Jim Cornette on The Difference Between Excalibur & Mike Tenay 

Mike Tenay struck me as someone who wanted to share his knowledge with fans so they would care about what they were watching. Excalibur seems to want to use his knowledge to prove how "smart" he is.

The first time I heard William Regal call him "Man in the Mask" I died! Coming from the United Kingdom, there's no way Regal would ever call him Excalibur!

A couple of months ago on AEW Dynamite, Don Callis was sitting with the commentators. Excalibur said something smart to Callis and Don replied something to the effect... "You wear a mask and you don't EVEN wrestle. You got issues!"

Excalibur's real name being Mark is a funny coincidence

Excalibur sounds like a person trying to impress a date. "OH, that's a 'tope suicido'..."

WCW Mike Tenay was the equivalent of John Clayton reporting on the NFL. Excalibur sounds like a kid playing with his wrestling action figures and doing his own commentary over the matches.

I wish we could have someone like Mike Tenay today.

EXACTLY, Jim Nails it as usual. Mike Tenay educated us quickly, authoritatively and had us paying attention and then he kept it moving. I 'd hear Tenay fill in the historical blanks in a sentence or two and I felt happy to have learned something. Excalibur? Not so much.

Mike Tenay at the “Aces & Eights” funeral damn near killed me. That had to be TNA’s best segment ever.

Taz is definitely the best all around AEW commentator, he's quick, makes jokes about his screw ups, and seems like he's not just enjoying the crazy stuff going on in the ring but will pull out historical or technical expertise out of the blue at the right moments.

I miss mike tenay and Jeremy borash they made Tna feel like a sporting event. AEW should have gotten Josh Barnett to do commentary he did the njpw shows and did them great

Every time Jim calls Excalibur 'Excrement' I roll about laughing

There's a reason why they called Mike Tenay "the Professor". He was more educational in the way he talked and gave context to the background of a wrestler or move. Also, he was far more professional in his delivery; you didn't hear Tenay back in the day try to talk over Dusty, Schiavone or Zbysko. When you listen to Excalibur, he sounds like he's competing for mic time against the other announcers in trying to say the moves at the expense of interrupting the other announcers' thought processes. To me that's just flat rude. I think he's tried to correct himself by apologizing to the others but the end result is that the commentary feels muddied. Also, the Japanese names of the moves aren't that special once you understand the actual translation. "Enzuierubo" etc "elbow to the back of the neck." There's no reason not to use the translated form unless a wrestler has renamed the move something trademarked. But his commentary hurts because you can't expect the audience to know a different language. There's a reason why someone like Steve Jobs used a target audience of something like a 7 year old when he would explain things. Especially in wrestling where you need to appeal a wide target audience that are from a variety of locations, the last thing you should be doing is targeting your diction to a very localized type of people. I think part of the problem is that back in WCW at a certain point, the commentary got bad because they were forced to talk about the NWO in every segment at the expense of the play-by-play, which de-stressed the importance of the match and wrestlers. So since then fans were really critical of the commentators, especially because some wrestlers like the luchadores were just treated like filler as the announcers seemed to not pay any attention to them. So some of the later commentary tried to bring the topics back to the match and especially the moves where wrestling began focusing more on that. And around that time Japanese wrestling was getting kinda hot in the states (not in a broad sense but it wasn't exclusively geared towards just ex-pats coming over, working at the local Toyota Motor Corp and renting it at a local Japanese video store). So those things combined with the growth of the internet wrestling community, etc. produced people like Excalibur.

My take on the difference between Mike Tenay and Excalibur is that Mike knew his shit and didn't dwell too much on a wrestler's history and move names. He would make a quick mention of it and move on to calling a match like a pro. Excalibur comes off as if he wants to show off his wrestling knowledge and assume that everyone would know everything he knows. The Butcher and Blade debut was a perfect example of that. Excalibur comes off like a bit of a mark. Mike Tenay was a fantastic commentator and had more passion with calling matches. We need more of him today.

"It ain't like Mil Mascaras doing commentary in fn Mexico" - Jim Cornette

is Mike Tenay yelling "TOPEEEE SUICIDA" or "TIGER DRIVER 97!!!" in his commentary? There you go.

Tenay was known as 'The Professor' because of his extensive knowledge of wrestling and was a walking encyclopedia of facts, history, moves and basically everything related to wrestling. Excalibur speaks in a language that only Japanophile marks speak.

Mike Tenay is a freaking legend

When I watch WCW on the WWE network I really enjoy Mike Tenay's presentation every time he makes his way to the commentary table. Educative and interesting!

But but but Uncle Dave Meltzer says Excalibur is the best on commentary lol what a joke

Mike Tenay knew everything and said it in a way that made sense to most people Excalibur TRIES to sound like he knows more than you, even if he doesn't

The reason he has the name Excalibur is because AEW is still waiting for the right person to come along and pull him out and take his job.

Tenay imparted knowledge to both the seasoned fan and the young kid in a way that wasn't condescending or mocking anyone's lack of knowing all the names for all the moves. Excalibur randomly says sh!t. A lot of it without context or apparent rhyme or reason.

Mike Tenay was not a distraction.

Lets not forget Mike Tenay has those successful Vaporwave albums!

Definitely been noticing the issues of modern commentary and announcing. Its definitely too markish in AEW. WWE its like they're more focused on the ads or selling other matches. A lot of the time it comes across like neither sets of announce teams are really paying attention to the match and reacting to what's going in ring.

"A fan with way too much time on his hands" sums up AEW pretty well.

If you watch legit sports, deep down the commentators are kind of nerds in that they're usually very interested in the sport they're covering and they know what players did in the minor leagues or college and stuff like that. But they don't come across as nerds. Excalibur does. Mike Tenay is essentially a wrestling nerd as well but he covers things like a sports commentator. Jim Ross adores college football, Tony Schiavone did commentary for minor league baseball - they're sports guys that know what a sports presentation looks like. If you're only into wrestling you're going to talk about it like movie buffs talking about your favourite films.

"... im being perfectly silly" not sure why this made me chuckle so much, while trying to remember it for my own future verbal excursions

Mike Tenay was explaining to a mainstream audience why these men are wearing masks and familiarized them with the Lucha style. Mike Tenay had Dusty Rhodes and Bobby Heenan on commentary with him to add color to it.

Excalibur sounds like he needs Exlax

I’ll never forget the wcw main event of warrior/sting vs hogan/Bret hart. Mike tenay gave a nice quick history lesson of warrior/sting, which heenan replied “how do you know this stuff” lol

Thank you, Travis. This popped up on my subs, and my wife (not a fan of wrestling) goes, “what kind of kinky cartoons are you watching!?!” 😂 it was a good laugh.

Excalibur's real name is Mark? How appropriate.

Heenan had great respect for Mike. Even said he wanted to do a radio show with him.

as a person who grew up with limited access to the shows but had all the games, I enjoy Excaliburs commentating as I learnt the names of most of the moves he references from picking movesets in video games. Its nice to hear a commentator who actually knows the names of all the moves. i dont hear things like kitchen sink enough!

Mike Tenay would great as a commentator for the Ring of Honor relaunch.

Mike Tenay in the commentary makes wrestling feels like a real sport even tho it's a sports entertainment.🤣

There's a reason we call Mike Tenay "The Professor"!💯

"You can excuse someone for lookin like a mud fence"...🤦😂🤣

Only thing that really annoys me with him is when he calls “the hammer throw” when everyone and their mom says Irish whip. For such an established move name it sounds pretentious.

Back when I was in college, there were the English majors with their eyes in their books and the others who would not shut up about what books their eyes were on. I go from not minding to enjoying Excal, but making that parallel after listening to Jim here helped me understand a lot of the dislike.

To the question, Tenay wasn't a lead announcer in WCW for one.

Whenever I see Excrement on tv, I always think his mask looks too small.

John Madden didn't go out there to do commentary with cleats on

I’m waiting for Excalibur to scream “perfect plex “91”

First time I ever encountered him was on the original All In pre-AEW PPV, where he said the word 'kayfabe' on air 4 times during the show. Wasn't much of a fan of him during AEW, until I watched the Rumble this year having not watched WWE in years and was reminded of how bad their commentary is. Now I can appreciate him a bit more, even with the obscure Japanese references. It's nice to not have to listen to someone try and sell me a match I'm already watching, or repeatedly hammer home whatever the latest 'catchphrase' is that the champ is already sporting on their new T shirt, or make sure to put over the latest piece of branding over and over. I did hear him, last year, use some kind of reference to something silly like "Super thunder power tiger strike" quite literally to describe a running clothesline. And when I Googled the move, it was some Japanese wrestler who was active back in around 1994.

Mike Tenay was knowledgeable and beloved and a legitimate on screen talent. Excalibur is a washed up wrestler nobody has heard of who sucks at his job and only got his job because he is in a wheelchair. Tenay was actually spitting knowledge and being entertaining while excalibur makes you want to change the channel and everything wasnt invented in Japan Dave, Oops I mean excalibur. Its ridiculous.

He always takes you out of a match, instead of making you fully invested.

*TOPE SUICIDA* !!! *THE JUJIGITAMI* !!! *MICHIOKU DRIVERRRR* !!! 😱😱😱 Like shut up, shit ain't even that live 🙄😂

Two words that sun up Excalibur’s commentary: ‘Topée Suiciiiiidaaaa!!’

Mike Tenay was from the Gordon Solie School of Commentary.

Seeing the AEW roster right now and Bryan Danielson part of a stable headed by William Regal. Is there even the slightest possibility of getting those 2 as a special "one-night only" commentary team? Regal was great when he announced NXT for a bit and Danielson when he called the Cruiserweight Classic

I think its hilarious that his real first name is Mark

***WHAT'S WORSE IS HE ALWAYS TALKS ABOUT HIS MATCHES BACK WHENEVER. HE PUTS HIMSELF OVER. WHICH IS RIDICULOUS***

I was watching Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio from Halloween Havoc 1997 and Tenay was the highlight of the announcing. He didn’t just rattle off lucha history for the sake of it but explained the history and significance of the hate Eddie had for masked wrestlers dating back to his father and how important the mask is. Excalibur is a cringe fanboy that belongs back in his parents basement.

Did you know Excalibur used to be a wrestler? I’m surprised he never mentions it

I've realised that Excalibur calls 3 completely different moves the fire thunder driver, most notably when Brody King did the Gonzo Bomb

Tenay didn't make me roll my eyes and want to change the channel.

Mike Tennay should replace Excrement. Can’t stand the guy

I agree with everything Jim says. Also the fact Excalibur is always announcing upcoming shows and the latest promoter or promotion at the expense of actually calling the match.

Tenay? Excalibur? Not even close… Excalibur makes up move names to sound special 😆

Tenay used to hold it down on Thunder!

If Excalibur says "explosivity" one more time, I swear I will throw up.

Great video

I usually watch the show on mute unless it's MJF or another good promo.

It's pretty funny that his name is really 'Marc'.

He commentates like he's doing play by play on a videogame which in some way he is. However, for AEW he's better at what he's doing than Tony Schiovane's fake enthusiasm and just repeating the name of moves after Excalibur says it. Also Jim Ross dgaf attitude is very entertaining but he's definitely lost quite a few steps. I enjoy his commentary for the wrong reasons but at least his voice tells you how much he likes a wrestler or not.

Kinda surprised of all the praise for Tenay considering everyone shat on him 10 years ago when TNA was the number 2 company. Always called him the JR of TNA and him not being there really effects the show

Oh, well, that's easy. Mike Tenay was amazing and a legend and Excalibur is god-awful at his job and pretentious and self-important.

I did not know that Excalibur’s real name is Marc. The just seems a little too perfect.

Back leg front kick …I remember that from WcW

I wish we had Mike Tenay.

Level three Excalibur FAST Level two Mike Tenay MEDIUM Level one Hannibal SLOW Level gold Gordon Solie Level gold Lance Russell

I wish Bobby Heenan was still alive and in his prime working for AEW as a commentator. He would have a field day every week with all the wise cracks for so much of the AEW roster.

Tenay was exuberant and likable and presented his knowledge like the best teacher you ever had, excited to share what he knew. To paraphrase the great Lloyd Bentsen. " I knew Mike Tenay...you sir, are no Mike Tenay" Tenay is to Kennedy as Excalibur is to Quayle....

Oh I can't even believe this is even a fucking question if we're basing this off of WCW Mike Tenay. Excalibur shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath.

The professor Mike Tenay. Whoo! Is the reason I tuned into Nitro. The explanation while calling the action...🤔

Tenay knows it all and talks to you like a professor. Educated doing the education. Excalibur acts like a fan and talks to you like a fan. That's the difference. Its all about presentation.

Jim's on point I have no idea what he's talking about because I never watched new Japan

The difference between Excalibur and Mike Tenay is Excalibur is just a mark even though he does come from a background of wrestling and he's knowledgeable about certain things but Mike Tenay knows a lot more about the wrestlers and what their backgrounds were and all that stuff. They should've gotten someone like Mauro Ranollo or Mike Tenay as head commentator instead of that Excalibur douchbag.

mark in the basement school of commentary lmao

Excalibur is the best commentator right now.

Excalibur’s biggest cringe moment was when he Malakai Black debuted, with the whole “This a guy I faced in Germany” and “that was Tommy End, but this is not Tommy End.” WTF!

No please, he's no Mike Tenay (one of the greatest callers ever). Cornette is so spot on.

I lived in Elyria and still can't pronounce it.

Tenay was special and underrated. He added legitimacy and credibility. The difference with Excalibur is that Tenay would provide context and move on quickly. Whether you were a seasoned fan or not Tenay always provided insight in a simple and non condescending way. Excalibur randomly shouts out Japanese names like everyone knows what he's talking about. He should provide context. He comes across as an absolute mark but Tenay came across as professional and knowledgeable.

Tenay put over the cruiserweight division in WCW and many were luchadores. His knowledge educated the fanbase.

There's a reason why they him The Professor. Mike Tenay is very smart when it comes to wrestling knowledge.

Nobody: Absolutely Nobody: Excalibur: OH MY GOD! IT’S THE JAPANESE DEATHMATCH LEGEND WHO ONCE WON THE HEADLINE MATCH AT THE GREAT OSAKA DEATHBOWL EVENT OF 1986 BY USING THE LEGENDARY SASHIMI SUBMISSION MOVE!

Man I wish Taz replaced Excalibur so Taz could be with J.R. Because J.R. with a heel commentator is just pure gold. J.R. and Taz's arguments would be hilarious! lol

Everything Jim said Tenay didn't do, he did and he did it all the time. Reality doesn't matter when narrative matters.

JR doesn't hesitate to call someone out if they mess up or do something stupid. Excalibur acts like every botch was the most amazing move he's ever seen. He has no business doing commentary with Ross.

Excalibur is good most of the time, its just that 10% of not letting it stew and the 10% of non digestible information. Probably doesn't help much that the guy has like 10 different guys to work with and as you mention, comes from a place that is about the moves and not what connects the moves

Excalibur is the biggest reason I can't watch AEW

0:47 ban that guy! Mike Tenay is educated and could put a sentence together

We need more Ryan Last “Excalibur” voice impersonations

This will trigger the fig fans.

Mike Teney is just the best hands down. He just got it.

Thank you, Jim, for actually knowing how to pronounce Elyria, Ohio.