Booker T's commentary!

[AGameTime411]

I just finished watching the latest Smackdown, and the show was pretty damn good. There was actually some decent matches there. But each week i watch Smackdown (And even Raw and the PPV's) and there's always one thing that bugs me! Booker T's Commentary. It's been something that has been spoken of in CSR. And im pretty sure most people are thinking the same thing. Booker isn't made for commentary. He is entertaining on the mic don't get me wrong, but having to listen to him for a two hour show each and every week is far too much. Michael Cole knows what he's talking about, Jerry Lawler knows what he's talking about, heck even Josh Mathews knows what he is talking about. But Booker T just seems to talk useless stuff. He says the same things over and over again.
So my question is Do you like Booker on the Announce team? Who would you rather see on the Smackdown broadcast team, instead of Booker T? Or should it be just Matthews and Cole?
I actually think it would be a good idea to bring Edge to the announce team. I think he'd make a pretty good Announcer!

 

[Kermit]

I don't understand your backing for why Edge would be any better than Booker-T.

Booker-T provides one thing on commentary: something fresh. Sure, half the time you can't understand what he is saying, and sometimes what he says is random and pointless, but at least it's fresh. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of his commentary and I was hoping that when he got stunned at Wrestlemania 27, we would see a heel turn of some kind that would have him rooting for some heels on the mic, but that didn't happen.

Although, in my personal opinion, I would much rather listen to Booker-T than that tool, Matt Striker.

 

[The Mighty Tiger]

Booker T just seems to talk useless stuff.

He be babbling because he is still green when it comes to announcing, but I believe w/time he will do less of this.

He says the same things over and over again.

All the announcers can be faulted of this at times.

So my question is Do you like Booker on the Announce team?

I like Booker on the team, but I do feel like he needs alot more work to be good. I feel he has the potential to be good, but its gonna take a little time cause he is obviously out of his element.

Who would you rather see on the Smackdown broadcast team, instead of Booker T?

If he wasn't showing any signs of getting better & was gonna be replaced, I would hope that replacement would be JBL.

Or should it be just Matthews and Cole?

HELL NO!!! Cole w/this heel character is all bad, Booker & Matthews is better off by themselves.

I actually think it would be a good idea to bring Edge to the announce team. I think he'd make a pretty good Announcer!

I don't agree, I always felt like Edge would do better in a backstage role.

 

[WZMember####]

If I heard Booker correctly just now he said that Sheamus and Mark Henry had no idea what its like to be in a tag team. The way I understood him was in a tag team in general but he could of meant together...Ill give him that. But after that he said that Randy and Christian were veterns of tag team wrestling.

But to say Mark Henry knows nothing about being in tag teams?

Dlo Brown and MVP are very upset to hear that.

The night he said Christian Cage was interesting and on Youtube if you read the comments people swear they hear some unflattering words slipping out...lol

 

[S.J. Maximus]

I agree entirely I hate Booker T on commentary, despite my love for him as a wrestler he is horrendous in this role and I think he should be replaced. Who should replace him? I wouldn't be able to tell you because I don't know many commentators and I can't predict how well a wrestler would do behind the the announce desk. If someone pointed a gun to my head and made me choose, I'd say William Regal because he was gold as commissioner and believable as a wrestler. The problem with that is Michael Cole is already a big heel announcer and I'd see Regal as a heel and 2 heels don't mesh well.

That being said, I don't know who to bring in to the SD announce team, but it sure as hell shouldn't have been Booker T. No one can understand him and he rarely puts over matches or makes them better. If anything he distracts viewers from the match by saying nonsense

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

Booker is twice as entertaining as Matt Striker could ever dream to be. Same goes for Josh Matthews.

Matthews doesn't bother me, but he's very bland. Almost boring. He sounds so scripted, and so ...generic. He offers almost no energy, and without Booker, I think the SD announce team would be as boring as it had been for years.

Booker isn't smart. He isn't all that funny, and he really offers nothing technical. He's all emotion. With Matthews basically being a robot, Booker is needed.

 

[Shotlycrue]

Booker is twice as entertaining as Matt Striker could ever dream to be. Same goes for Josh Matthews.

Matthews doesn't bother me, but he's very bland. Almost boring. He sounds so scripted, and so ...generic. He offers almost no energy, and without Booker, I think the SD announce team would be as boring as it had been for years.

Booker isn't smart. He isn't all that funny, and he really offers nothing technical. He's all emotion. With Matthews basically being a robot, Booker is needed.

I know I'm going slightly off topic here to address your assessment of Matthews, but I have to disagree wholeheartedly. As an example of Matthew's ability to bring excitement, passion and energy to a match watch the replay of last weeks Orton/Christian match. His work on Superstars as a color guy is VERY entertaining as well. Granted, much of that has to do w/ the great chemistry he has w/ Scott Stanford.

Back to the topic at hand, I do not think Booker is or will be a good announcer. The main reason being, he hasn't improved since his second week behind the mic. His first week he was god awful. It was seriously one of the most painful things I've ever heard. His second week was quite a bit better, but yet, still bad. He's plateaued at bad. As another poster mentioned, yes he is fresh, but that doesn't mean he's tolerable. He provides no insight other than "he hit him with his knee right there, that'll definately hurt him right there...right there...right there..." Or is it "thurr"? After the one count: "I thought he had him right thurr"

As much as I've bashed him I hope that he's given the chance to prove me wrong and does prove me wrong. I just don't think he will.

 

[JWGunslinger]

Booker T is not a great announcer. I'm sorry, I really do love Booker but AGame brings up a great point, he doesnt bring alot as a commenator. It's difficult, because part of me loves him on the commentating just to see him around and back in the WWE. However he is really doesnt do much on commentary, so it's tough for me to say. In the end I suppose I am glad he's here, but I wish another man could be added to the team to add more. I really like Striker, I feel like he isnt utilized the way he should be and he deserves alot more airtime.

 

[Yesiamaduck]

I liked him at first, it was something fresh... but something went horribly wrong around Extreme Rules time and he hasn't recovered since IMHO. It's the way he keeps on getting into arguments with Cole and he proves Cole right that does my head in, like the whole attire thing with the boot and the mask... that drove me insane!

He distract me from whats going on as opposed to putting the talent over or helping progress the story of whats going on in the ring & nah I'm not buying it. Which is a shame because I really liked his commentary the first few weeks but I think T is getting more and more repetitive, jumbled, botchy and annoying.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

I think that when people look back in time it's easy to spot why Booker T and (until Cole's recent heel turn) Lawler grate as announcers - they're operating as faces. Just think about the former greats - Bobby Heenan, Jesse Ventura and early days Lawler. They constantly insulted the faces but had the ability to not degrade their ability whilst they did it. It's a very easy concept - the play by play guy has to be a face because it's incredibly hard to describe a match and show bias at the same time, and the colour guy is the heel because he can insult the faces at his leisure and drive the play by play guy nuts in the process (because he is calling the action, he does not have the same luxury time to defend the faces).

Nowadays, the only voice we have degrading the faces is Michael Cole and while he may gain heat, he commits the cardinal sin of devaluing the talent (and given that he is being these lines from Vince, this is very worrying) which weakens the product. Last night was a prime example, during Layla's promo Cole degraded the whole Divas division for being bad, as he has done for some months now. Now, if he is telling everyone that Divas wrestling is rubbish, more people will basically not care about the division because he is not arguing that he does not like a particular member, he is blanket burying the WHOLE lot as being unentertaining. TNA committed the same crime on 5/5/11 iMPACT when Eric Bischoff buried Rob Terry and Murphy (members of HIS faction) and all of the XDivision.

WWe need to take a look at their commentary teams, the Cole heel persona may amuse Vince and act as a way for him to vent his spleen about things but it is not working when he is detracting from the product. Amazingly the last quality heel commentator was pulled by Vince for committing this exact same crime - JBL had to change his tune when he was burying the Miz weekly. A quality colour commentator should either be a former wrestler (Ventura, Lawler, JBL) or at the very least should be known to have great knowledge of the inner workings (kayfabe) of the business (Heenan, Heyman). A return to the King Booker persona might assist Booker in the quality stakes and would remove the 'need' for Cole on SmackDown (it has, to my knowledge, never been explained why he is working there anyway). On RAW, once the Cole/ Lawler feud has run it's course we need the dynamic addressed there too, either a dual turn or a Cole turn plus a new colour guy.

 

[Yesiamaduck]

Jesus, I really hope they aren't listening to some of you about bringing back Striker. I really hate it when I am forced to mute Smackdown.

EDIT: This is also in the spam section, so I'm hoping this doesn't result in some sort of infraction

I liked Matt Strike, I thought he was decent... he wouldn't add much but he'd keep his focus on the match and would have something valid to say. He isn't much of an annoyance either, just a bit blah, so I don't know why you would feel the need to mute the tv even if you didn't like him, Booker T on the other hand is loud brash and repetitive... much more mute worthy.

 

[The Mighty Tiger]

I just got done watching smackdown & the one thing that seems to be the problem w/Booker is that he is bickering w/Cole for 2hrs! It's no way he can improve on the job if he is always going back & forth w/Cole over dumb shit. They need to get Cole off of Smackdown & just let Josh/Booker tag team at the table, maybe then Booker would be much better because w/Cole in this heel character he just seems like a 3rd wheel now. Cole being at the table isn't improving the chemistry that Booker & Josh need to build to become a good broadcast team.

 

[FSWWE]

If I could, I muted you Nick!!

Booker T has improved, but how can he do a good job, if WWE dont allow him to?
He is a former wrestler, he knows about WRESTLING! But now he cant talk about WRESTLING!!!
So he has a role, and his role is talking about emotions and i can deal with that since he is a former world champion!

I would rather see Matt Striker on commentary than Booker T that's for sure!!
I think that Booker could be a manager of a young "black" superstar!!

He is on Tough Enough as a trainer, so why cant WWE put him as a manager?

Shelton Benjamin w/ Booker T!! -> That could work, we can see him teaching and giving advices and he can betray Shelton Benjamin and help out other kid, stating that Shelton was becoming to soft! That could be a good storyline in my view!!

 

[TheNewStyle]

I honestly don't get where all the "nobody understands what Booker T says" comments come from. I think he's good on commentary and much better than Michael Cole constantly talking about himself all the time, detracting from the match that's going on.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Booker has improved since he started as a commentator. At first, I thought he was going to be hopeless as he called the matches strictly by watching his monitor rather than focusing on the action occurring right in front of him. His observations seemed trite and stilted but he got better as he became more familiar with the format and was able to relax a bit. Now, he at least looks as if he's enjoying it, which he didn't at the beginning.

Still, I believed that WWE was finished with Booker after he quit the company as a wrestler to join TNA......and when he found himself dissatisfied there, too, I figured the last thing Vince would do is bring him back, especially given his age. So, it was a total surprise to see him come back as a commentator. I reasoned that they wanted him back as a wrestler, if anything, and his performance at the Royal Rumble did nothing to change my mind.

On the one hand, I'm kind of happy to see him back. On the other hand, if WWE was looking outside the company to find a replacement for Matt Striker on Smackdown, they could have done better than Booker T.

 

[Iversen]

Bookers green on the mic it's as simple as that. It's obvious he's still trying to hard and isn't just sitting back and letting the words come naturally something which people like JR do perfectly. Sometimes silence is better than over doing it.

It's something that might come in time or it's something he might never get. He's still only been there for a few months so it may come.

 

[Nev]

I like Booker on the mic. You can tell Vince probably doesn't scream in his ear, being the dumb and random things Booker has said over the last few months. He is completely natural and unscripted, I love it.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

Considering Striker sends me into a fucking thunderous rage when I hear, see or think of him, Booker is easily better than him.

However, I really do think Booker has been great. Like someone else said, the guy isn't the smartest wrestling nerd. But he has something that you can't teach and that is enthusiasm. When someone cheats, he says everything expressing his distaste for it including "OH HELL NAW~!" In fact, if he were to curse, I would swear NorCal would be calling the match. That is how into what he is watching Booker is.. And I love it.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

I liked Matt Strike, I thought he was decent... he wouldn't add much but he'd keep his focus on the match and would have something valid to say. He isn't much of an annoyance either, just a bit blah, so I don't know why you would feel the need to mute the tv even if you didn't like him

I would rather listen to the wind blow, honestly. It has more of a rhythm than Striker ever did. Striker acted as though he were competing in some sort of debate league. He's a smart guy, and if he were part of a three-man team, I might not hate him so much. Then again, I'm sure he would attempt to dominate the broadcast, as he always did. So yeah, I'd still hate him.

Booker T on the other hand is loud brash and repetitive... much more mute worthy.

Booker has done a great job of calling the action. By that, I mean he knows the moves, understands the psychology, etc. So did Striker, but Booker is more credible, and he's more entertaining.

Repetitive? All of those guys, Matthews and Cole especially, are repetitive.

Mr. X just put the entire locker room on notice.

Mr. X just sent a message to the entire Smackdown locker room!

Cole's a douche, and Matthews is a robot. Having Booker there to provide much needed excitement is great. Actually, to be honest, I don't care if it's Booker, or someone else. Bring in Regal, doesn't matter. As long as I don't have to listen to Matthews, Grisham, and/or Striker put me to sleep again, I'm good.

 

[hollowpoint]

I actually like Booker T as a commentator. What I don't like is this persona Michael Cole has had for the past couple of months. They need to either make Cole a manager, or keep him on RAW. He's more than just a heel announcer, he's an antogonist to his own colleagues. One thing each show used to have is comradarie(sp?). They always worked together as a team and if anything they would bash the other brand. Now they work both shows and there is nothing separating the two. As someone posted earlier, Booker T is not a veteran on the commentary. Mix in the fact that Cole tries to correct everything Booker T says, it makes for an uneffective broadcast. If they got rid of Cole, I guarantee you that Booker will improve, but until then, it will be the same ol' same.

 

[Hunted-RKO]

Booker-T has only been doing this for a few months;and he has improved ALOT from the first time he was on commentary but he stilll aint good,his decent at best.

But Booker-T does add some freshness to the announce table and atleast he knows what his talking about when it comes to wrestling (Yeh I Said Wrestling) Unlike That Idiot Micheal Cole

Just off topic for a bit SD was epic fantastic wrestling and a ok opening promo,completly opposite from raw! And They call RAW The A-Show? Not to me.

 

[The Doctor]

I love Booker! He's not the best or most articulate guy on the commentary table, but he's full of emotion and excitement. He's a unique voice that provides the perspective of someone who just loves what he's doing. It really draws you in, because it's like watching with your excitable friend sitting next to you on the couch, and I love it. He's also really funny, both intentionally and unintentionally. He's a refreshing change of pace from the bland Face-Coles and Josh Mathews' out there and I hope he sticks around for a long time.

 

[Creed_Thought]

i just find the way he over exaggerated every detail at extreme rules painful and before that point i never really had a problem with him, i know they have to say at E.R. that these matches shorten careers etc but please booker wait until someone falls of a ladder or goes through a table not walking up steps in the middle of the crowd during the falls count anywhere match.personally i feel regals underrated on commentary and wasted on NXT but i doubt hes to everyones liking

 

[Odisho]

booker t has actually got'n better at comentating, when he first started, I WAS EMBARASSED FOR HIM!!!!!! MORE THAN HALF THE TIME HE DIDNT EVEN MAKE SENSE but after a month he started getting better, and i remember at EC lawler botched a superplex on the miz and booker t said something to make it look unbotched, i forgot what he said. so booker t is still green, but he is also still getting better.

 

[DethMetal]

Ah the guttural musings of Booker T...

Booker isn't a bad commentator. He adds excitements to the show. If they could get Michael Troll off of the show(For Odin's sake, he doesn't need to be on every show! Are ya trying to drive us away Vince?), he wouldn't argue with him every two seconds and could focus on the show. sure, from time to time, Booker's commentary goes from The Guttural Musings of Booker T to the Incoherent Stylings of King Booker, but he adds excitement to the show. He's pretty damn entertaining and can call a match, unlike Sir Michael Cole, who tries to damn hard to shove himself down our throats.