Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultra Mantis
Most of what he has said is buried in his commentary, there was a big backlash against the AXS commentary at last years show. He was calling everyone by the wrong name, he thought Zack Sabre Jr was Ospreay, Bushi was EVIL, didn't know anyone on the undercard to the point where Tama Tonga called him out on Twitter over it. In response, JR put out a statement that he was very sorry he didn't know which Briscoe Brother was which and how is he supposed to know when "I don't live this product". Never mentioned Tama or any or the other guys he called the wrong name repeatedly. On the same show he had also said something along the lines of "Kenny Omega will be a huge star if he ever makes it to WWE".
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That's the incident I thought it was. JR has always confused names. Used to get Edge & Christian swapped all the time. He's still the best play-by-play announcer in the world. And it's the undercard. Most of them act like they are irrelevant, so why should JR refocus his energies into it? When you're important, JR treats you like you're important. More importantly, when JR treats you like you're important, you're perceived as important. They're just upset they're not getting the rub. JR is far more useful to New Japan than most of the talent talked about. They're replaceable; JR isn't.
If anything, get someone to do the opening card stuff, and then bring JR in to do the stuff that really has something to bite into.