Don West (sportscaster)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Don West (born June 20, 1963 in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American television personality, known for his loud, energetic, abrasive sales pitches on late night television. His persuasive style turned him into a minor pop culture figure in the late 1990s. He currently works for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and WNSR radio in Nashville.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Sports Memorabilia Sales
Don West began hosting "The Sports Collectibles" show on the "Shop at Home" shopping network in 1993. His borderline obnoxious style was a hit with television watchers, many of whom would tune in just to see his wild antics, with no intent on purchasing collectibles. In addition to "The Sports Collectibles" show, "Shop at Home" also had him pitch Beanie Babies, Pokémon collectibles, and other items. Don frequently had sales assistance from Ken Goldin, "Kinny" who always dialed in over the phone to add to the sales pitch. Although he was often criticized for overly exaggerating the quality and value of the items he was selling, his memorable style proved to be extremely lucrative for "Shop at Home", often beating competitors QVC and HSN in both sales and ratings. By 2001, he was fired from "Shop at Home", citing a change in marketing direction. Don will always be remembered for oft-repeated catch phrases, such as "Gem Mint 10," "Unbelievable" or "Un...believable" (used to describe nearly every item), and referring to the audiance as "Gang" or "America."
[edit] Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Following his departure from Shop at Home, West was promptly signed by Jeff Jarrett to be a part of his upstart TNA Wrestling, or NWA-TNA as it was called back then, promotion based out of Nashville, Tennessee. West became the color commentator alongside play-by-play man Mike Tenay in June 2002, and he continues to be a mainstay of TNA Wrestling programming today.
West has co-announced every weekly pay-per-view event (2002 - 2004), every episode of TNA Xplosion containing a wrestling match, every episode of TNA iMPACT!, and every monthly pay-per-view put on by the company. "No Way...You've got to be kidding me!" has been widely accepted among wrestling fans as his signature catchphrase during his commentary.
West was injured on the December 14 edition of IMPACT! after Kurt Angle went on a rampage after Samoa Joe wouldnt give him a rematch. Kurt Angle had said that after their last match him and Joe would be done, and West repeated that and was put in the anklelock by Kurt Angle.
West can currently be seen weekly on TNA iMPACT! on Spike TV, as well as hosting a daily sports talk radio show on WNSR in Nashville, Tennessee. He is often imitated on the Opie and Anthony show, and was Will Ferrell's inspiration for three "Saturday Night Live" skits.
[edit] External links
- Sound clips and videos can be downloaded from donwest.org.
