Simon Hill names Michael Buffer as his biggest influence on ring announcing.
Simon is a prominent ring announcer in the UK and Irish wrestling scene, and has previously worked for PROGRESS, DEFY, OTT and more. Outside of wrestling, Hill also works for English football club Wallsall, where he is referred to as their Michael Buffer.
While speaking to Fightful's Corey Brennan in a new interview, Simon was asked about who was his biggest influence when it came to ring announcing, with Hill pointing to the legendary combat sports announcer.
"So with ring introductions, although I've never been a huge UFC fan or anything like that, I know he does more boxing, but he was also quite influential within wrestling in the early days. Michael Buffer. You know, I think that guy adds so much to the product in the way he presents and captivates an audience. I think that's so important within that role. So for me, it wasn't directly somebody who worked for WWE or WCW or whoever. It was Michael Buffer who we all know he did stuff with WCW. I think he did some WrestleMania stuff. His style for me was what grabbed me and and what really made me want to kind of get into that side of things. A funny story actually is when I officially signed for Walsall three seasons ago, they announced me as Walsall's Michael Buffer. Well, Michael Buffer caught onto this on Twitter, retweeted it and quoted. Then there was a tweet a couple of months after that when I got, I was in the newspaper. I think I sent you the article. And he responded to that going, Simon, you do a wonderful job. Keep up the good work. And you know what? To get that level of acknowledgement, I guess, from what I would personally consider the best in the world. You know, it's... You can never top that, can you? So... yeah, you know, that's, that's something i will never, uh, never forget and just take with me to the grave. So, as someone who was influenced by him to then later on in my career, get acknowledgement, I mean like i'm just living a dream out here."
For the full interview with Simon, you can find it above.
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