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Used to like him but I mute AEW now.
He has tons of forced memes. Referencing Botchamania to pop the boys in the back & the 12 fans who still think getting an internet meme on a wrestling show is fresh.
He endlessly makes inane obscure references that don't put over anyone other than himself, trying to sound like a smartass trivia nerd. Talking about how a wrestler used to wrestle in front of 50 people in Bumfuck, South Dakota diminishes their stardom because you're dwelling on when they were a nobody. You wanna hype up their experience you have to talk the number of places/matches/nations/years, something that sounds big and impressive not "I REMEMBER WHEN HE WRESTLED HYUNDAI NISSAN IN A HIGH SCHOOL GYM IN SHIBUYA".
He subtly buries JR all the fucking time, when JR is blatantly making a sarcastic joke Excalibur takes him seriously to patronise him as an old man, when JR is serious Excalibur finds a gotcha to trip him up.
He obsesses over move names especially if he can namedrop the Japanese or Mexican name but mispronounces stuff while trying SO hard to sound like he's an intellectual by saying it "See 'TOPE CON HELLO"".
As OP says he's the most fake-enthusiastic, telegraphing commentator I've ever heard, genuinely- he didn't even used to do this but he's gotten so bad for it. Shouting that it's over lets me know it isn't. His shocked/'this is dramatic omg epic' voice sounds so fake it's incredible, if he just shut up it would sound like a bigger moment.
He was a good colour commentator in PWG because it was a minor league indie that spent 3/4 of its time being meta & ironic for SoCal hipsters, so his insincere snark & niche references catered to the audience. He was an ok commentator at the start of AEW when he didn't take the brunt of broadcast duties, but now that he's the play by play lead AND trying to do his colour trivia and 'I used to wrestle once' shtick, he's fucking unbearable. They need to keep Schiavone on lead & make him scale the fuck back.
