Gabe Sapolsky is apologizing for his past ROH commentary.
Sapolsky co-founded ROH in 2002 and did commentary for the promotion during the early days. With Tony Khan purchasing Ring of Honor, including the tape library, Sapolsky is hoping that his past commentary can be removed whenever the shows find distribution.
Sapolsky's full statement:
“Since I see classic Ring Of Honor is getting more attention I want to take a moment and apologize for my “in character” commentary. I’ll start by saying I fired myself from commentary as soon as we found a suitable replacement.
It was another era back then. It might be hard to believe but it was hard to find decent commentators who would work the hours we did. We used to do commentary on 2 shows staying up all night on a weeknight in Tampa, FL. Budget was also a concern & I wanted to save Cary $
At the time, ROH was just a growing indie. It’s not like people were clamoring to stay up till 5am to do voiceovers in a living room in Tampa. We went through various commentators and eventually I didn’t cost any extra money as I was there anyway to edit/produce.
I also knew the storylines, directions & characters. Thankfully, we eventually found Lenny Leonard, who lived in the area, and Dave Prazak. We booked Prazak in FIP and combined the expenses to fly him in. They were a great team & still are. They gave us stability.
My commentary skills ranged from bad to embarrassing to deplorable. There were times I tried to do a Howard Stern influenced character (big in the early 2000s) & had an ECW influence. I apologize for anyone having to hear it now.
As you can see from years of EVOLVE, my values and standards changed to being much more family friendly without trying to be “edgy” in a 90s style.
Can someone please ask Tony Khan to see if he can edit out my commentary or at least the worst parts of it. I’m not sure if that’s possible. Maybe he has the original master tapes. I don’t know. I hope my commentary doesn’t ruin people’s enjoyment of classic ROH. Thank you
For the record, I don’t know Tony Khan and have never talked to him. However, I know a lot of people who do know him so feel free to pass on the message --”
It was another era back then. It might be hard to believe but it was hard to find decent commentators who would work the hours we did. We used to do commentary on 2 shows staying up all night on a weeknight in Tampa, FL. Budget was also a concern & I wanted to save Cary $ (2/7)
— Gabe Sapolsky (@BookItGabe) March 23, 2022
I also knew the storylines, directions & characters. Thankfully, we eventually found Lenny Leonard, who lived in the area, and Dave Prazak. We booked Prazak in FIP and combined the expenses to fly him in. They were a great team & still are. They gave us stability. (4/7)
— Gabe Sapolsky (@BookItGabe) March 23, 2022
As you can see from years of EVOLVE, my values and standards changed to being much more family friendly without trying to be “edgy” in a 90s style. (6/7)
— Gabe Sapolsky (@BookItGabe) March 23, 2022
For the record, I don’t know Tony Khan and have never talked to him. However, I know a lot of people who do know him so feel free to pass on the message :)
— Gabe Sapolsky (@BookItGabe) March 23, 2022
Sapolsky was released by WWE in January. You can learn more about his release by clicking here.
