How is Riley on Commentary? Does He Have a Future?

[Steve-O-Matt]

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So recently, the WWE has positioned Alex Riley in the commentary position of Main Event, paired with Josh Matthews. It's only been a few weeks, but I think he's settled in enough for us to evaluate him. The questions are:

- How is Alex in a commentary position?
- How does the pairing of him and Josh Matthews fair?
- Could this be a great long-term plan for Riley?

In my opinion, it's great that they've decided to keep Riley, even if it's not in wrestling. The strongest talent he had was being able to talk and they are definitely cashing in on that. I've noticed when he starts out the night he's a little shaky, but as the night goes on he finds his rhythm quite nicely. The content he offers as a colour commentator works.

With Josh, they've got a good back and forth going, in my opinion, a little more than Josh and JBL. With JBL, his commentary is a lot more intense and a little hard to work off of. JBL's good, but I don't think Josh is seasoned enough to keep up with him. Josh and Alex work, I would like to see this pairing last, last long enough for maybe a place on Smackdown after JBL has decided to call it quits. I might be jumping the gun, but a would very much like it if eventually the Raw team was just Cole and King and the Smackdown team was just Josh and Alex.

Of course this is a while off yet and we don't even know if this team can last that long, but I really hope they do.

 

[faltemer]

To me he seems to be a poorer version of Matt Striker. Which confuses me because they let Matt Striker go. For some reason he just irks me and would much prefer anyone over him.

 

[Mr. Book This Section]

He is better then most of the commentators. JBL is probably the strongest commentator at the moment but he seems to always be hard to work with, Michael Cole has no charactor any more and he is bland. He also seems to fail. Like the entire story for WWE is no one speaks out against HHH and theres Cole ranting about him on Commentary then JBL finaly has to step in to shut him up. King is another one who is past his prime. He used to be one of the best commentators. Behind Jim Ross and Joey Styles. Now, ever since his Heart Attack, his voice irritates me. Riley is also fresh and he has settled in. I'd welcome Josh and Riley to become main commentators and maybe each time he gets injured or something, CM Punk can join up to make them a three man team. When it's not Punk how about Miz. Miz is also a good commentator...

Josh Matthews - Alex Riley (Main)
Josh Matthews - Alex Riley - The Miz (Occasion)

 

[Uncle]

To be totally fair to Riley, Not many people can go onto main event and make that crap sound good.. That being said he will get better. But it won't be good enough for the WWE. So they will can him in favor of Vince's great nephew or someone else with absolutely no talent.

 

[The Eighties]

The options on the poll are bit to extreme to vote, but I think he's doing alright. They obviously felt he did well enough at NXT to move him to Main Event, the next step would be a move to Smackdown if he continues to progress. The thing is I wonder if this is what he really wants, I mean he's not that old and isn't physically incapable of wrestling that I know of.

 

[Mustang Sally]

The odd thing is that commentators are usually either former wrestlers of note or people who have some other connection to the profession that merits their sitting behind the mic without having been wrestlers. It's unusual to see a guy who never amounted to anything as a ring performer suddenly becoming a noted presence at ringside. Go figure.

Is Riley good at commentary? I don't know; I've never heard his voice. Still, it doesn't really matter since everybody can't be Gordon Solie, can they? I would think Alex offers up some useful remarks......and despite how easy it is for many folks on this forum to recommend depriving certain WWE employees of their jobs, I like the idea that the company can take someone they don't need as a wrestler and find a way to keep him on the payroll.

Hell, I don't think I'd like it if a WWE employee in Stamford, Connecticut called my employer and told them I should be future endeavored.

Would you?

 

[Danger Burger]

I've heard him at work on NXT, and he's OK. A little heavy on his own experiences, which would be fine if he was any sort of wrestler of note as Sally put it. It can be a little peculiar hearing him talk of his experiences with the Miz for an hour though. Guys got a good clear voice, he just needs to grow into the role a little. Learn how to focus the story of the match for the viewer.

A future... Why the hell not. He already has more experience and success in the area than 99% of the earth's population.

 

[IT Factor]

I thought that Riley did a decent job on commentary and was actually trying to do his best, which is more than I can say for Lawler/Cole. Both of those guys have been phoning it in and going through the motions for years with no real improvement or effort on their part. JBL does a fantastic job and is far and away the best commentator in the WWE currently and it might help A-Ry if he is paired up more often with JBL to kind of get schooled on how it is done from the best. Or maybe they could pair him up with Jim Ross on NXT[if he is even still doing that]. As long as one is doing a convincing job of putting over talents, adding insight, and giving a real effort I am happy with their performance. How WWE thought that Michael Cole was "the voice of WWE" I'll never know. I believe Edge said it best when he said "I'd much rather listen to a recorded Jim Ross than a live Michael Cole!". Amen!

 

[Rhodes2TheFuture3313]

I think A-Ry has done a pretty good job thus far. I'd rather he be utilized on the roster or at least have his announce position used to make a storyline for him because the guy was pretty good in the ring and apparently gets decent pops at house shows. He's been punished long enough. Let this lead to something for A-Ry. I also think many are too hard on Michael Cole. I think Cole has been way better as the straight man, then as the heel commentator who reads the laptop GM. With all of the sponsors and facebook, twitter, tout, wwe app stuff going on I think Cole is the best in the business not named JR. Cole and JBL have done a great job advancing the storylines since WM. King is there for nostalgic reasons at this point. He's the fan fav announcer. King does need to tap into some of his creative juices because his comments have been short and to the point lately. Where's the LATINO HEAT-like comments?

 

[IT Factor]

I think A-Ry has done a pretty good job thus far. I'd rather he be utilized on the roster or at least have his announce position used to make a storyline for him because the guy was pretty good in the ring and apparently gets decent pops at house shows. He's been punished long enough. Let this lead to something for A-Ry. I also think many are too hard on Michael Cole. I think Cole has been way better as the straight man, then as the heel commentator who reads the laptop GM. With all of the sponsors and facebook, twitter, tout, wwe app stuff going on I think Cole is the best in the business not named JR. Cole and JBL have done a great job advancing the storylines since WM. King is there for nostalgic reasons at this point. He's the fan fav announcer. King does need to tap into some of his creative juices because his comments have been short and to the point lately. Where's the LATINO HEAT-like comments?

I liked heel Lawler because he seemed into it. And I liked some of the insults because they were fresh and not recycled crap from ten years ago, minus the swear words. It kind of seems like Lawler has lost the passion for announcing and it has seemed that way ever since Cole replaced JR. Lawler no longer entertains us like he used to and his material is just plain lame. He is lucky that he has JBL there to carry him because he is usually the funny announcer of the three on RAW. I wouldn't mind seeing Riley & JBL announcing for Smackdown because it means no more Cole overkill!

 

[TheUSP]

We have to remember, first and foremost, that Riley hasn't had a great deal of time as of yet, you would imagine that as he gains more and more experience he'll improve significantly.

His overall performance so far, for me, has been average (trying to resist a 4/10 joke here....) He seems to work fairly well with Mathews and did a pretty good job when he filled in for JBL on Smackdown for a week. The main issue is that there isn't anything 'special' about him. He doesn't have the evidently clear natural talent that Jim Ross has, and he hasn't got countless wrestling experiences that he can speak about like Lawler or JBl can. However I do believe that he's a decent addition who they can certainly work with.

For the moment I would keep him on Main Event with Mathews, see how he gets on and whether he develops and if JBL or King can't make a Raw or SD, give him a chance to see if he can do a good job on one of the big 2 shows.

 

[TempestH]

Riley is fine as a commentator, but he should be wrestling more often. This commentary gig should lead to a feud of sorts.

There's no reason that Riley can't be wrestling on a semi-regular basis, even in just an enhancement role. He should be wrestling AND doing commentary if they feel he's a good fit for that spot.

 

[M]

He's alright, much better than listening to jerry lawler at least. He doesn't come across as an idiot, which is something only he, JBL and Regal share on their current commentator roster, so that's also a plus. He also does a good job of telling the logical side behind wrestler's actions, explaining why a dodgy tactic makes sense in certain situations while restraining from blindly agreeing with every heel tactic he sees which I like - makes him seem more "human"

That all said, he still needs a lot of work before I'll consider him "good" instead of just "not pathetic". He needs to learn when and when not to use anecdotes to describe stuff and how to tell them in a space of time small enough so that it's still relevant to the match, as he has a tendency to go off about the dynamics of a certain hold/move but only gets to the point after the momentum's shifted or something else more noteworthy has happened. He also tends to completely ignore his partner when he's on those rants too which comes across as odd sometimes because the other commentator is reacting to the spots happening during the rant which Riley seems to be oblivious to. He also seems a bit forced when he's trying to be excited about stuff which is a big turn off.

He has a TON of potential as a voice though, he speaks very clearly with a lot of confidence and pseudo-knowledge and can step in the ring if need be. He's still young and already has a solid spot on the booth so as long as they don't drop him for some reason he should be able to mould himself into a very good commentator with enough time.

Alex Riley: not pathetic, not "good" - yet, but has a TON of upside in this role.