Announcing Dreamteam #2: Color Analyst

[JerryvonKramer]

So it looks like JR has the first poll in the bag. I thought Gorilla Monsoon might get a bit more love but the board has spoken! Ross gets our play-by-play spot.

And so we turn to the task of filling empty seat next to him: The role of Color Analyst. So get your voting slips out and your reasons ready. This one might be a lot closer!

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For me it's between two men only: Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Bobby Heenan. Some of Heenan's performances as a color commentator (RR92 springs immediately to mind) are legendary and helped to define those big events. But what about his later WCW career? Was he still that great in 95/6? Also, Heenan was a total 100% heel who played everything for pure entertainment. He didn't really offer any analysis of the wrestling itself, he was mainly there to shill and get certain workers over by loving or hating them.

In comparison Ventura was a lot more subtle. His voice is just so commanding, it absolutely defines my experience of watching the first 6 Manias and the big PPVs of 88 and 89, as well as, of course, SNME.

Ventura was intelligent, cerebral, truly analytical, and maintained the illusion of being a fairly dispassionate observer while always favouring the heels. One of my favourite things about Ventura is that he'd give a face credit if they did something that deserved it -- but he'd never ever ever give the likes of Hogan or Duggan any props. I loved how much he hated Duggan's ugliness and the "snot coming out of his nose" compared to how much he loved Ravishing Rick Rude.

On balance, my vote goes to Ventura. For me, he's the best color analyst of all time by quite a margin -- but you may have different thoughts...

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

The only critique I would make in the poll is that the Jerry Lawler of today ... and the Jerry Lawler in his prime are two totally different commentators.

I do have to chuckle at anyone who says anything other than Jerry Lawler (in his prime), Jesse Ventura, or especially Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. I would have to ask if anyone voting actually heard these men commentate even a handful of times, if someone other than those three would get the vote.

Now, if Heenan does get it ... can you actually picture him with Ross? They did two PPV's together, that I can recall ... and that was Wrestlemania 9 and King of the Ring 1993. And listening to Heenan and Ross together, there was clearly something missing.

Absolutely no other commentary duo will ever replace in my opinion, the Greatest Duo of All Time ... Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan.

 

[richardleaf20]

I dunno, can you imagine JR and Jesse "The Body" Ventura calling the big matches this year at WrestleMania 25? I would love to see it, but I know it'll never happen. My vote has to go to "The Body" because he has the voice that distinguised what professional wrestling was all about. He (politely) demanded your full attention to every detail of what he was saying. He was kind of like what Chris Jericho's current character is: a truthful, honest man, but everyone still disagreed with him a lot in terms of how he played up the heels. I'm just saying.

 

[JerryvonKramer]

Who are all these silent Heenan and Lawler voters? And Ventura should be on 2!! Come on old school fans, more Ventura votes. It would be a travesty if Lawler was to win this.

 

[GameOver]

Heenan and Ventura.

Heenan was more comedic and intentionally made verbal msitakes. Least i think it was intentional.

Ventura was more a total Heel biased commentator and regardless of what happened in the ring it was "Win if ou can, Lose if you must, But always cheat"

hard to call, but for me
Heenan #1 was just so damn hilarious he got your attention.
Ventura #2 was more in your face and demanded attention like Richardleaf20 said

 

[JerryvonKramer]

It looks like Bobby Heenan's got this in the bag -- the poll has close now. A little shameful that Jesse Ventura only received one vote (MINE) but there we go, maybe a lot of you are too young to remember his greatness.

The Interviewer poll will follow shortly.

 

[Slyfox696]

I was never aware this thing was going on. A shame, because I would have loved to voice my opinion on the Play-by-play as well.

But, IF I had voted, this would go to Jesse Ventura, and it's not even close. People who choose Bobby Heenan do so because he made a couple of jokes. But, Heenan couldn't TOUCH Jesse Ventura when it comes to color commentary, breaking down matches, pointing out how the heel see would see the match. It's like a game in sports, where each team thing the referee is favoring the other team...in wrestling, fans favor the faces, and Ventura favors the heel, and actually makes great points for the heel.

Combine that with the fact that Ventura could bring comedy to the table, and had a great speaking voice, there is no doubt that Ventura was a better color commentator than Heenan.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

I was never aware this thing was going on. A shame, because I would have loved to voice my opinion on the Play-by-play as well.

But, IF I had voted, this would go to Jesse Ventura, and it's not even close. People who choose Bobby Heenan do so because he made a couple of jokes. But, Heenan couldn't TOUCH Jesse Ventura when it comes to color commentary, breaking down matches, pointing out how the heel see would see the match. It's like a game in sports, where each team thing the referee is favoring the other team...in wrestling, fans favor the faces, and Ventura favors the heel, and actually makes great points for the heel.

Combine that with the fact that Ventura could bring comedy to the table, and had a great speaking voice, there is no doubt that Ventura was a better color commentator than Heenan.

Yeah I always liked Ventura as well. One thing I liked about him was how he really made it seem like it was a legit event the way he broke things down. He analyzed it like it was a real fight. For example I remember watching the Hogan-Warrior match at Mania and when Warrior was doing his usual thing of running to the ring and going apeshit before he got in it Ventura was like "I think this is a mistake he should be conserving energy for the match". Or his "tale of the tape" he did before the Hogan Andre match like they do in boxing. There were several other examples of this too.

 

[JerryvonKramer]

Yeah there's really never been a color commentator who could do that anywhere near Jesse.

The thing is a lot of the time he'd be making great points -- like when Hogan would pose and celebrate in the ring after a double counter out or something, he'd question why he was doing that.

I watched the 2nd SNME from 1985 last night and Ventura is just superb on there. The first match was Hogan vs. Nikolai Volkoff. After winning Hogan tried to tear the Soviet flag and spat at it -- Jesse was saying things like "aw, now that's just disrespectful, you can beat the man but don't disrespect his nation". That's a legitimate point you know? Jesse was like this crystal clear voice that cut through all the BS, someone who spoke with reason and intelligence. It's really rare in wrestling.

Also on the 2nd SNME there was this wedding between Uncle Elmer and his partner. Jesse protested saying that this sort of thing has no place in wrestling. His comments throughout that whole wedding thing are hilarious. See here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x51n0q_uncle-elmers-wedding_sport

Like I said, shame Heenan won this. He's a genius in his own right, but this spot really should have been Jesse's.