totally. Instead I am just muting my TV when he starts his get him Dusty routine.

Tony was the king of looking to camera and doing the "can you believe this guy" take during heel promos light years before Mene Gene made it famous. Tony was also a really good partner to whomever he was working with. Jesse, Ross and especially Crockett. I always thought Tony deserved a whole lot of the praise Jim Ross got from the smark community in the 90's.

I cheered when Nikita took his head off.

It's been fun seeing the turnaround in thoughts on David Crockett over the years. Smark community groupthink in late 90s/early 2000s was that he was obnoxious - I myself even fell into this line of thinking for a few years during the indie/"movez" phase of my fandom.

But man I frigging love him now. When he is bored with a match he isnt very good but man when theres a Rock N Roll Express or Dusty match and he gets so excited about whats happening, I am so riveted.

Yea, very much lead by Scott Keith and his minions.

David Crockett vacillates between endearing and annoying & creepy. I am a HUGE Tony fan. He was the voice of my childhood and going back listening to his work in the 80s is a definite treat. You can tell how much he loved pro wrestling without losing a sense of professionalism.

Tony was the king of looking to camera and doing the "can you believe this guy" take during heel promos light years before Mene Gene made it famous.

Gene in AWA predates Tony, and even him in WWF is contemperenous with Tony in JCP.

 

I believe Tony replaced Rich Landrum in 1984 and Gene joined WWF from AWA in 84. You can get a good look at Okerlund in AWA during those Heenan and Bockwinkel promos on the YouTube playlist.

 

I dig Tony though, as announcer, as interview guy. I think his best role, however, was doing colour alongside Ross.

"SHE LIKES!! SHE LIKES IT!!!!"

"Gene in AWA predates Tony, and even him in WWF is contemperenous with Tony in JCP."

 

Yep, I'm well aware. Read my post a little more carefully. Stand by it.

Still don't get it. What are you saying? Gene only "made it famous" in WCW?

Love them both. JCP was well before my time so my first exposure to David was on 24/7, but I thought he was great. Sure, he was basically a small market baseball homer in pro wrestling form, but I enjoy listening to him on the shows. Agree with everyone else saying Tony was great, namely before WCW went down the tubes.

I love David. He is like Pops from Regular Show as a wrestling announcer. He values good and justice and the American way. He celebrates the value of fans cheering their heroes. He is the best part of Crockett.

"Whip him, whip him like a dog".

I love the Dusty/Magnum/Manny vs. Arn/Tully/Flair 6 man that is on one of the Flair DVD's...maybe the Four Horseman set? Listening to David just about lose his mind when Dusty's team bionic elbows the Horsemen is awesome. You can see how much he enjoyed himself in a lot of these matches.

I love the Dusty/Magnum/Manny vs. Arn/Tully/Flair 6 man that is on one of the Flair DVD's...maybe the Four Horseman set? Listening to David just about lose his mind when Dusty's team bionic elbows the Horsemen is awesome. You can see how much he enjoyed himself in a lot of these matches.

Is that the one where the first minute of the match is just Dusty and Ric circling each other and the first line of commentary is David shouting "Isnt this GREAT, Tony?" Because yeah, he is awesome there.

 

And of course one of the all time great commentary coda lines "The Russian Nightmare has come true"

I loved David at the time for the reasons mentioned thus far. Tony provides a great contrast to David's unbridled enthusiasm as the fake radio voice "professional" broadcaster who keeps it together.

Yeah it is...and the David quote "He knows.....he knows" when talking about Dusty having Flair's number. It is just glorious.