Trent Hidlay

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

Seems to be doing a great job for someone with limited experience.  Great chemistry with Sparks.  Knowledgeable about techniques,  tactics, and strategy.  Good anecdotes.  Knows wrestlers from across the nation and from all the weights, not just his own.  Maybe as the night went on, he did a little play by play when he shouldn't have.

The thing that impressed me the most was that he didn't get overly excited or disappointed when his current/former teammates were involved in close matches.  If you didn't know he wrestled for NC State a year ago, you wouldn't have been able to guess his alma mater.  Compare that to Dan Gable who hasn't coached Iowa in almost 30 years when he is doing commentary and a Hawkeye is wrestling.

[Coastal]

  On 3/21/2025 at 11:48 AM, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Seems to be doing a great job for someone with limited experience.  Great chemistry with Sparks.  Knowledgeable about techniques,  tactics, and strategy.  Good anecdotes.  Knows wrestlers from across the nation and from all the weights, not just his own.  Maybe as the night went on, he did a little play by play when he shouldn't have.

The thing that impressed me the most was that he didn't get overly excited or disappointed when his current/former teammates were involved in close matches.  If you didn't know he wrestled for NC State a year ago, you wouldn't have been able to guess his alma mater.  Compare that to Dan Gable who hasn't coached Iowa in almost 30 years when he is doing commentary and a Hawkeye is wrestling.

Expand  

Hidlay has been a breath of fresh air.    The worst part of the entire weekend will be Saturday night when there's no longer matcast and we go to an insufferable narcissist like Burroughs talking to hear himself talk and making things about himself.

Hidlay's strong performance is going to make that difference even more pronounced.

[Wrestleknownothing]

Hidlay has beenn exceptional. Between him on ESPN, and Malik Amine on BTN, there is some great new talent.

[ChickenWing]

  On 3/21/2025 at 12:23 PM, Wrestleknownothing said:

Hidlay has beenn exceptional. Between him on ESPN, and Malik Amine on BTN, there is some great new talent.

Expand  

Add Hardell Moore to your list. He called the Big 12 early and non-final rounds. He is also excellent. 

Burroughs is cringe. I keep waiting for him to mention that he beat Mesenbrink in the trials.

[SuperBonBon]

  On 3/21/2025 at 11:56 AM, Coastal said:

Hidlay has been a breath of fresh air.    The worst part of the entire weekend will be Saturday night when there's no longer matcast and we go to an insufferable narcissist like Burroughs talking to hear himself talk and making things about himself.

Hidlay's strong performance is going to make that difference even more pronounced.

Expand  

 

  On 3/21/2025 at 1:44 PM, ChickenWing said:

Add Hardell Moore to your list. He called the Big 12 early and non-final rounds. He is also excellent. 

Burroughs is cringe. I keep waiting for him to mention that he beat Mesenbrink in the trials.

Expand  

Narcissist?  Cringe?  

Maybe you mean Bo Nickal.

Or maybe you mean  the 'Stepford wives' Penn State.  Afterall 'Girls just want to have "fun"'. 

Jordan Burroughs saved a dying sport.  

 

[Nard Dog]

It's hard to believe that Hidlay is new at this. He's a natural.

[Grecojones]

  On 3/21/2025 at 2:28 PM, SuperBonBon said:

 

Narcissist?  Cringe?  

Maybe you mean Bo Nickal.

Or maybe you mean  the 'Stepford wives' Penn State.  Afterall 'Girls just want to have "fun"'. 

Jordan Burroughs saved a dying sport.  

 

Expand  

Haters gonna hate. 

[ChickenWing]

  On 3/21/2025 at 2:28 PM, SuperBonBon said:

 

Narcissist?  Cringe?  

Maybe you mean Bo Nickal.

Or maybe you mean  the 'Stepford wives' Penn State.  Afterall 'Girls just want to have "fun"'. 

Jordan Burroughs saved a dying sport.  

 

Expand  

Not every great wrestler makes a great announcer. I don't hate Burroughs. I just don't like his color commentary skills.

[enterdisplayname]

  On 3/21/2025 at 2:28 PM, SuperBonBon said:

 

Jordan Burroughs saved a dying sport.  

 

Expand  

You can save a dying sport and be an insufferable narcissist at the same time. Both things can be true. 

[Kov88]

I’ve been really impressed by him. He knows when to talk and when to stay silent, sometimes when announcers are new they talk too much. It also seems like he knows a lot about several wrestlers and their tendencies/speciality/strengths 

[creek chub]

Trent has done a great job. He also did very well at the ACC tournament. Admittedly, I thought he would show preference to NC State but he was composed and professional with no noticeable biases. 
 

And I’m a VT fan 

[lu_alum]

As someone who grew up in Central PA, it's great to hear Hidlay school Sparks about what wrestling is like outside the upper Midwest.  There's nothing like the wrestling culture that exists in small town rural PA.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

  On 3/21/2025 at 2:39 PM, creek chub said:

Trent has done a great job. He also did very well at the ACC tournament. Admittedly, I thought he would show preference to NC State but he was composed and professional with no noticeable biases. 
 

And I’m a VT fan 

Expand  

This is what amazed me, especially with Orine, Buesgens,Robinson all in nail biters last night.

[MidniteToka]

Trent was great.  He and Hayden represent Central PA very well on and off the mat.

[pawrestler]

Hidlay has been awesome so far. Great insight, keeps it cool, and doesn’t talk about himself much and when he does it’s to tell a story about someone else. 
 

I’m gonna shoot someone at ESPN an email after the whole event and call him out as a highlight of the coverage 

[alex1fly]

Agreed! He did a great job.

[BarSeries]

I can't wait until Saturday night when someone hits a blast double and JB says "vintage JB"

[ohcomeon]

He has been great.

He does, however, seem to give a lot of compliments to guys who use the edge of the mat to their advantage. It is, admittedly, smart wrestling, but it might rub some listeners the wrong way. 

[RandolphTJones]

Hidlay has been great. I hope Steveson doesn't take his place next year. Sports commentating could very well be his next business venture, will probably quit pretty quick so that's why I don't want to see Hidlay get the short end of the stick. 

[OMW]

Hidlay has a great rapport with Sparks and the back-and-forth is conversational. Nothing forced and a lot is very matter of fact!

It's working well.

[Wrestleknownothing]

  On 3/21/2025 at 3:46 PM, OMW said:

Hidlay has a great rapport with Sparks and the back-and-forth is conversational. Nothing forced and a lot is very matter of fact!

It's working well.

Expand  

Agreed. And as they wrapped up yesterday Sparks was very complimentary to Hidlay. Credited him with teaching him a lot. For a guy who has been commentating as long as Sparks to say that is meaningful.

[MPhillips]

  On 3/21/2025 at 3:49 PM, Wrestleknownothing said:

For a guy who has been commentating as long as Sparks to say that is meaningful.

Expand  

Sparks is genuine.

[Konquest]

What did Trent Hidlay major in?  I don't know or really care, but it's entirely possible that he has some formal training in this kind of thing depending on his coursework...

[Gus]

  On 3/21/2025 at 3:49 PM, Wrestleknownothing said:

Agreed. And as they wrapped up yesterday Sparks was very complimentary to Hidlay. Credited him with teaching him a lot. For a guy who has been commentating as long as Sparks to say that is meaningful.

Expand  

Gotta love Shane Sparks.

[Konquest]

  On 3/21/2025 at 3:54 PM, MPhillips said:

Sparks is genuine.

Expand  

Yup.  Dude is the same IRL as he is in front of a camera.