– It has been reported that Vince McMahon has not been happy recently in the way that Joey Styles calls the matches as if they were actual contests instead of telling a story. This was one of the reasons he brought Jim Ross back on the road, as he was dissatisfied with the RAW product.
– Below is the transcript of Joey Styles quit speech last night on RAW
Events leading up to the promo:
The GMs for the evening, the Spirit Squad, called Joey into their office(?) to tell him that if he didn’t do a good job of commentary on the title match they would make him wear a cheerleader outfit. Joey then came back out to King mocking Joey and the fact that he may be a cheerleader next week. Telling Joey to have spirit. Saying that if this was ECW he’;d have spirit, to which Joey replied “If this was ECW, I wouldn’t be working with a hack, like you.” This led to Joey shoving Lawler a few times, to which Lawler liked (he was showing “spirit”) then Joey slapped him in the face. Which led to King shoving him to the floor and Joey running off to the back.
After the break King apologized to Joey and asked him to come back out and finish out the show. Joey came back out and said the following:
“You want to apologize? Like nothing happened. Like you didn’t knock me on my ass in front of millions of people worldwide, and I’m gonna come down there and work with you. I’m not coming back, and now thanks to the magic of live television I’m gonna show the whole world, why for seven years in ECW I was the unscripted, uncensored, loose cannon of commentary. Six months ago, WWE called me, I didn’t call this company because I was looking for a job. I didn’t need a job. WWE called me because they had humiliated and fired…again, Jim Ross. So I get JR’s spot, and from week one, week after week I’ve got an ongoing lecture about the differences in professional wrestling and sports entertainment. I’m not allowed to say ‘pro wrestling’, I’m not allowed to say ‘wrestler’. I have to say ‘sports entertainment’ and refer to the wrestlers as ‘superstars’. I’m told to deliberant ignore the moves and the holds during the matches so I can tell stories. Well ignoring the moves and the holds is damn insulting to the athletes, the ‘wrestlers’, not the entertainers who leave their families three hundred days a year to ply their craft in that ring. Here’s the best part, because I’m not a sports entertainment storyteller I get pulled from Wrestlemania, and the reason I’m given is, is because I don’t sound like Jim Ross who’s the guy they fired in the first place. That makes sense, right? So I swallow the bitter pill, I’m a company guy. I get bumped from Wrestlemania. Then I get bumped from Backlash? I’m not good enough to call Backlash!? In ECW, I called live pay-per-views on my own, solo, no color commentators dragging me down. Wasn’t done before me, hasn’t been done since. But I’m not good enough to call Backlash because I’m not a sports entertainment storyteller. Well you know what? I am sick of sports entertainment. I am sick of male cheerleaders. I am sick of boogers and bathroom humor and semen and I am sick of our chairman. Who likes to talk about his own semen, he mocks God… he mocks God!!!!! And makes out with the divas all to feed his own insatiable ego. I am sick of sports entertainment, and most of all I am sick of you fans who actually buy into that crap! This sports entertainment circus! I never
needed this job, and I don’t want this job anymore.”
[At this point Joey pulls the WWE collar off the microphone and tosses it away.]
“I quit!”