Female Commentators?

[PompeyDJ]

Now, the announce teams in the WWE are discussed quite often here. Whether it's commentators that you can't stand (Michael Cole) or are underrated (Josh Matthews) it is a frequent topic of discussion.
But what i want to know, is if there's ever been or ever will be a female member of the announce team. There's been occasions where some divas have been on guest commentary as part of a feud but i don't recall there being a recurring female announcer. The divas don't get much of a chance to talk any more seeing as their division isn't really cared about much these days.
Does anyone think it would be good to see someone like Lita, Trish Stratus or Michelle McCool provide occasional commentary on Superstars or NXT?

 

[StraightEdge for Life]

Yeah back when Lita was recovering from neck surgery, she did Sunday Night Heat with Jonathan Coachman for about a year before she was fired by Eric Bischoff for not modelling nude for him.

 

[Nate DaMac]

I don't have any recollection of female commentators, well regulars anyway, but it isn't a terrible idea. I honestly wouldn't really care either way, as long as they don't suck. The sex is as important to me as the race of the commentator. As long as it isn't Mike Adamle, I'm content.

 

[Iversen]

I can never think of having heard a female voice commentate. I reckon it would take a little getting used to but as long as she wasn't there just because she was female and not because she was good at her job then I would have no problem with it.

 

[Justin Satiable]

As long as she was actually good at calling play-by-play, and not one of the awful actresses that pollute the Diva's division. I actually can't stand listening to Michelle McCool on commentary, she's as inconsistent and oblivious as Michael Cole.

 

[The Future Rises]

I remember when I was watching Lopez Tonight with Dolph Ziggler the same question was tossed, and ofcourse they didnt really discuss it, I'd say they should give it a shot but there aren't that much divas with good mic skills nowadays but still they should give it a shot

 

[IvanBarrera531]

As long as she was actually good at calling play-by-play, and not one of the awful actresses that pollute the Diva's division. I actually can't stand listening to Michelle McCool on commentary, she's as inconsistent and oblivious as Michael Cole.

Couldn't agree more. Most of the time when they had women on commentary for a specific match, they get in the way of the match. I mean this in the sense that you're waiting for her to get up and attack her rival involved in the match, and they spend the whole time talking down the play-by-play guy and get drooled on by the color commentator.

But to answer the question, I was going to come out with a straight-up "no". I thought it over, though, and perhaps maybe it deserves a shot before I can critique it. It doesn't have to be anyone from the roster, by any means, but they'd have to know the history of the business to a certain extent, otherwise they have no credibility, and no voice. Anybody could sit there and call the match as it goes on, but it takes a person with a broad mind to tell a story to keep the fan listening, and watch the match at the same time.

 

[berlinbrawler]

Eons ago we had a female commentator for WWE programming in Germany. Uli something. Forgot her full name. She was terrible.
However to be fair I must point out that all German wrestling commentary I have ever heard, be it for WCW, WWE or TNA, was terrible. So in relation to the other German commentators she was actually fairly decent. So while it was a very small pond where she held her own, I guess it stands to reason that a female wrestling commentator is absolutely possible.

For the last 20+ yeas there was one guy who has been the WWE main commentator in Germany almost without interruption. His name is Carsten Schäfer. I hate him. HATE HATE HATE HIM! But I suppose he is the best we could do, and at least he does seem to love wrestling. You should hear the German TNA commentary - the guy has zero passion and says sarcastic things like "Whatever the things are you need in life - wrestling isn't one of them."

Thank God for modern day technologies making it possibly to watch WWE programming in full length with the original audio no matter where you are on the planet.

 

[VencomHardcore]

There is One Woman that Would be Perfect for WWE as a commentator. DORIS BURKE .

She is the only woman to announce NCAA & NBA Men's Basketball games in the Play by Play and Analysis. She has the voice, the style and is amazing. I honestly think she is the female equivalent to Gordon Solie in style [ don't hate me for that before you hear her ].

I would love to see a female in the spot because it would make that table a bit lighter. WWE has been dominated by men and the table is the glass cieling.

 

[Rated 'R' AussieSuperstar]

No, no, no , no. I live in Australia and have witnessed first hand how bad female commentary can be. Last year a woman named Kellie Underwood started to commentate our national Australian Rules Football matches and she was horrible. Now I now fair enough, Football and Wrestling are completely different. But they have one thing in common, they are MAINLY Male sports. Sure, there are female wrestlers. But c'mon wrestling is mainly a guy thing.

Female commentary for me provides nowhere near as much passion and excitement as male commentary (NO I'M NOT SEXIST). I'm okay with the occasional Diva sitting next to Lawler and Matthews when there's a Diva's match giving and they're giving "Special Comments" but I wouldn't be able to tolerate full-time female commentary. But I think wrestling commentary should be kept with just male announcers.

Just to make it clear I'M NOT SEXIST, NOR AM I TRYING TO BE

 

[Reddog1146]

I could get on with that idea, but she would have to be like josh mattews and be neutral for it to work for me. At least for a year or so then she can develop a personality, hopefully by then Cole will be gone.

 

[Smooth Sexual Chocolate]

I actually think having female commentators for Divas matches would be a good idea, on their own show that I don't have to watch.

This about sums up my feeling on this topic.

They try and get female commentators over in pro Football and Basketball; but it's really painful to listen to, they just sound so out of place, especially when put into a situation where they have to describe something they may not be so comfortable with.

Basically, female commentators are gravy for female sports, I mean, you don't see too many dudes, if any commentating on Softball and the WNBA; and that's because it's all female competition, with female viewership, looking for a female perspective.

Females spot commentating Diva matches, sure. Females commentating on WWE Championship main events matches, not really gonna fly.

 

[Trill Co$by]

As someone said already, Lita was a commentator on Heat back when Bischoff was around and was recovering from injury. Honestly, I didn't think she did a bad job. The only problem I would have is that most women have screechy voices that i don't want to hear every week.

 

[martymcfly]

This is an interesting idea. And I would love to see it, even if just on a trial period, because it would be something unique and different, and perhaps even a "breath of fresh air." I also think it could be a good business decision: 1. The WWE constantly claims to be empowering to women, and while this is questionable, giving a woman a chance in a male dominated area could help them in making that claim ring true; 2. A female announcer may increase interest from females and attract new fans.

That being said though, I think that it would be difficult to pull off. I don't mean anything I say next to be sexist, nor do I mean to necessarily pigeon hole the majority of the WWE audience, it is just my opinion on why it would be difficult. In order for this to work, a female announcer would have to be very very good, mainly because she would be entering a world that is dominated by men in the announcing role (you don't even see women in the WWE conducting backstage interviews anymore), and men as fans. Let's face it, the fans are so used to hearing men I believe that she would really have to be awesome to be accepted, as unfortunate as that may sound. So she would need to know the business inside and out, and be extremely talented (like JR level) on the mic for this really to work. She would need to not have an annoying, screeching voice (as alluded to by a poster before me). And as much as I hate to say it, she's also have to be attractive to get and retain the support from a lot of the male WWE fans.

So all things considered, I would love to see a female announcer just to see how it would go. But I doubt it would happen or work, which is unfortunate.

 

[futurediva15]

Lita did do commentary for awhile, but I think it would be a great idea to have a woman do commentary, Trish and Lita are great suggestions, but also what about someone like Torrie Wilson or Stacy Kiebler? They weren't strong wrestlers so maybe they could come back and just do commentary!

 

[Constipated Badger Bottom]

For a woman commentator to work well they need to have a strong voice sort of what Lillian Garcia had back her days of being a ring announcer, she had that voice that sounded right so it got you excited for the upcoming match

But if you think back to Savannah in the original NXT series she had a nice voice but it wasnt powerful so when you heard announce the wrestler names and statistics it didn't really get you excited and just sounded so out of place

And an example for a male announcer for this would be Todd Grisham who just sounded like a child compared to the likes of Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Micheal Cole, Matt Stryker etc, so I'm all for it but they need to have strong voice otherwise it's just going to sound out of place

 

[DethMetal]

As long as she can call play-by-play well, and isn't an utter DIVA, this could work. It would have to be someone the fans would want to listen to, like Lita, Trish. etc. Women have proven that they suck on the ring mic, and with a headset as well. Did you hear Michelle McCool commentating a couple of weeks ago. I tried to watch the match(more than usual), but Michelle made the match so freakin unbearable to listen to. She's as off topic and inconsistent as Michael Cole is(How does Taker put up with her???). She'd have to show passion and not suck at it. Ya know when J.R. calls someone a son of a bitch, and you're going, "Yeah. You bastard!"(?) She would have to ignite something out of ya. Maybe someone like Lillian Garcia. She has a strong voice, and when she announced guys, ya felt excitement in the air. As long as it's not someone as horrible and bland and doesn't have that typical, screechy, diva voice.

 

[Iversen]

No, no, no , no. I live in Australia and have witnessed first hand how bad female commentary can be. Last year a woman named Kellie Underwood started to commentate our national Australian Rules Football matches and she was horrible. Now I now fair enough, Football and Wrestling are completely different. But they have one thing in common, they are MAINLY Male sports. Sure, there are female wrestlers. But c'mon wrestling is mainly a guy thing.

Female commentary for me provides nowhere near as much passion and excitement as male commentary (NO I'M NOT SEXIST). I'm okay with the occasional Diva sitting next to Lawler and Matthews when there's a Diva's match giving and they're giving "Special Comments" but I wouldn't be able to tolerate full-time female commentary. But I think wrestling commentary should be kept with just male announcers.

Just to make it clear I'M NOT SEXIST, NOR AM I TRYING TO BE

Just to make a point here but if you have to continuously qualify that your not sexist it always just screams to me that you're being sexist/racist whatever you're discussing.

Anyway I'm amazed at the backlash here. People saying oh we had a female commentator and she was bad... eh what? Are you saying you've never heard an awful male commentator! What a pile of shit. If there is a female who is good enough to announce on WWE damn right she should be allowed to announce on WWE. If theres a guy ahead of her that betters than her then she shouldn't. It's as simple as that.

 

[1truefan]

I'm not opposed to the idea as long as you did not have someone treating them unequal to the male commentators I would say fine but she would have to be knowledgeable and be able to call mens matches as well and not participate in the banter that most of the divas do when they guest commentate. Lita did it with coach on sunday night heat a while ago but there hasnt been a female commentator since then. I think trish would be a good candidate Lita maybe but outside that no other names come to mind.

 

[berlinbrawler]

In order for this to work, a female announcer would have to be very very good, mainly because she would be entering a world that is dominated by men in the announcing role (you don't even see women in the WWE conducting backstage interviews anymore), and men as fans. Let's face it, the fans are so used to hearing men I believe that she would really have to be awesome to be accepted, as unfortunate as that may sound.

You're absolutely right. I have seen it in other sports. Here in Germany the fans were outraged when we got our first female soccer commentator. She actually did an ok job, if one was fair, but no one was. She had verbal slips and talked some nonsense just like any other commentator does now and then, but for her there was no forgiveness. Typical female. Only a woman wouldn't see that foul. It pretty much brought out the worst in the soccer fans. But she stuck with it and these days it barely raises any eyebrows. She's just another commentator.
The point is people fear change and are likely to react hostile and with closed minds to it.
In wrestling it would certainly help if that female commentator had already gained the fans respect in some capacity, preferably as an in-ring competitor. Like Lita, as several mentioned. But even then the first year or so would probably be hell for her.

 

[jellmoo]

I don't care one way or the other. Male, female, some odd hybrid of the two, I don't care so long as the best person for the job is used. WWE has had terribly inconsistent commentry lately, mostly because their announce team is taking part in angles of their own, and the product has suffered for it.

The only issue I can think of is that I can't come up with any Divas in recent memory that were natural talkers. People have mentioned Lita, and while she wasn't bad, that was on Heat. I don't think that she could anchor a flagship show, let alone a live broadcast.

I think that WWE would have to look outside of current or former talent to make it work. For example, I think that Renee Paquette, who hosts RAW on The Score in Canada might have the ability as she is a clear talker and seems to have a genuine passion for wrestling. I'm sure that there are a number of women like her that might, just might, have what it takes to announce.

 

[NoBloodEra]

For example, I think that Renee Paquette, who hosts RAW on The Score in Canada might have the ability as she is a clear talker and seems to have a genuine passion for wrestling. I'm sure that there are a number of women like her that might, just might, have what it takes to announce.

OMG Maaan, I was totally not thinking about that but that would be just awesome. She would do good on commentary and knows her stuff about wrestling. She has lots unique ideas and views on various superstars. She would add a lot to the commentary. Plus she is good lookin'...

 

[Heavens Vibe]

As long as the person is good, but how would any of the idiots out there watching take them seriously? What would happen to their moral if the fans behind them start shouting sexist comments, or people are hanging onto everything they do just so they can claim a "female screwup" for any mistakes they make...

 

[harrythem]

For the love of god no! They've got female commentators over here on Match Of The Day and on the radio reports for the football and, sweet Jesus, they are fucking shit! Can't take them serious, and the tone of their voice is all wrong as well. The Coach's voice was too high to be able to deliver real drama on commentary and the women would be even worse. Hell, when they had Ivory and Lita doing Heat they were shit, and Ivory was a good talker too!

Only thing worse would be a female ref as it's hard taking a male ref seriously, let alone a female one.

 

[leJobz]

Yeaaahhh...not a fan of female commentators. Theres one which does commentary in Australia for the AFL and its pretty unbearable. They make great interviewers though, no doubt about that, but commentators? Sorry, but no