The WWE commentating table

[CM Steel]

Currently on WWE TV on both RAW & Smackdown there are three men doing commentary. On RAW Michael Cole, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and JBL. On Smackdown we have Michael Cole, JBL, and Josh Matthews. Out of these four men there is no one playing the heel character. Michael Cole did a outstanding job as a on air heel for a good while, then there was Jerry Lawler's heart attack which took the focus off Michael Cole's heel persona. Now Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler are best buds all of a sudden with JBL on commentary on RAW.

But the WWE has always had that strong heel commentator at all times. Going back to the days of Jesse "The Body" Ventura. And wasn't JBL a heel? His millionaire character is a rip-off of J.R. Ewing from the TV show "Dallas". So JBL has to stay in that role. So if all for guys are faces who's the heel? William Regal is over in NXT doing commentary. So who does that leave out and who would make a good on-screen heel at the commentary booth if they have the free time?

 

[boywithbluehanger]

Outside of complimenting ADR's abilities, I've definitely noticed more heel leanings from JBL. I'm not particularly sure where this idea that he isn't still a heel commentator is coming from. I'll agree that he does have too many moments where he's friendly with the others. But overall, he does have quit a few argumentative situations with Cole and even goes out of his way to ridicule him and his opinion. You just have to pay attention to their "pointless" conversations sometimes in order to spot those quips. After Jerry's heart attack, they've had Jerry cool off on the Cole bashing and quickly turned Cole back to neutral.

Possibly because many fans seemed to be utterly annoyed by how long the heel Cole run had lasted, the creative team turned him. This is the catalyst for JBL's full time RAW return. He's a regular heel announcer. Instead of the over-the-top, overbearing, heel announcer that we became used to during Cole's run.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

JBL is pretty much the heel of the group. He frequently sides with the heels and justifies their actions to a degree far more than he does with the babyfaces.

I might be in the minority, but I thought Michael Cole was a fantastic heel announcer. He got under people's skin and made them want to boo him. Unfortunately, so many modern fans have forgotten that the primary role of an antagonist is to make the audience dislike him. I do think they put too much focus on Cole sometimes but I thought he did a great job in the role.

JBL is far more moderate & less bias than Cole. However, JBL is a former wrestler that was a star as both a singles & tag team wrestler. That gives him a far greater degree of credibility than Michael Cole. Guys like Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler are old school wrestling guys who came up & got their starts during the territory days. It's just really hard for Cole or any modern commentator who hasn't been a noteworthy pro wrestler to be able to compete with that.

 

[Pedigree1]

I would say JBL is the heel of the group. He most certainly justifies the actions of the heels and always defends them. That to me is the perfect heel announcer and i quite frankly have always loved heels whether they be announcers or wrestlers.

I thought also,that Michael Cole did a fantastic job of being the typical heel announcer. Im probably in the minority on that one but as JH said it is the antagonist job to make everyone hate you! Michael Cole did that to perfection.

 

[SacredMesa]

I might be in the minority, but I thought Michael Cole was a fantastic heel announcer. He got under people's skin and made them want to boo him. Unfortunately, so many modern fans have forgotten that the primary role of an antagonist is to make the audience dislike him. I do think they put too much focus on Cole sometimes but I thought he did a great job in the role.

Thing is though there is a difference in a heel who gets under someone skin in a manor that doesn't drive people away. When HBK came out as a heel, say his fued vs Hogan, I didn't feel like I needed to change the channel everytime I spoke, he still captivated me even though I wanted to see him get his ass kicked. When Edge was a heel there was a point where he was literally the ONLY reason I watched the show, then again that was when we where well into the "super cena" era and couldn't get a break from him in the title scene. Punk as a heel doesn't make me want to change the channel either.

That is the difference between a heel getting under someones skin and a heel making people hate the product. Michael Cole made me hate wrestling whenever he was on, his heel behavior wasn't entertaining or captivating it was stupid and annoying, similar to Vickie. There is a difference in being a good heel that people want to see, and in being a bad heel that make people want to turn off the show, sadly this day in age WWE has been filled with to many of the ladder and not enough of the former.



As for the commentary team, JBL is easily the heel of the group and he does it in such a perfect way. He isn't over bearing, or in your face but he's very clear when he's defending Mark Henry blind siding Sheamus, or hell even the arguement he had with Cole about what he siad to Henry, although Henry hit it dead on there when he said "carry this JBL like you normally do."

 

[HeenanGorilla]

That is the difference between a heel getting under someones skin and a heel making people hate the product.

Exactly! This was always my point with Cole. Cole wasn't a good heel. He was just blatantly trying to piss people off--and not in a heel way. It seemed like he bought a "History of Being a Heel" book, skimmed through the pages, and used parts of what he read....leaving out the best parts.

I was a huge fan of Heenan and Ventura, even as a face-loving kid. They were playing a role and doing it well. Cole was a little jerk who insulted the viewer and, like SacredMesa hinted at, made the product intolerable.

There is definitely a difference between being a heel and being a foolish nerd who tries to be a heel.

 

[EastCoastFan]

Having a heel in the booth isn't absolutely necessary. For a long time, JR and Lawler were both faces in the booth together.

Of the current broadcasters, if I had to pick one to "play the heel", I'd say JBL. Michael Cole crossed the line between being a heel and just being annoying. He actually managed to surpass David Crockett as the most annoying commentator ever.

 

[Judah's Lion]

JBL strikes me as the heel today. when heels attack faces, he says it's taking advantage of an opportunity and going for glory. when faces attack heels, they're being big cowards that are maliciously trying to hurt the heel for no reason other than they're jerks too. JBL is a heel thru and thru.

and i'm with the minority of the IWC but apparently the majority of this particular thread. i absolutely loved Cole as a heel commentator. it was so unique to have a heel play-by-play guy. i can't think of when that's ever been done before. and the Cole Mine plastic shield was a stroke of freaking genius! yep. i'm a Cole Miner.

 

[thatotherguy]

This seems like the right thread to bring this up in.

So if you guys saw Smackdown tonight, Josh Matthews of all people was acting a little heelish at the end. That point was a Ryback/Chris Jericho match. Over the course of the match, Josh Matthews acted like a very strong supporter of Ryback, including guaranteeing a Ryback victory at Extreme Rules. At first I thought he might just be claiming that Ryback was the favorite due to Cena's injury, but as time went on he just sounded more and more like a heel commentator. Then, on top of that, Matthews berated JBL and Cole for being "John Cena homers" and mocked JR for being a Stone Cold homer.

I honestly have no clue what to make of this. Really, I've got no clue. Josh Matthews wasn't acting like a heel at any other point throughout the program, and has always been, to my knowledge a fairly standard play-by-play guy.

Thoughts?

 

[thomasgj]

JBL is obviously the heel commentator. About Cole, though, he was awful. I'm probably alone here on this, but as a fan of the Divas, I hated how he would (and honestly still does) take away from their matches. They're given like 3 minutes, would it kill you to not make jokes and giggle like a school girl or plug in the stupid app during them? And don't even get me started on how he was during NXT season 3. He was the epitome of the word "douchebag".

 

[Owen 3:16 says I just stole your Slammy!!]

JBL is awesome, he does good to build the heel up. I'm glade that he is on Raw, the commentating booth before JBL was boring and stale. I can't take Cole, I don't like Lawler as a face commentator. Lawler was a great heel in the '90s when he made jokes.

I watch an interview with Jesse Ventura from a year ago, he said he would come back if Vince calls him and for the right price.

 

[Brahma_Bull9]

I love JBL, but he's the heel. I think you have to be slow not to get that. Josh Matthews is pretty much a heel, even in kayfabe because he has no business being their. Same thing with Michael Cole... I mean Cole paid dues, but Matthews is pretty much Cole when he started. A boring tool, and that's all either of them will be.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Currently on WWE TV on both RAW & Smackdown there are three men doing commentary. On RAW Michael Cole, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and JBL. On Smackdown we have Michael Cole, JBL, and Josh Matthews. Out of these four men there is no one playing the heel character. Michael Cole did a outstanding job as a on air heel for a good while, then there was Jerry Lawler's heart attack which took the focus off Michael Cole's heel persona. Now Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler are best buds all of a sudden with JBL on commentary on RAW.

But the WWE has always had that strong heel commentator at all times. Going back to the days of Jesse "The Body" Ventura. And wasn't JBL a heel? His millionaire character is a rip-off of J.R. Ewing from the TV show "Dallas". So JBL has to stay in that role. So if all for guys are faces who's the heel? William Regal is over in NXT doing commentary. So who does that leave out and who would make a good on-screen heel at the commentary booth if they have the free time?

JBL's the heel in the group. It's easy to see it. He's always giving the benefit of the doubt to the heel when something underhanded takes place. He might show some 'tweener' capabilities, but he's definitely the heel of the bunch.

I don't know where you see this 'best buds' thing from Cole and Lawler. They're colleagues and put aside their personal differences. I would hardly call that 'best buds'.

 

[M]

I don't see why there's a need for a heel character on the announcing table, as long as the commentators are saying intelligent things it's fine.... but that's a different discussion...

JBL is the most heelish one of the group, but he's also by far the most human one of the group. It's hard to disagree with a guy's actions when there's a guy explaining a perfectly logical reason behind doing said actions and it devalues the other commentators by making them look stupid by comparison. Even Josh Matthews in his brief stints at heel commentary during smackdown comes across as smarter than cole and lawler.

A good lineup would be Matthews on play by play, Regal on insight/analysis and JBL as JBL. You get the best out of what they can do because they compliment each other's styles to perfection and it doesn't mess with scheduling as nxt is taped, Jibbles is on RAW anyway and Matthews can swap with lawler on smackdown.