What are the most important skills and qualities for a ring announcer?
It’s confidence and knowing what your role is and what you’re there to do and understanding like the flow of a wrestling show. You need to know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and be able to relate to your audience. I’ve always thought a ring announcer is like a brand identity: I work with Southside and my persona and my character represents the brand. Jim Smallman at Progress is at completely the opposite end of the spectrum to what I do from a ring announcer point of view, but those core things are still the same. He represents his brand from the way he dresses, to the way he speaks, to what he says.
How much of the job is the straight announcing the facts of the match and how much is being the host for the evening?
It’s mostly the hosting. It’s a show. It’s like you watch any show: The Brit awards have different hosts from James Corden to Jack Whitehall to many years ago, Ben Elton or Chris Evans. Or even a Ricky Gervais or Seth Macfarlane hosting the Oscars. You’d know what you’re getting from the individual people. They are all doing the same thing in giving the facts and hosting and explaining what’s coming up next. But you know if Ricky Gervais’ is hosting an awards ceremony, if Chris Evans is hosting some thing, if Jack Whitehall is hosted something, you know what you’re going to get from the individual host because they bring their own spin to it.
It’s very much about hosting an event and entertaining the crowd rather than just standing there stoic and saying “This is what we do, this is who we are, this is an exit.” I think a wrestling crowd want that interaction. They want to be entertained. It’s a lively, rowdy, fun environment. I think that that’s what makes wrestling so special as opposed to other sports.
You’ve talked before about how important it is that the ring announcer comes across as neutral to the crowd in terms of not favouring a wrestler. Is there a way to do that while still getting across that, for example, this person is a baby face and this one’s a heel?
You can: it’s just the way you inflict the tone in your voice, the way you kind of maybe add a little growl to assert a part of the name or where you can take the beat up, the cadence up at the end. I’ve always enjoyed announcing “El Ligero” because it rolls off the tongue beautifully and the audience are going to understand, maybe subconsciously, that this is a grand exciting luchadore. Whereas if I was ever announcing for a heel Ligero, I wouldn’t give it so much emphasis and extend the name to make it exciting and it would be a bit more stoic.
If there was a storyline going on where this is a grudge match, you could even put in “making his way to the ring, joining us from El Sanchez, Mexico, the man who recently retired such and such.” You can kind of give a little bit of a backstory in there as well. Just little bullet points for someone who may just be coming for the first time or who may have missed a show for whatever reason. There’s thousands of little things like that you can do
You have to do so much homework and research and talking with the promoters and the bookers and find out where we’ve been, what this match is going to give us, where we are going to go. Find out what they’re going to do, find out what the story of the match is, what the finish of the match is going to be, how they’re going to get to it, and then kind of tease that out to the audience so they know before the guys have even come through the curtain roughly the emotions they want to be feeling, what they can expect from this match.
What would be a mistake you’ve made as a ring announcer and what lessons did you learn from it?
Some of them are just pure stupidity. You need to learn about contact sport and fighting sports. I remember once I said Martin Kirby was “the reigning and defending Speed King champion” at a Southside show but it was a non-title match and I just said it without thinking. You need to understand what that means because everyone in the crowd will understand what that means and it makes you look stupid, which if you’re representing the brand, the brand looks stupid and then the match looks stupid and then the guys have got to do an extra bit of work to bring it back on track. So then you get a reputation for being stupid and unreliable backstage.
You’ve said you should never be thought of by the fans as the best thing on the show. Does that mean you have to keep your ego in check because you’re not going to get that acclaim?
It’s like being a goalkeeper in a football team who doesn’t let any goals in: no one really cares because that’s their job and they only remember when they make a mistake. As a ring announcer, you’re there to do a job. You’re there to make the stars look and feel like stars. Every member of the public is paying hard earned money to come to these shows. They invest in it, they’re passionate about it, they know the history of it and they love the guys and the characters.
I’m there to make their favourite wrestlers even bigger than what they imagine. Say you’re a 12 year old boy and you go to a show, and you see Stix like a big comic book character come to life. Now imagine I announced him in a way that doesn’t live up to the expectation of that 12 year old kid. I’m doing everyone a disservice and it’s that domino effect again that it’s just going to ruin the whole show.
But if anyone comes away from thinking “Rob was really good. Wow, I really want to be a ring announcer,” then something’s wrong with the match. I would rather those backstage know and appreciate what I do than anyone in the crowd. Eric Bischoff told me this: remember we’re just garnish. General managers, ring announcer, commentators: we’re all garnish to a good meal. You’re a little sprig of parsley or a little bit of sauce on the side that just brings out the best of it.
On the flip-side of that, how do you sell a promoter on the importance of getting a good ring announcer who knows what they’re doing when that might be an area that promoters might think “anyone could do that, let’s get someone cheap”?
That’s the million dollar question! I’m quite lucky in the wrestling business now that people know who I am and what I can deliver. Someone who’s out there learning to do it, I think the only way is just to get out there. Everybody knows everybody in British wrestling . Don’t ever assume that somebody doesn’t know who you are and what you can deliver because they do and if they don’t, they know somebody who does know. Ask around for advice, hints and tips and get better and better. And then when you are good enough, people will recommend you. Treat it as a job. Take it seriously and learn from every mistake.
At Chaos you did ring announcing but were also recording commentary on the same night. Was there a challenge in switching mindset from the neutral ring announcer to the commentator who might be more supportive of the babyface or getting more passionate about the outcome?
I would disagree with that actually. [As a commentator) I’m not biased to any side really. I will lead [viewers] in the right direction and obviously if you’ve got a heel cheating, I will point it out: “He’s got his foot on the ropes or he’s got the tights and the referee hasn’t seen it, but the referee is the law.” And I’ll point it out because the fans will see it.
Gene Okerlund was Gene Okerlund, whether he was doing backstage announcing, whether he was ring announcing or interviewing or doing commentary, he was still Mean Gene doing the same thing. It’s the same character doing different jobs as opposed to switching mindsets.
What can wrestlers and promoters do to make your life easier?
Wrestlers can make my life easier by telling me who they are now. It’s a trick I learned a long while back about speaking to the boys, going up with the run sheet and saying “Hi, I’m Rob, I’m announcing, how would you like to be announced?” And then really go into the nitty gritty of it. You don’t know them so, “Who’s your character? What do you do? Tell me a little bit about yourself.” And if the wrestlers are a little bit more inclined to understand the business, they will tell you. They’ll have a handle on their character and they’ll know who they are.
Like there’s a guy called The OJMO at the moment. He knows his character inside and out. He’s fantastic. I speak to him and he gives me a list. David Starr, his ring entrance is phenomenal. Sugar Dunkerton always comes up with something different. So wrestlers, if you want your announcer to make you be the best you can be, go and talk to them because either they’re a pro announcer who knows [to do this] or they’re a new announcer who doesn’t know it, but should know it.
They appreciate someone who’s taking the job seriously, because you can be damn sure these wrestlers are taking the job seriously because they’re putting their lives on the line and they’re putting the health on the line doing it and they’re professionals. It’s a job, it’s a career. And if you show that level of respect to them and then you take it as seriously as they do and you’re in it to make them look as good as they can be, rather than being selfish and being all about getting yourself over, they will appreciate it.
I’m also planting that seed in wrestlers so that when they go out there and get more bookings, they have the intention to speak to the announcers.
A good announcer makes a match: you can have the best match in the world, but if you’re announcer is not bothered and your referee’s rubbish, it’s not going to be the best match in the world. It’ll be an eight out of 10 that could have been a 10 out of 10 with the right seasoning and the right garnish on it.
A good announcer will make you into a superstar. I asked Spud what makes a good ring announcer and he said “make the talent seem larger than life.” So talent, speak to your ring announcer, tell him what you want, and they’ll do it.
As for promoters, it’s just same as everything. Invest. You want a good MC, it’s going to cost you. It’s not rocket science. It’s the same as if you want a good wrestler, you want a good main event, it’s going to cost you. I think it’s just a case of it depends on what you want your promotion to be.
Promoting is not about making my life easier, it’s about making the show better. That’s what we’re here to do. We’re just another part of the production values, like getting a new set of lights or a new big screen, or a ring bell.
