Takedown Report

Jason Bryant has ‘The Fire Inside’

TDR Editor’s Notes ; Passing along this article from TrackWrestling about an enthusiastic, effective adovocate for our sport in Jason Bryant. We applaud his efforts and appreciate his activities in broadcasting, writing, and recognizing great wrestling. Keep up the work young man! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
By Justin Hoch
Jason Bryant is arguably the voice of wrestling.
He was the English-speaking public address announcer for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, and will be in Tokyo, as well. He’s also filled that role for all the United World Wrestling senior world championships since 2015. (So if you have any questions about how to pronounce Arsen Julfalakyan or Aik Mnatsakanian or Odunayo Adekuoroye or Bat-Ochir Bolortuyaa – Jason is the one you want to talk to.) Add in the NCAA Division I and Division III national championships, the NAIAs, World and Olympic team trials in the US and Canada, and dozens of other tournaments, and his PA calendar is pretty full.
But that’s not even his full-time job.
That would be Mat Talk Online, which is “a marketing and promotion medium designed for a specific niche audience with a professional talk show delivered across the internet.” He produces, hosts and distributes 15 different podcasts for the likes of Virginia Tech, the NWCA, Five Point Move, and Trackwrestling, as well as the flagship podcast on the network, Short Time, which he hosts out of his basement studio (and speakeasy) in New Brighton, Minnesota. That’s added up to over 2,700 individual episodes.
If that weren’t enough, he produces a prodigious fan guide for the NCAA Division I Championships, which is the “the most complete preview guide ever created.” Coming in at over 200 pages, it has an absurd amount of information inside. He also keeps meticulous data on the Cadet & Junior National Tournaments (colloquially known simply as Fargo). He’s owned probably over 1,000 wrestling t-shirts. He’s currently serving his fifth term as President of the National Wrestling Media Association.
All of this work has been repeatedly recognized, with 14 national awards for journalism, broadcasting, and announcing to his credit. Astonishingly, at only 37 years old, Jason was inducted into the Virginia Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame for Lifetime Service to Wrestling in 2017.
And it all started as a sophomore in high school when he watched his first wrestling dual. He wrestled for a spell in high school, sure, but found much more success behind the mic and was encouraged by his coach to keep at it. With stops at the National Wrestling Coaches Association, The Open Mat, and USA Wrestling in media roles, he’s carved out a niche for himself that has made him ubiquitous across the wrestling media landscape and brings him all over the world covering the sport he loves. Pretty impressive body of work, … rest of the story at _{https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?TIM=1599493975008&twSessionId=iopndevxwf&postId=864827135&mc_cid=72ed629a09&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

September 16, 2020 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized