Joey Styles: I Want To Be The Voice Of The Indies

– Joey Styles recently spoke with The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling about his post WWE career and more. Here are the highlights…

On returning to commentary and working with Evolve: “It was a lot of fun. Originally, I wasn’t going to announce I was just going to make an appearance but there are people you know in this business and I am willing to work with people I know who come recommended by people I know. So obviously Gabe (Sapolsky) started here in the Arena, he started the Sabu fan club, he was selling programs, he was learning just like I was from the same age but of course we had different roles. So I reached out to Gabe about Evolve because they’ve got a lot of great buzz with so many of their competitors in the Cruiserweight Classic and we worked out a deal I am (I guess) the “authority” figure. I can make matches, stop matches, restart matches and I also make appearances. I call the main events with Lenny Leonard, who is absolutely phenomenal. My first match back I did play by play for the Evolve Championship match between Timothy Thatcher and Drew Gulak and Lenny was nice enough to slide over and do color. Obviously it is his job and his spot and he does play by play and I’ll slide in for the main events and do color commentary (which) is so easy and it is like a night off. I can’t believe people get paid for color commentary, the play by play man does all the prep and research and work and you just get to sit there and bounce off of him and hopefully be witty and you should know how to analyze the holds and the psychology and it is a lot of fun.”

On being a part of CHIKARA’s King of Trios 2016 tournament: “Gabe introduced me to Mike Quackenbush of CHIKARA. I was a little familiar with CHIKARA but I kind of dismissed it as being silly and being cartoonish but also when I originally worked in this building (ECW Arena) as the “extreme” announcer I was 21 so I didn’t have a problem with blood and gore and women flashing and profanity and now being 45 and the father of a thirteen year old and an active member of the Knights of Columbus, a very family friendly show where the fans chant “holy poop” and I’m not paraphrasing in CHIKARA they actually chant “holy poop” and you do not swear and you do not use foul language, you do not do crotch-chops and once you buy into it with the wrestling ants, the ThunderFrog with the “hammer of truth” that only he can lift, The Proletariat Boar of Moldova, Los Ice Cream which is Spanish for “the ice creams” and then there are mermaids and just all of these crazy characters. The first night I was really just laughing into the microphone as I was calling the matches and fans seem to appreciate it and they didn’t hold that against me because especially for first time fans it is hard not to.” “It’s kind of like Anime come to life and it is a lot of fun so going forward I will be working with Evolve, I will be working with CHIKARA, I’m talking to Beyond Wrestling in New England. I started my career as the “voice of ECW” and now going forward I would like to be the “voice of the indies”. Indies that I feel are special or have a good buzz or are people I know and that are Tommy Dreamer approved. It is a great way to spend Saturdays, I still get to be home at night and on Sunday’s with my family which is wonderful so I’m really just having the time of my life and I feel 21 again.”