Ah ring announcers.  They can truly make or break a wrestlers entrance.  Say their name correctly, with the right inflection and you can let the crowd know so much about their character.

 

Then you have Justin Roberts.  I cannot stand the way he says people’s names.  It is almost like there are bets going on back stage as to which random letter he will roll.  Or which name he will accentuate.  Or how stiff and uncomfortable he can look in the ring while doing such a thing.

 

To be a ring announcer, once must fit in with the story lines.  Yes, you’re an official – but when you have men twice our size coming out who like nothing more than to break the rules, you had better be a wee bit intimidated.  Don’t stand there like an ironing board tolling a ‘q’ in order to get yourself noticed.

 

So these comics are to you, Justin Roberts.  I hope you find the fame you are searching for.

 

Ben.

—

I actually got to experience Justin Roberts before his WWE run.

I went to school in Tempe, Arizona and found out that there was wrestling in a bar not too far from where I was living. I went down to check it out and he was doing the announcing for this small group performing in front of maybe 50 people. In the main event that night was a guy billed as Baldo Train, who just prior to that was performing as A-Train (also Albert) in WWE and is currently performing as Lord Tensai.

There are two things I remember about that night.

1.) Thinking how weird it was seeing Albert in a bar in front of 50 people when just couple years prior I saw him teaming with Big Show against The Undertaker in front of 54,000 people at Wresltemania 19.

2.) That Justin Roberts almost got killed when he had to announce that because the bar wasn’t making enough money, due to the wrestling show being all-ages, that they were going to make it a 21 and over event. This did not sit well with the crowd and the promoter had to get in the ring and tell people that if they were willing to pay $7 instead of $5 they could keep it all-ages.

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