Joey Styles wants to be the play-by-play guy for independent wrestling.
The former ECW and WWE broadcaster talked to Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling about getting back into calling wrestling, after his release from WWE.
Styles was not going to originally announce, but decided to after reconnecting with Evolve owner and co-founder Gabe Sapolsky. The first match he called in his return to commentating was an Evolve Championship match between Timothy Thatcher and Cruiserweight Classic participant Drew Gulak.
“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,” Styles said.
CHIKARA will also be on Styles’ schedule going forward, after Sapolsky introduced him to Mike Quackenbush of the Philadelphia based promotion.
“The first night (at CHIKARA) 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,” Styles said. “It’s kind of like Anime come to life.”
While Styles appreciates his new role in the indies, he’s happy to do it on a part time, more family oriented basis.
“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,” Styles said.
Joey Styles was released from WWE in August, where he served as Vice President of Digital Media Content.
