I am finally at the end of my teather with the announce team.

[Skinsley]

I am currently watching RAW and I had to pause it at the end of the USO’s match because I felt compelled to voice my anger.
Now I know most of you are also tired of the commentary team…but until now I was kind of just in the “It’s not as good without JR” category. Now I am in the “get JBL off my god damn screen and out of my god damn ears forever please NOW!”….category.

As I am sure you are all aware, Lilian Garcia made a slight mistake by announcing the USO’s as Grammy award winners instead of Slammy Award winners. This prompted JBL to crack, boring, nonsensical, repetitive and exaggerative jokes about the kerfuffle throughout the 7 minute segment following. JBL did not fail to mention the word “Grammy” for any 60 second period following the incident. And this infuriated me! Not because he may be causing embarrassment to Lillian, but merely the fact that it was not that big a deal, it wasn’t really funny and it distracted me from the match and segment entirely. I have not finished watching the show yet, but if he says it one more time I am probably going to lose my shit!

Something must be done about this trio of none conversant wankers!

My question to you all is – Have there been any particular quotes, or moments of commentary madness in recent memory that have tipped you over the edge when it comes to the series of pillocks sat behind that table?

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Vince McMahon was probably feeding him lines. I highly doubt this is JBL's fault.

Honestly though I didn't even realize the fact that he mentioned it so much because I was barely paying attention.

My advice would be to either watch on mute or try to tune commentary out. Or stop watching. There's no reason to keep watching honestly.

 

[midgensa]

While I agree, Vince was telling him to harp on it for sure, I still cannot stand these guys.

There is NOTHING that feels genuine about JBL. His smile, his gimmick, nothing. It is laughable. Cole is not much better And poor Byron is just a whipping post.

King and JR were definitely top notch. But, I watch ROH every week and those guys are ten times better than what we get from JBL, too. I can live with Cole a little, he is nothing but a shill. But, JBL, ugh ... I don't really dislike the guy or anything, but he is so bad at that table.

 

[Piss Bucket]

I miss JR, OK the poor guy used to get a bit overexcited which hasn't done his health much good, but his commentary was brilliant IMO.

 

[Kamala316]

JBL is, has been, and will continue to be as fake a human being as you will possibly ever see or meet. He's jealous of every ECW wrestler that ever got on a card there because Heyman thought (more like knew) that JBL wasn't good enough. Look at what he did to the Blue Meanie at One Night Stand for no reason! He reminds me of a combination of a politician and a crooked salesman. When the cameras are rolling - thumbs up, big (fake) smile, polite little wave, etc. Thank God for the mute and fast forward buttons on my remote; I can watch Raw in under an hour, and I don't have to listen to JBL plug his personal endeavors or the local sports teams. Think he's a little jealous of Ron Simmons for all of his Hall of Fame successes in and out of the ring? Just a smidge...

 

[silverbullet]

she doesn't mind, there is actually an entire thing dedicated to Lillian's botches, she even joked about them a couple of times her self.

 

[@smarkmouth]

Well, this is part of the ongoing problem, that you have a 70 year old man harping on the 40 year old man to sound more like 20 year old men watching and joking about the product. It seems Vince McMahon caught an episode of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and misunderstood the appeal entirely.

Whoever you want to blame, Vince, JBL, Dunn or otherwise (when in doubt, blame Dunn), it's not appealing to anyone. JR often praises Michael Cole for doing a great job, and he's right to do so. The criticism needs to fall more often on the job description of commentary in WWE.

 

[DirtyD79]

WWE Commentary has been the drizzlin' shits for quite some time. They'll either beat a joke into the fucking ground long after it stopped being funny or they'll make pointless pop culture references. Naturally getting the gags in on Lillian Garcia overshadowed the match. This is why fans don't care about anything anymore. Why should we? The commentators sure as hell don't.

 

[Seosa]

Vince is probably at fault for a lot of it, but JBL is vile. He was an absolute disgrace during the Sting/Haitch match at Mania.

Personally though I thought there was one phrase from last night regarding AJ Styles that really summed up how obnoxious that commentary team is, regardless of Vince's influence: "Redneck Rookie". There's so much I can say about that but I don't actually think words are necessary.

 

[OYDK]

Anytime JBL raises his voice, I mute the screen. Anytime he says "FLYING USOS MAGGLE!" I mute the screen. Basically anytime he does anything other than talk normally, I mute him. At this point, I've actually just started to tune out the announce team. To be honest, I didn't even notice that Lillian said Grammy instead of Slammy and I only realized that the announcers were harping on about it after I read the LD. How people still listen to those guys for 3 hours without ripping out their hair is beyond me.

The sad thing is, JBL used to actually be a very good heel commentator back in the day. Yeah he used to yell a lot but at least he actually used to act like a heel. Now he's just a ridiculous caricature of a "likable" bad guy...

 

[Azane]

I stopped watching Wrestler for 4 years JUST because of Michael Cole commentary.

The announcing teams being seniority, rather than talent, is really hurting the show.

JR used to get loud and do his rants, but they improved the show or sold the payperview "BY GOD HES BROKEN IN HALF" vs JBL yelling "HEY GUYS LISTEN TO THE SOUND OF MY VOICE!!@!#@@!" or Michael Cole just being the shilliest shill thats ever shilled "HEY GUYS BUY THIS PRODUCT, AND THIS ONE!" There's little to no talent being put over, unless it's Roman Reigns (a whole nother issue I wont derail the thread on.)

JR could call a match between a Broom and a mop, and both of them would end up seeming better.

I remember Mick Foley making a huge point about the lines being fed through their headsets, and how they kept getting more and more force scripted on things, while I'm sure 80% of late 90's Lawler+JR dialogue was on the spot, I wonder how much of it is the Announce team, and how much of it is the out of touch specialists who get paid to plant buzz words to the audience (the guys costing the company Millions of viewers over the past decade.).

she doesn't mind, there is actually an entire thing dedicated to Lillian's botches, she even joked about them a couple of times her self.

Correction, Lilian got paid in an interview to say she doesn't mind being treated like Human Garbage by WWE, because her job was on the line.

 

[Navi]

I used to like JBL on commentary, but it's become same ****e, different housecoat. He never changes, and he doesn't focus enough on the in ring action. Quite honestly I missed it last night when Lillian Garcia made that mistake about the Uso's, it wasn't until I saw someone post it on the LD thread that I realized it.

Then they went on forever about it. The one thing JBL shouldn't do is make jokes, the guy is about a funny as a sore tooth. I don't think he has one humorous bone in his entire body. Anywhere else he would be taken to task for doing such a shitty job, in the WWE he will get put into the HOF.

I'm fine with Michael Cole, the guy knows his stuff just needs someone better to play off. Saxton is fine as well, and is tune with the fans than the other two are. He's a good interviewer and given time I think he'll be fine. I know that if I was sitting there and JBL was giving me the business, I'd get up and let him have it.

 

[Bagpipes]

I'll agree the current announce team on RAW has pretty much run its course. People have varying opinions about Cole, I've never really been a fan of him but it's more personal preference than anything he does overwhelmingly bad.

JBL is awful, King hasn't been good since JR left and largely seems disinterested in the current product.

Mauro has been a breath of fresh air and Corey Graves is awesome. Maybe a Cole/Graves/Saxton team on RAW would work. Let Graves be the heel commentator that actually provides insight and analysis rather than making unfunny jokes and burying people like JBL.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Commentators these days do not have the same "magic" they used to have during the old times. They joke around too much, they discuss everything else going on except the match. I don't know why that happens. Does Vince want his show to be a gossip-girl kind of thing?

Vince has been in commentary himself for many years. I don't think he was discussing anything else than wrestling back on these days. Jokes and all are nice, but most of the times it's an overkill.

On the subject of JBL, some people say that it was Vince feeding him lines. I think there's a policy out there that says that commentators shall joke, if any kind of botch happens in the ring, as this is not the first time something like this happens.

However the joke getting dragged out for so long, that's not Vince's doing. That's JBL. He always does that.

 

[Navi]

Commentators these days do not have the same "magic" they used to have during the old times. They joke around too much, they discuss everything else going on except the match. I don't know why that happens.

I can tell you why it happens, they are bored stiff. It must be hell sitting there week in and week out calling the same matches against the same opponents. There is only so much you can say or do, and that's not anyone's fault but the WWE for not changing it up enough.

I know the roster is plagued with injuries right now, but holy shit they have enough wrestlers that we can at least see something different every once in awhile.

Am I the only one that noticed that the announce table actually came alive during the Rumble when Styles came out. Both JBL and Cole talked about him like he was the second coming of Christ. It was fresh, new and a surprise and got everyone there and at home excited for just even a few minutes. I noticed this week it was back to basics and it's not going to get any better.

 

[resignedknight]

The saddest part is that Graves is so damn good, and he's exactly what Vince wants. Why try desperately to make JBL seem less out of touch when you already have a guy who is actually hip AND does a thousand times better job of building up guys, their characters, and the psychology of their feuds?

The good news is that I firmly believe Graves will eventually take JBL's place. Not sure when, but I think it's inevitable.

 

[ShinChan]

To be honest, the only commentary duo that interested me was J.R and King. I really loved these together and used to listem them with full concentration.

After J.R's departure, I did give more time for next announce teams but noone could interest me as the above mentioned duo did. So Nowadays I just watch and ignore the commentary. I do have interest in Mauro & Graves though.

​

 

[ztwhite]

I'll take JBL any day over Booker T. Why he was ever allowed behind the desk is beyond me.

I wouldn't mind seeing Corey Graves get a shot at the big leagues. He's a little 'raw', right now, but Byron Saxton has actually become pretty decent considering where he started.

I know I'm probably in the minority, but I can not stand listening to Mauro Ranallo on Smackdown. I think he's terrible. And when he references things that happened in the past, i.e. feuds, storylines, etc... I have a hard time accepting that he knows what he's talking about since he wasn't there.

 

[Un-Bo-Lievable Jeff]

To go against the popular opinion, I actually really like JBL, especially when a heel is on commentary as well. He's had some funny exchanges with Kevin Owens and Miz in the past.

Sometimes the whole team don't worry about the match, and that is annoying, so I would get rid of Cole if possible and Saxton is a waste of oxygen.

I would defo keep JBL though.