So Joey Styles is out as ECW commentator? Many were shocked at this development, but equally shocking to some is that it took this long for the other shoe to drop. Rumors that Styles was a regular visitor to Vince McMahon’s doghouse became a common occurrence after he was hired full-time in November 2005. Even then, WWE only recruited him out of necessity once Coach was mercifully pulled after several excruciating weeks as J.R.’s replacement on Raw (yet another appalling aspect of the infamous “Dr. Heiny” debacle). Quite frankly, it seemed incongruous for WWE to court such an outspoken critic of the company as Styles, regardless of his abilities. And while wrestling fans collectively sighed in relief when he actually took the job, they simultaneously began speculating on just how long it could actually last.Despite the frequent reports of mounting tensions between the office and Styles and vice versa, it appeared to be simply business as usual for WWE. Although the inevitable process of stifling his trademark exuberance began immediately, Styles remained a true professional throughout. However, when J.R. was brought back for WrestleMania that year (WM 22) and Joey was subsequently relegated to calling only the Foley/Edge hardcore match, it looked like he was on the verge of being wished well in his future endeavors. Cut to a few months later, and something that no one could possibly predicted provided Styles a reprieve - that being of course the re-launch of ECW.
But as fans had to watch week after week while Vince and Kevin Dunn continued tightening the reins, Styles’ complacency became proportionally more visible. And now, the last vestiges of that pesky “original” ECW everyone mistakenly enjoyed all those years has been removed in favor of WWE’s newest babe-in-the-woods Mike Adamle. When the formal announcement of this development was made at the top of this week’s ECW on Sci-Fi, it was also revealed that Styles would be succeeding Michael Cole as Editor-In-Chief of WWE.com. Believe it or not, this scenario might be in the best interests of all parties (except for those who watch ECW, but they’ve been humbled old country-style for so long they might not even notice).
On one hand, this situation is a replay of when Norm Macdonald was controversially removed as anchor of Weekend Update on SNL by NBC’s front office. West Coast Executive Don Ohlmeyer allegedly forced Lorne Michaels against his wishes to replace Macdonald on the grounds that Ohlmeyer “didn’t think he was funny.” Despite the fact that Norm’s snide and abrasive wit was making him many fans’ all-time favorite Update anchor, some found him to be too cerebral for their tastes. In the end, as we all know, Lorne capitulated and replaced Macdonald with meat-headed, mush-mouthed Colin Quinn, and Norm appeared only sparingly for the rest of that season before leaving the show for good.
Examined from another angle, this change could be a boon to both WWE and Joey Styles. He has plenty of experience running a website from his days with the original ECW site and 1wrestling.com (imagine that - something else Joey can do better than Michael Cole). He’ll have an office at Titan Towers in Stamford, which is conveniently enough his hometown, but will also continue to travel to TV tapings. Unquestionably, Adamle will be far more receptive to being “produced” than Styles, and if they plan to keep him around, Adamle will eventually have to learn how to swim in the deep end so to speak. Even though he has no experience whatsoever calling a match, much like with their wrestlers, that’s how Vince wants things these days. The company now prefers performers whom they can indoctrinate to do things the WWE way, and since Adamle appears to be absolutely clueless, he should be an ideal candidate. On a side note, those who remember Mike Adamle from his days as host of the original American Gladiators will tell you that not even Tazz is as big of a goon as his former partner, NFL Hall of Famer Larry Cszonka. So before this little experiment blows up in everyone’s faces, let’s hope Joey Styles can come up with something better than cutting-and-pasting “Industry News” from other web sites to spice things up on WWE.com and Mike Adamle can distinguish his ass from a hole in the ground as a commentator before he replaces Craig DeGorge as the worst ever in the lengthy annals of WWE ineptitude.