Matt Striker on Emotional Ties to the WWE, Favorite Memories, and More

The “Busted Open” radio show, with hosts Doug Mortman and Mike Riker, recently had former WWE announcer Matt Striker on their program. During the interview, Striker talks about his emotional ties to the WWE, his favorite people and memories from the company, and more.

On what he could have done differently to have had more of a long-term shot at success in the WWE: “I think what, now in retrospect that I didn’t understand then was; an announcer’s role, an interviewer’s role is to just be vanilla. It’s like being a referee, we shouldn’t notice you. And I think that the difficult position I was in was try not to be noticed. And that’s difficult for me when passion just kind of oozes out of me. And for whatever the reason is, in the assignment I was given as an announcer or as a backstage interviewer, perhaps I stepped, just my shoulder too much into the spotlight. Or for whatever the reasons are, you know, that’s the case. And that’s it. I made a joke in another interview that in 6 months, I’m gonna get real fat, grow my hair out, grow a beard and go apply for a job in the WWE mailroom and see if anyone notices just so I can be around the product. Just kind of still hang out with the cool kids, so to speak.”

His emotional ties to the company: “Oh yeah. I’m not gonna lie. Are you kidding me? A little insight into the person that plays Matt Striker, I guess. I never had a lot of friends growing up. And I never really fit in anywhere. I have a lot of anxiety. And I’m antisocial. I’m aloof. And the only time I ever felt like I belonged anywhere was when I was amongst my brethren in the WWE because we’re all a little different. And a lot of people think well you’re Matt Striker, you should be the life of the party. I become frozen with anxiety in social situations cause I have nothing to say and I don’t fit in. So I think that is where the emotion comes. It’s the only place I really ever fit in was in WWE.”

His favorite people and memories from his time in the WWE: “You have to understand for me, coming into the WWE, I had all of these heroes in my mind. And you get to meet some of these guys, and you go wow. Not only are you a hero of mine nut you’re actually a decent person. And you go on to become a friend, and you go on to become a mentor. And I’m speaking of William Regal in this regard. William Regal is one of my top five all-time favorite wrestlers. Ever, ever, ever, ever. EVER! And then I got to meet him. And then I got to work with him. And I got to learn from him. And it’s almost like when you meet your favorite ball player and he is a jerk. And as a kid you’re like oh god. That stinks. I met Keith Hernandez and he was an idiot. Versus…. I don’t know why I picked Keith Hernandez. Versus Wow. William Regal. And on top of that, the man who plays William Regal actually is a decent guy who becomes a friend? I mean that’s just–that anchors you to the ground because everything I learned from William Regal, I now can pass on to someone else. And do for them what a guy like William Regal did for me.

“Guys like Edge. Edge became one of my best buddies. My riding partner. You’re Edge! You’re a Hall of Famer! You’re a multi-time world heavyweight champion! You can go anywhere. You can wipe the bottom of your shoe with a guy like me. And yet, you’re my buddy? That’s the closest I will ever get to the Hall of Fame is being mentioned in Adam’s speech. And we’re buddies, and we talk about hockey and we go to the movies together when we were around, and we developed. Adam and Matt became friends. Striker and Edge, something entirely different. So you know there are a lot of guys that I developed a good connection with. It goes back to the fact that I can’t connect with anybody. I mean, I lost my dad five years ago, he was my best friend. I have no meaningful relationships in my life. My girlfriend hates my guts because I just can’t emotionally connect. It’s a void in me, it’s broken. But I was able to connect with a lot of people up at WWE.”

You can listen to “Busted Open” on Sirius 92, XM 208 and at www.siriusXM.com/sportszone.

 

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