10 Worst WWE Moments Of 2008
3. Mike Adamle Replaces Joey Styles On ECW
By 2008, the revived ECW brand was a glorified retread of Sunday Night Heat, Superstars, Metal/Jakked or any other number of 'C' or 'D' tier weekly shows. It had nothing in common with the brand Paul Heyman had promoted throughout the 1990s, and the program even lacked some of the hardcore sensibilities WWE's own One Night Stand events had boasted in 2005 and 2006.
Regardless, it still had Joey Styles. He was the voice of extreme, and both he and Tazz made for a credible announce duo that old school fans of Heyman's cult-like product could get behind. On 15 April, WWE changed all of that. Bumbling backstage interviewer Mike Adamle replaced Styles as Tazz's new commentary partner, and he instantly struggled in the role.
Mike was trying his best, sure, but he was rotten and never seemed to get WWE or pro wrestling in general. The dude was no Joe Tessitore. What of Joey then? Well, Styles was posted to WWE.com for no particular reason, and ECW continued to dwindle as Adamle dropped clangers like referring to Little Guido/Nunzio as a former ECW World Champion.
It was almost as though bosses were actively looking for ways to shut down the land of extreme. Their glitzy version of ECW lagged behind Raw and SmackDown, didn't conjure up memories of yesteryear, and now it had some guy who barely even knew Jeff Hardy was called that ("Jeff Harvey") manning the desk.
Unthinkably, the Adamle pain continued on a much bigger platform than WWE-ECW too. What on earth were they thinking when management...