Matt Striker

[4.0] "As a wrestler he was average. As a commentator he ranged from tolerable to insufferable. He had moments on commentary where he was insightful but he was also too obsessed with showing off his wrestling knowledge and speaking as a long time fan, that's never a positive flex."

"I've never seen him in the ring, but I like his commentary. Especially from his day's as Lucha Underground Announcer. I don't really see what people dislike from him, I like his energy."

[6.0] "Matt Striker is a solid but polarizing figure in wrestling commentary. He brings genuine enthusiasm and an impressive depth of wrestling knowledge to the table. His references to history and moves can enrich a broadcast, but at times he leans too heavily into obscure trivia or tries too hard to sound clever. As a result, his style can come off as distracting rather than complementary. Striker is at his best when he balances insight with letting the action breathe. Not a top-tier voice but a valuable contributor in the right setting. Gets knocked to a six for trying to wrestle knowing he had no business doing anything besides talk"

[3.0] "Below average in the ring, pretentious and devoid of an ability to read a room, yet too hated despite that description. The bad Matt Striker (in reference to Matt Stryker), has actually had good points in his career, most famously as Lucha Underground's Play-by-play guy which jelled well with an inexperienced in the booth Vampiro. Their duo was hailed as the best at the time, and I have to say they were great, IN LUCHA UNDERGROUND (see their time as the English AAA commentary booth if you want to learn how good lucha underground's editing was) as both men proved in all future endeavours to be not good in those roles (something Striker was proving for the second time in his career). Some would say a 3 is generous but as said the guy has done a lot and has consistently found work in major promotions over the years, that definitely counts for something and as for his wrestling ability that is below average. Fairly unlikable as a whole but some people make him out to be the absolute worst ever which just isn't true."

[1.0] "His shtick as a wrestler and then manager in ECW was pretty bad, he just doesn't look like a wrestler and couldn't exactly wrestle like one too. I must admit, the first few years on commentary he was a very good addition to the product, I felt like his voice offered something the other commentators couldn't during that time. Bear in mind, his run on commentary was during a very washed up Jerry Lawler, heel Michael Cole and insufferable Josh Matthews, so it's not too difficult to see why he was liked over the others. As time went on, I thought he became the biggest mark in the world for himself. He has become insufferable nowadays. His commentary is not good at all. Have to give him a rating of 1 because his potential was there to be a good commentator, but has ruined it by being his own biggest fan and not improving on commentary."

[1.0] "This dude is just awful at everything. He's a boring promo, an awful play by play full of references said in the most nerdy and cringe way possible. And as a wrestler he was that boring generic WWE template wrestler, who could bump well. He was basically on the same skill level as Ted DiBiase Jr. But he's spent most of his career as a bum commentator who just doesn't add any excitement. If there's a show with Matt Striker on commentary (especially if it's TNA), I have a knee jerk reaction to turn the show off."

[1.0] "Used to really enjoy his work in Lucha Underground and I'm not sure what changed but anytime I watch a show with him now he's absolutely unbearable. He just has this smarmy, "I'm better than you" attitude to everything he says that makes any match he's commentating a nightmare to get through with the sound on. I'm glad he seems to have no regard for his own career and keeps getting fired due to his own stupid comments, hopefully wrestling promoters will eventually catch on and stop employing him. Also, his run as a wrestler in ECW was pretty awful as well."

"One of the worst commentators I've ever heard during his work on MLW. Interrupts constantly, actually says "blah, blah, blah" while Dombrowski is trying to provide useful context about the match. Super relieved to hear he talked his way out of a job by being an idiot, so I can enjoy their product without him ruining it!"

[2.0] "He is absolutely insufferable and getting even worse now he is trying to attract the edgelord audience. A guy who I really do not understand how he has managed to build a semi successful career. What is worst, he gives every impression he does not even enjoy pro wrestling. In a world where Mark Madden exists, I can't pretend he is the worlds worst commentator but he would absolutely be in the conversation. I assume his rate is very cheap hence he keeps getting work in 2024. No idea what his in ring work was like and in no rush to find out."

[1.0] "As a wrestler/promo guy during his brief WWE in-ring career, he was positively mediocre. As a commentator, though? Well, especially as the years have gone on, Striker sounds less like a wrestling commentator than a drunk podcast host working on his master's degree who really enjoys wrestling. He never really seems to call the action as much as try to psychoanalyze everything, which is why he's always been better as a color commentator than designated play-by-play announcer. In fact if he only ever worked as a color guy and/or always had a third guy in the booth him who did straight play-by-play I'd probably give him a 7 or so. But unfortunately, he's pretty much only been the supposed play-by-play guy since he left WWE, leading to most commentary teams he's on basically having two color guys and no real play-by-play. Reading that back I really hope that makes sense. On top of all that, Striker's got this bad tendency to ramble and go off on tangents, again like the drunk grad student who you can tell is intelligent but just can't really hold a thought in his head for too long. Even when he's not rambling, sometimes he's a little too on the nose with his calls, to the point where it feels like he's lampshading the product rather than trying to help progress storylines with his commentary, as if he's trying to make you feel stupid for not already knowing what he's saying. I can understand how someone could like him, and he's definitely knowledgeable and loves the business, but his style just doesn't do it for me, and sometimes he's just absolutely insufferable with his mark-like enthusiasm yet smart-like, smug delivery. EDIT: I'm updating my score after watching MLW again for the first time in a year or two. My god, what happened to Matt Striker? It's like he read my review and was like, "what if I turned all of those negative aspects up to 11? ". At this point he is indeed completely insufferable, just constant pretentious self-important rambling nonsense that contributes nothing. Also lots of weed references. Like an obnoxious amount of weed references. Like I like getting high but goddamn bro I don't make it my entire personality. I mean this is almost Kevin Gill levels of awful commentating. He actively ruins shows now. 4 dropped down to a 1. Fuck this guy."

[0.0] "I'm only judging him for his WWE commentary run, because he was the worst to do it. I'm currently rewatching 2010's PPVs and he's really annoying, especially in women's matches, where he's worse than Jerry Lawler if it comes to being a creep. Also his voice is not that good, i don't know why he became a commentator in the first place. Garbage, cringe, annoying."

[4.0] "Very average ring worker and personality and look. Strikers best attribute was he could actually do competent commentary and sound like he knew what was going on in the match and would actually call the freaking match! Instead of babbling on about some stupid story involving other wrestlers or promoting some drink or fast food joint or whatever. Strikers biggest fault on commentary was when he or the company thought it was a good idea to try and act "smark" and begin talking in internet talk. His commentary at the 2011 Royal Rumble was very grating, and we already had to deal with Jerry Lawler losing interest by the day and a heel Michael Cole calling the match! Then they decided that the Miz should come out and sit in for a 4 person commentary. God! Give me Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan play calling two jobbers playing Mouse Trap in the ring any day!"

[3.0] "The most incosistent worker in the history of wrestling. He can be an amazing commentator or the cringiest one, even more cringe than Mark Madden. Between him and Mark Madden I can't understand who's worse. I would go with Madden because Madden used to catcall people on commentary. And Striker can be good if he's not saying bullshit"

[0.0] "As a wrestler I can't comment much. As a broadcaster, he is the bottom of the barrel lowest tier worst of the worst. Taz is better. Booker T is better. Ross right now in aew is better when he does shows. I've never heard someone make dumber comments or just sound like a straight up ignorant tool bag for entire shows, every, single, show. He's garbage. Lowest of Low worst commentator ever"

[8.0] "As a wrestler, I barely remember anything about him. As a commentator, though, Stryker is excellent. His work in Lucha Underground was fantastic, in my opinion, and I enjoyed his calls in the World Cup of Wrestling. I highly enjoy his work."

[6.0] "Striker's fine at commentary as long as he has someone to rein him in. What I mean by that is he can by himself go off and drift away from actually discussing the match and he's a bit too focused on getting those vague references for the hardcore fans at times, which can confuse people who aren't up to date with that kind of stuff. Striker as a wrestler isn't really much to mention: unremarkable shape, decent mic skills but his wrestling is quite basic and not at all impressive. His skills come far more as a strong commentator capable of going over storylines and pointing out small parts of a match that you might not have thought of. He gives a unique perspective considering his wrestling background as well, allowing him to properly call moves without getting lost or identifying them incorrectly."

[8.0] "Striker has an interesting trajectory. Came into WWE as a one-off & then legit got canned from his teaching career. So WWE picked him up & the rest is history. His in ring career is not worth a whole lot & he's made more of a name behind the announce work. By in large I like what he does. He's an intelligent guy, so it's nice to hear someone who uses proper grammar & has a good vocabulary. He's also a wrestling encyclopedia, so he's very up on his history & knowledge. I think he worked really well in Lucha Underground with Vampiro. His biggest drawback for me is that he lets fans get to him. He recently called AAA's Triplemania & there was an instant when he went off on the fans for leaving disparaging comments on Twitch. He should be more of a professional to not let that stuff get to him & he's be better."

[0.0] "Matt Striker was a poor wrestler, but his wrestling looked world class in comparison to his announcing. Striker comes across as a total fake, without even the slightest shred of sincerity, a character flaw that is in evidence every time he opens his mouth, whether it's announcing or interviewing or anything else."

[9.0] "*Please be aware that the reason Striker's rating is so high has little to nothing to do with his wrestling ability* Truth is, Matt has always been a meh wrestler, had his very rare good moments in the ring, but mostly nothing special. But outside the ring, this man is a true blessing on professional wrestling commentary. You can hear his passion for the industry every time he opens his mouth. He tells some great stories if you can find them online. Personally I think the boom period of his 'outside the ring' career came when he started as the host of the original NXT. He was PERFECT in that role and no matter what BS Vince likely gave him in his ear during that time, he made the NXT season format bearable and there were quite a few times when I actually enjoyed the show solely because of Striker. Outside of WWE, he has been great and has managed to stay relevant enough for people to still care about him (being on national weekly TV in Lucha Underground has helped that). In summery, bad wrestler, good-great in every other department."

[8.0] "As a wrestler, I don't know Striker very well. But as a commentator he is one of the best. Lucha Underground is a compelling story every week and Striker is one of the reasons why."

[9.0] "Matt Striker in my opinion makes wrestling enjoyable. As a wrestler he was okay but as a commentator he is legendary. He has some great play- by - play commentating in WWE, Lucha Underground, or anywhere else he commentates. Overall Striker is one of the best commentators their are in wrestling today."

"Although his mic skills as a wrestler are excellent, I'm not qualified to rate him as a commentator because I've never caught him in that role. The man can work a crowd VERY well, on- or off-mic. As a wrestler, he can either go technico or rudo with equal aplomb and represents himself capably in the ring. He obviously knows what he's doing in there. I just watched him at a WCCW TV taping in Portland two days ago and saw two things that simultaneously showed me what Matt Striker really means to pro wrestling. At one point in a match against a lesser talent named Ian Sutton, Sutton had Striker outside the ring in a tough spot and made Striker crawl around the ring on all fours with a kid who'd been sitting one row ahead of me at ringside riding him piggyback, with the crowd laughing along all the way. I usually loathe "comedy matches" (correct term? ), but what I got from that was A) Striker is ego-free enough to sell another wrestler who is nowhere near his talent level while B) placing himself in a totally undignified position in a match in order to involve the crowd. The look on that kid's face when he returned to his seat showed me why Matt seems to be a well-liked heel in Portland (a city with a long history in pro wrestling) and frankly won me over to the WCCW promotion... you'd NEVER see something at this personal level happen at a WWE or even TNA match. I'd give Striker an 8. 0 or 9. 0 anyway for reasons stated, but this bumps him to 10. 0 on my scale."

[8.0] "Matt Striker is only an average wrestler but a decent commentator who does play-by-play better than most American commentators. His pairing with Vampiro in Lucha Underground was awkward at first but they both stepped their game up as the product matured. Striker is notorious for his insider smarky calls which for many is a detriment to his work. I'm indifferent really, and it was amusing to hear JR completely no sell his shtick at Wrestle Kingdom 9 - "... What's a swerve? ". Regardless of this quirk Striker's passion for the industry is undeniable and his enthusiasm is right at home in his current position in LU."

[10.0] "Striker may have had an up and down WWE tenure but that far from defines his contribution to the industry. When allowed to go in the ring he reveals himself to be a highly skilled technician, and on commentary he never fails to show his incredible knowledge of the business, not to mention his overpowering love and passion for it, pointing out certain moves and giving insight into aspects of the match the viewer might not otherwise catch. His commentary work has peaked so far with his run in Lucha Underground, but I have no doubt he could climb even higher if given the chance."

[8.0] "A bit of a hard one to rate, as Striker has essentially two careers going simultaneously, as both a wrestler and an announcer. As a wrestler he's a decent if unspectacular hand in the ring, with a solid technical skill set and the ability to play a smarmy, arrogant heel well. As an announcer, however, he's excellent - always knowledgeable and enthusiastic, able to sell the action in the ring well, and uniquely able to work equally well as either a color man (WWECW, CWFH, FWE) or a play-by-play announcer (Lucha Underground) - making him, almost by default, one of the best mainstream announcers going currently. If there's one criticism that could be made against his announcing, it's that he can sometimes get perhaps a bit too "inside" or obscure with his references, but I've been around as a fan long enough that that's not a problem for me as I do get most if not all of those references. Although he's currently most visible behind the announce table, he does still sometimes lace up the boots on the independents, so I'll split the difference between the scores I'd give him as an announcer (9) and wrestler (6) and round up, for an 8 overall score."

[10.0] "A brilliant color commentator. WWE made a huge mistake letting him go. Hopefully we'll hear him again in a place like Global Force Wrestling."

[8.0] "As I wrestler he was nothing special, but he had a good persona and nowadays he's a pretty great commentator!"

[5.0] "Really just a nothing-wrestler in terms of workrate, but his promos were solid. Gets extra points for being well-spoken and enthusiastic as a commentator--I totally get why people would be put off by his style, but he was one of my favourite newer commentators for as long as he lasted."

[10.0] "Great announcer. Can still wrestle on special occasion. Great seller."