Things You Did Not Know About Michael Buffer
Sports fans and more specifically boxing fans will know Michael Buffer. He is the man often stood in the centre of the ring before a fight announcing the entrance of the two boxers. He is best known for his trademarked catchphrase, “Let’s get ready to rumble!” and will always say this before a big contest.
Buffer even adds a few lines before the catchphrase, often something like, “For the thousands in attendance and the millions watching around the word”. A huge night of boxing does not feel the same without the words of Buffer. However, while most people will only know Buffer from his presence inside the ring, there are many interesting facts and stories from his life which may have gone unnoticed.
For example, Buffer does not lend his tones only to boxing and has appeared at other events. Professional wrestling matches, including those for World Championship Wrestling are on his CV. Buffer would announce the main events with wrestlers including Hulk Hogan until 2001. He previously announced early UFC fights, beginning at UFC 6 in 1995 and also UFC 7 but that’s where it ended. Having signed an exclusive contract with World Championship Wrestling, Buffer was no longer allowed to announce matches for the UFC.
Unfortunately, World Championship Wrestling folded in 2001 but this meant Buffer was released from his exclusive contract and could begin announcing at other wrestling events. Saturday Night’s Main Event is a good example and Buffer was in place for the show over 6 years following his last appearance in a wrestling ring. He announced a boxing match between professional boxer Evander Holyfield and professional wrestler Matt Hardy at Maddison Square Garden, New York City. Buffer also starred in a commercial for the 2008 Royal Rumble. During the advert, Buffer received a kick to the face by Shawn Michaels, known as ‘sweet chin music’ and fell to the floor. Buffer ‘recovered’ from the kick and was the guest ring announcer for the Royal Rumble match.
There is another interesting story to come from Buffer’s career as an announcer in professional wrestling. Fans of the sport will know the wrestler Triple H and how he was part of the group D-Generation X. One of Triple H’s phrases as part of D-Generation X was “Let’s get ready to suck it!” and he would shout this while doing an ‘X’ sign using his arms. The phrase first came about as a way to mock Buffer’s own phrase of “Let’s get ready to rumble!” and stuck throughout the life of D-Generation X in wrestling.
Buffer has also been used as an announcer in other sports outside of the ring. In fact, the American has announced at many of the major sporting events in his own country. They include MLB World Series, Stanley Cup Finals, NBA Finals, Volunteer 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway and NFL playoff games. More recently, Buffer was a guest announcer for the 2017 United States Grand Prix, which was his second significant motor racing event following the 1999 Indianapolis 500.
Buffer has made several television appearances throughout his career. He has always been a figure of interest for the sporting public and this led to several talk show interviews by many of the biggest names. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Arsenio Hall, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel have all had the pleasure of interviewing Buffer on their show. Buffer opened the finale of the seventh season of American Idol, appeared on the 12th season of Dancing with the Stars to announce former boxer Sugar Ray Leonard and appeared on Deal or No Deal in 2007. Buffer has even been on popular cartoon television series including The Simpsons, South Park, Celebrity Deathmatch and Phineas and Ferb.
One of his most recent guest announcer jobs came during the YouTube Boxing match between KSI and Logan Paul in August 2018. However, his appeal does not end there and Buffer has also been used in the creation of an online slot game. If Buffer were to release an online slot game, what do you think it would be called? Yes, you guessed it, the tile of the game is ‘Let’s Get Ready to Rumble’.
The game is produced by Relax Gaming and is 6×4 reel slot. As the slot game loads you see two animated boxes ready to go head to head and this is followed by the man himself, as Buffer says his well-known catchphrase before the action begins. There are 466 ways to win and you can bet up to £100 per spin. Having paid to use Buffer’s voice and face in the game, it will come as little surprise to learn that his symbol is the most rewarding. Other symbols on the game include two boxers, a referee and boxing equipment such as gloves and bandages. There are 3 randomly triggered bonus features in the game.
The Sticky Spin feature makes all the winning symbols sticky. If you land any more winning symbols these also become sticky and remain in place until you fill the reels with matching symbols or fail to land more winning symbols. The Wild Stacks feature gives you between 2 and 5 fully stacked wild reels. They can land on reel 2 to 6 and can produce some particularly good wins. The third and final feature is called Rumble Spins and this is a bonus spins feature. Although this does not land as often as the other two features there are some great reel modifiers which come into play when it does land.
Cross Wilds means you will get 3 to 5 wild symbols randomly added to the reels. The Uppercut Wild will give you stacked wilds on the sixth reel. Wild Hook means a stacked wild reel will be moved from the rightmost reel to reel 2 or 3 and Title Fight produces 2 more rows, with the number of paylines expanding from 466 to a huge 1,436 ways to win.
It is possible to win up to £238,900 on a single spin when playing Let’s Get Ready to Rumble and you will enjoy great entertainment along the way. However, before you begin playing this slot game or any other slot game for that matter, don’t forget to check out the latest Casino Bonus UK. You will often find massive welcome bonuses plus the opportunity to get free spins. It may be possible to use your free spins when playing Let’s Get Ready to Rumble, so it is definitely worth taking advantage of these offers.
While Buffer has seen his fame spread across the globe, even to online casinos, his brother has also tasted success as an announcer. While Michael Buffer had a brief stint announcing with UFC, his brother Bruce has taken it by storm. While Michael has the phrase “Let’s get ready to rumble!”, Bruce has a simpler version for UFC, which is “It’s time!” but it is highly effective.
Although both men now have a remarkably successful career in the same line of business, they did not know each other growing up. As a child, Michael was known as Michael Huber, with the surname coming from his foster parents. Things changed when an army officer took Michael’s enlistment papers in 1965 and noticed it said Buffer. The officer told him that from now on he would be known as Michael Buffer. It is not a common surname and the first time Bruce and his father set eyes on Michael was when they were watching boxing matches on television and Michael was announcing.
Interestingly, Bruce had set up his own successful business by his 20’s and it focused on sales. He would look in the many phone books available at the time and use the telephone numbers to call members of the public and try to sell a product. At no point during that time did Bruce ever see another Buffer in the phone book so you can imagine the surprise when he saw Michael on television.
During a road trip with his father, Bruce asked if he had any idea who Michael Buffer was and the reply was, “I think that’s your brother.”
Michael Buffer also started life working as a car salesman but then moved to modelling. Having witnessed what, he thought were poor attempts at announcing boxing fights, Michael wrote to all the major venues, including a smart photo of himself to see if he could land a job as an announcer. It was Toby Berlin, the director of entertainment and special events at The Playboy Hotel and Casino who was the first to reply.
The rest is history and now Michael has a brother and one of the most successful sports related careers you could ask for, without ever having played the sport himself.
