Guest Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 A spirit of pure joy in a cynical business. You never got the feeling he was there to get himself over or cultivate an image, he just wanted the audience to have as much fun as he could help the show generate, and held nothing back in doing so. Pro wrestling is and will forever be poorer without him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfogg1991 Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 FUCKING HELL WHAT A COUPLE OF DAYS.  really really sad to hear this he was a fantastic commentator and truly added something to the glory TNA days  R.I.P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 Very sad news. As has been said Don and Mike helped make an oftentimes shitty product watchable and that is a testament to Dons enthusiasm and likeability. RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted December 30, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted December 30, 2022 Can’t add much. But even his heel run on coms with the separate desk and his short run as a manager were entertaining. He always seemed a top bloke on and off screen. RIP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vegeta Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 R.I.P Don West The peoples voice of TNA Always loved his work, thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time   Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iMPACt! Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 One of my favourite moments is Kurt Angle's debut and Don is solo on commentary. He says something like 'and his debut arrives' and there is just something about the way he says it that is absolute magic and really adds to the moment. I'm surprised Tenay and West have never been added to the Impact Hall of Fame. It should not be underestimated how much they made TNA enjoyable. RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshC Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 Great that they showed him love while he was still with us. Seemed like a cracking guy. Made people happy. RIP Don. Cheers sir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vamp Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 It's amazing how simple wrestling is. Want a good announcer? Hire an actor. Want a good colour commentator? Hire a salesman. Don West was probably one of the top workers they had. And he had the right tone for TNA. He wasn't polished but he was enthusiastic. He might have been involved in corny and crap moments (Tenay and West celebrating Kurt Angle signing or whatever it was, can only remember the act now and not the reason) but he was passionate. That was TNA's image (ahem) at the time. There was corny crap but there was a sense of enthusiasm and fans passionate enough to overlook the bollocks. When Taz came along they lost the enthusiastic cheerleader working hard to convince you that what you were seeing was something worth investing in. He probably made more money for that company than half of the big names they brought in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members chokeout Posted December 30, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted December 30, 2022 It's crazy that he's exactly what Vince was trying to create for years; someone from outside the wrestling world who they could mould into a commentator, but it was TNA who struck gold with him. He's 100% what they wanted Mike Adamle to be but I doubt they would have given him a second look because he wasn't cosmetically what Vince wanted on his show (much like Tenay) Just think how many commentators WWE has had on TV for years that still can't sell an angle as well as West did after 6 months in an industry he had no background in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted December 31, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted December 31, 2022 Agreed with all the above, plus I would like to add: not many people remember it, because it was such a brief run, but his stint as Amazing Red's agent was really quite good - he made Red interesting for the first time in years. Not the smallest of feats when you also consider how rare face managers are, and how difficult it is to pull it off. RIP Don West. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted December 31, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted December 31, 2022 Tenay & West were a fantastic commentary team back in the day. Tenay's knowledge and West's enthusiasm made it all worth watching. I think it was because DW was seeing a lot of the stuff for the first time, and was genuinely blown away by what he'd seen. Taz was better than he'd been in WWE, but as other have said he wasn't a patch on Don. He'll be sadly missed. Thank you, Don. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 It's easy to forget how much I actually did enjoy TNA/Impact back in the day. And there's absolutely no doubt that West and Tenay were a huge part of that. A top 5 commentary duo for me. A great loss and clearly missed by many. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merzbow Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 The voice and maybe even heart of those earlier days of TNA, there's been a real outpouring of love online this past day and it's well deserved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westlondonmist Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 Loved him on commentary, his pure excitement for matches was a big part of my fandom for TNA. He made bad matches fun and made you feel like you should be excited to watch, I suppose that's a skill of a home shopping network salesman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsurutagun Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 Good to see mention of his stuff with Amazing Red. Has he done that more often he could have been one of the great babyface managers. The formula was easy. High flyer who isn't great at talking with a charismatic talker. His heel commentary was fun. Don calling Mick Foley vs the Rocky Balboa cutout is one of the best heel commentaries you'll hear Part of me whats to watch the tribute TNA put up on Slammiversary again but its been a meh Christmas so it might break me 😢 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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