Who will be calling the PPV's now?

[Megadeth]

This may seem somewhat trivial, but given the recent replacement of Matt Striker on Smackdown with Booker T, that got me to wondering if this meant Booker T would also take his place on PPV. At the Royal Rumble and for the past several PPV's if I remember correctly we had Michael Cole, Jerry The King Lawler, and Matt Striker, and on occasion CM Punk while he was out injured. Given that The King is going to be in the WWE title match at Elimination Chamber against the Miz, I am assuming that The King will not be doing any of the commentating at EC. So then, who will be calling it? My guess at first would be Booker T would simply replace the King and we would have the team of Michael Cole, Booker T, and someone else. Initially I would think the third man would be Matt Striker, but given that Booker T took his place on Smackdown, and the rumors that Striker has lost some points with McMahon, that made me think maybe we will get Josh Matthews instead. Considering that Matthews has been replacing the King on Raw quite a bit lately, it seems like Matthews has gone up in ranking so to speak in the eyes of McMahon.

But then that begs the question, what about after Elimination Chamber. Since The King I am assuming will be fading out of the spot light after the Chamber or possibly Wrestlemania and will be back to calling PPV's instead of wrestling on them, where will that leave the announce team. I could be wrong, but I just don't see them having The King and Booker T announcing together, as it would be somewhat redundant having two semi-retired wrestlers on the announce team. (Yes, I am aware that Striker is also a former wrestler turned announcer, but let's face it, he didnt have anything close to the career of Booker and Lawler.) So long term, who will be calling the action on PPV? Other than Michael Cole, it is hard to say at this point for sure who will be a part of the WWE announce team in the future, so I was wondering what your thoughts are on the issue. Who do you think it will be or who do you think it should be?

 

[LegendKiller716]

I'm Not entirely sure. I think they should go back to the separate tables and have King and Cole call Raw matches and have Booker, Striker, and Mathews call Smackdown.

 

[LAXbro]

o ya i havent even thought about that. but i think it will be booker striker and cole. ya i think they should go back to the seperate shows matt and josh are good together and cole just sucks.

 

[Disturbed]

I have pondered on this for a while. I think a good idea would be to have Jim Ross on commentary ever pay per view. I know, he is pretty much done with announcing but he is arguably the best announcer of all time and is still signed with WWE. Announcing one show a month will not hurt the man. I seem kind of bored as of late when some pay per view matches and the commentary doesn't help it. Jim Ross makes every match he calls sound interesting. I think it would be entertaining seeing him go back and forth with Michael Cole and would help Michael Cole hey over as a heel. So from now on, I would like to see Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, and good ol' JR call every pay per view. This might even get some more pay per view buys from some fans who miss Jim Ross and want to hear him on commentary once a month.

 

[JJ15776]

It's hard to guess who will call the Elimination Chamber. I'm guessing Cole and Matthews. Maybe Booker as well? They won't have Striker doing PPVs if they don't even have him on SD! anymore. But for Wrestlemania, I would bet money on the fact that Jim Ross will be there. Remember that Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole are very likely to have some kind of match (whether it be a tag team or handicap match, or just a match where the stipulation is Lawler gets 5 minutes alone with Cole when he wins or something), and I bet JR will be there to call that one and probably the rest of the show.

Long term, I bet it will be Cole, Matthews, and King on PPVs. If it were up to me, I'd take Cole off the SD! team, and have Cole/King call Raw matches and Matthews/Booker call SD! matches.

 

[Decarow]

I've heard rumors that Lawler might be retiring after Mania this year. If that's so, they will most likely replace him with Striker or Booker (probably Striker to give him more cred). If that's so, there is still room for him on the PPV table. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they mixed up the commentating every PPV. Keep Cole and Booker and then rotate Striker and Matthews.

 

[RatedCharisma59]

Ah this subject just really bugs me because i really enjoy strikers commentary, and i don't like booker t on commentary at all! He just does not sound comfortable at all!

Dont get me wrong i am as happy as the next person that booker is back but as a commentator ? After watching the past two smackdown episodes they just do not seem right at all, striker is smackdown! didnt seem right not hearing him calling the matches and it actually bugs me because i dont think booker is right to be announcing on smackdown, let alone ppvs!

I dont actually see why cole is on smackdown while being on raw too anyway ? I guess all i can hope is striker is still in the PPV announce team.

It is very obvious that the announce team for Elimination Chamber and Mania this year will not be the full time PPV Announce team due to The King wrestling and Cole likely to be involved in mania, so i predict (Hope!):

Elimination Chamber: Josh Matthews, Micheal Cole, Matt Striker

Wrestlemania: Matt Striker, Jim Ross, Michael Cole (Until his match/Involvement) then Matthews

PPV Team Onwards: Jerry The King Lawler, Michael Cole, Matt Striker (If it aint broken, don't fix it!)

I don't think Booker T is good enough on commentary to be on PPV, Plus would not trust him live (See the ''We coming for you Nigg*r'' Promo). Plus Mania is lacking Jim Ross!

 

[Rocky!Rocky!Rocky!]

I think separate teams for both shows is the best thing to do...i hate how Cole is on Smackdown. His new character seems to detract from the matches on the 'wrestling' show. The last couple of weeks on SD there have been important spots that have needed some commentary to go with them but Matthews and Booker have been distracted by Cole's constant Miz/Vickie rants...its good because it gets him heat but it severely takes away from the show...a play-by-play guy should never be a heel!! But that said, I think the team should stay the same...Cole, Lawler and Striker with Matthews replacing Lawler when he is otherwise engaged.