Is It Just Me....

[Jack-Hammer]

....or has commentary been MUCH better overall since Jerry Lawler's heart attack? Since Lawler has been off television recovering from a heart attack, commentary on WWE shows, most of the time, seems more along the lines of an "old school" style.

Last night on Raw, for instance, ALL of the commentator's energy was directed towards the matches, putting the wrestlers over and drawing attention to the current feuds & storylines. Jim Ross & Michael Cole weren't endlessly bickering with each other, Cole wasn't trying to kiss his own ass, Cole came off as completely unbiased, which he's been doing for a while, and something that he hasn't done for a couple of years.

Personally, I enjoyed Michael Cole when he was a heel but I'm glad they've moved him back into a more traditional role now. We got too much Cole at times and I'm glad that he's back to not trying to be the center of attention. Jim Ross is great, as always, and it just feels like a more cohesive unit when he's out there with Cole rather than Lawler.

JBL & Josh Matthews on SD! are different and try to do their own thing. JBL does get annoying sometimes but, all in all, he is playing a heel commentator. He doesn't try to steal the spotlight and works hard at putting over the talent in the ring.

I also like the way that JBL & Jim Ross frequently put over the history some wrestlers have in other organizations. JBL has frequently mentioned promotions like CMLL, WWC, NJPW and even Pro Wrestling Noah a few times. Jim Ross touched on Sin Cara's success in CMLL as a tag team wrestler last night during the tag team tournament finals.

I hope and pray that WWE keeps this format for commentary going forward once Jerry Lawler returns. It's so refreshing to have commentators out there that are actually delivering commentary instead of trying to crack lame jokes or put themselves over when their attention should be on the talent.

 

[Dagger Dias]

It's not just you, man.

The commentary has been leaps and bounds better. Cole no longer needs to be annoying, he won over the haters when he handled Lawler's incident professionally and broke the fourth wall to show support for his friend. With Cole not being anywhere near as annoying, that eliminates half of the problem that they had. Unfortunately, Lawler was the other half of the problem. Having JBL and Ross there has been great. The commentating has been enhancing the matches as opposed to feeling like two annoying guys rambling in the background. It once again feels like announcers discussing the match, whereas it at one point was hurting the product due to the annoyance of Cole and the lack of interest Lawler seemed to portray.

I hate to say it, but part of me hopes Lawler does not announce again. If he does, hopefully he takes some notes from JBL and Ross before he returns. Even a veteran can learn ways to change up their style for the better. Perhaps he can return and side with the heels, since Cole has changed his own style of announcing up some. This turn of events has shown that the "face Lawler & heel Cole" team was awful and not beneficial to the in-ring product. For WWE's own good they need to NOT return to that team as far as the announcing is concerned. Try out "face Cole & heel Lawler", if they want to bring the king back to announcing. We need to see WWE make steps forward rather than taking steps backward, if they don't we will see a drop in quality once again.

 

[Mustang Sally]

....or has commentary been MUCH better overall since Jerry Lawler's heart attack?

Blasphemy! Oh, woe to thee, Jack Hammer......you have besmirched the King.

Actually, you're right. Perhaps it's just a matter of variety freshening up the product after so many years of Jerry Lawler. It's ironic; years ago, I grew tired of Lawler's constant references to "puppies" and all his other skirt-chasing comments, hoping he would turn to more traditional ringside fare.....but once he did, I soon started hoping he'd go back to gawking at the gals. Apparently, being lecherous is the personality most conducive to him. Yes, he knows the product; no one could accuse him of being a Mike Adamle in terms of not knowing what he's talking about, but his straight commentary never really inspired or educated.

You're right about Cole turning back to traditional commentary; he's a better straight man than participant in the programs. JBL is a nice change-up from the usual announcers, although he might grow tiresome if he were a permanent fixture.; his comments are often insightful, but somewhat repetitive.

And Jim Ross? Lawler's unfortunate absence has brought J.R. back into the fold, proving there's no one better at what he does. I love the way he tosses in tidbits about stuff that went on in the past....he knows it all and imparts it with style and grace. Happy to see he's still got it.

In sports, we always hate to read about an athlete who got injured and wound up losing his starting position on the team as a result of it. Now, I can't help wondering what Vince McMahon and the creative team think when they watch the broadcast without Jerry Lawler. Are they seeing what some of us are seeing and conjecturing what things would be like if they kept him off the air?

On one hand, I'd hate to see that if it came about as a result of his heart attack. It would be rough to see them give Jerry a reduced role on the basis of: "We want to give you an easier schedule because of your illness" when what they really wanted was to limit his air time because they realized things were better without him.

Time will tell, but I hope he sticks around. He's still good at what he does and should always have a prominent place in the organization.

 

[Akhilleus]

I have to agree with you. I love Jerry Lawler, and think he was a fantastic wrestler and an iconic person in the business. Even on commentary, he was never really that bad. Him and Jim Ross were a fantastic team, and worked together well. It was when he started commentating with Cole, and when they started to change the way commentary worked, when Jerry started to get not only less good, but more annoying. He'd blindly cheer for whoever the face was in the match, without providing any sort of logic or support.

He was simply getting stale, and it opened the door for different people to step in. Now the commentary has been a lot more focused. It is so much better when they're not worried about involving those guys in storylines. It's just distracting, and annoying. So much more of that time and energy could be used for different starts. I would have much rather seen the Sheamus and Daniel Bryan United States championship match at Wrestlemania, rather than seen Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler.

One if the biggest reasons people fail to give WWE a chance, is because the commentary is usually one of the first things they hear when they turn it on. Have you ever taken a step back and listened to how those guys sound? Just pretend as if you haven't watched this stuff for the last twenty years, pretend you're listening to those guys for the first time. It sounded horrible.

What happened to Jerry was tragic, and it does nothing but wonders to see him recover so well and so quickly. But the commentary in WWE has improved so well without him. It's starting to sound a lot more realistic. Their job is to call the match, and keep it entertaining. Lately they were too entertaining, and it was just borderline annoying. It's starting to improve, and I hope it does nothing but improve more.

 

[Rabbid Wolverine]

I agree

I think Lawler was just going with the flow, he was probably directed to just be the face commentator. Lawler was never the play by play guy so he's not going to give you the moves (not that any of them really do except JR and joey styles). He was always good at color commentating, Cole just puts over stories, i think in general the history of wrestling was missing. Putting names to moves, mentioning previous accomplishments and companies. I think Lawler needs a new role, maybe like a mean gene role or maybe a manager, he is an awesome talker, i really miss his heel days. Listen to Raw in 95-97, lawler was awesome.

 

[duxdelrio]

The reason it seems better imo is because JR is the ingredient that has been missing. I say move Cole to SD with JBL and keep JR on Raw with the King. JBL does a much better job of putting Cole in his his place than the King does, and the King/JR dynamic hasn't been matched since the days of Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura.

 

[#MrScissorsKick]

The commentary on RAW has been much better and consistent with Lawler out. That's not a knock on Jerry, he does his role very well but in my opinion, the JR/Michael Cole duo has been spot on as of late. Cole has turned his level of intensity down alot since Lawler has left, and JR is as usual dominant talent of commentating. Even when JBL came back for 1 or 2 nights to do commentary, he was solid in doing so too. I don't want to say that it's best when Lawler is gone because the commentary has been a plesant surprise, but no doubt in my mind has it been this good since the good ole days of JR/Jerry back in 2002-2005. I don't mind this duo, but when Lawler comes back I wish JR would stay as well. JR in my opinion is the best at what he does. I honestly don't think any other company's announcers have the skill set that JR does. Hopefully the WWE can use this to help out the rest of the RAW show.

 

[BigThunder]

Everything and everyone gets a little stale after awhile, and I can't really blame the King. I think JR's a shadow of his former self, but even that is pretty darn good most days. And JBL is the best heel commentator since the heyday of Jesse Ventura, and is probably even better than Jesse because he can put over people better, and even find ways to make someone look good in a squash. Look at his call on Cesaro/DiBiase last week; as soon as Ted lost, he was building him up again. That was masterful.

 

[shitsngiggles]

I was just thinking yesterday about sports commentary in general.....

In what other sport do the commentators get involved in anything happening on the field/court/whatever? Answer = None!

When in another sport, do you get commentators fighting with eachover over their views? Answer = No!

I remember some good "heel/face" commentary teams from the past, but at the end of the day, they should be there to comment on the matches and not get involved AT ALL!!!!!

They are supposed to be commentating on what is happening, not making 4 year old jokes, not trying to make jabs at eachover, and definately not fighting eachover in the ring!

It is so stupid it is unreal!

Guest commentator(s) I.E. Wrestler(s) Getting into fights with other talent? Yes! But JR, Cole, Lawler getting in the ring? Get Lost!

Anyway, that said I think yes! It has been a lot better! Because it has been focused on the action more. They are there to comment on the matches.

No more kindergarten jokes, no more pathetic matches, no more trying to get a reaction from the people watching. Let the talent in the ring do what they do in the ring, commentate on that and cut the other petty bs out for good..

 

[UndeadCreepshow]

One main reason i am going to enjoy the WWE '13 video game is because you can choose between "attitude era" commentators or the current commentators. I always enjoyed listening to J.R. and the King commentate. Although i say JBL is probably my least favorite to listen to. He just seems to stale up a match for me.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

JBL knows the wrestling business, and isn't afraid to acknowledge a world outside of it either. He makes references to MMA or college sports, because he knows he gets them, and that the demographic watching can relate as well. That and he constantly berates whoever he is next to on commentary. JR and JBL had some pretty heated exchanges last week; at points I actually thought the Okie was gonna lose his cool. JBL is a true-blue heel, through and through. And not the way Cole is a heel one week, and a face the next. He doesn't change character from show to show. He has one mode: draw heat, and put everyone around him over in his own, unique way.

I don't want Jerry Lawler back full time, honestly. He'll be recycling rhetoric from the second match of the night. It's really cool how he can still go in the ring from time to time, but he dried up his usefulness as a commentator about 7 years ago. If he's not heel, and he doesn't have a straight face like Jim Ross to do play-by-play, he's got no material to work with. And that goes for all wrestlers-turned-commentary: they need to be able to stay in character. Go back and listen to "Macho Man" or Jesse Ventura on commentary. Listen to The Brain; they play out their character, that the audience knows and loves. Lawler did that back in the day, when he used to be all over Triple H and Ric Flair's nuts each and every week. I want to see him pander to the bad guy, and shout out "puppies!" during the Divas matches. That's Lawler, and it works. This new, 21st century PG-era clown that sucks off Cena and says "I've never seen a move like that before" six times a night needs to stay gone.

Cole is at his best when he does the PBP. He's not a good color guy, because he doesn't have a "wrestling character". Him and Josh Mathews are both great callers, that are decent replacements for Jim Ross. Guys like Matt Striker, William Regal, Dusty Rhodes, JBL...they do color because they have the "insider" perspective. They've got a developed character, and signature qualities about them. It's why I can stand Taz and Tenay doing commentary in TNA; they keep to the formula.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[XXJJ]

I agree, the commentary has been a lot better lately. Lets be honest King has been mailing it in for years. Cole is very good just being a straight announcer. His heel character took too much attention away from the wrestling matches. Their were times Cole would just go on long rants ignoring the match that was going on. Heel Michael Cole would of been better as the GM of Raw.

I think JBL is great. The one complaint is Matthews. He sucks as a play by play guy. He is bland and doesn't bring much excitement to the matches.

 

[theBec2101]

I do think its better but it’s not just because jerry isn’t there. Cole isn’t being a heel no more. JBL was always entertaining and JR is one of the best ever. So it’s hard to compare.

 

[ABMorales787]

I believe it has far more to do with who's replacing Lawler than the actual incident. Since his absence, Michael Cole had been subjected to sitting next to perennial jerkass, JBL. There was no way of making him look like his usual self next to the intellectual jerk we know as John Layfield. Then JR is also placed there and the point of Michael Cole being, well Michael Cole became moot.

 

[The Tay]

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch feature=player_embedded&v=_N8iGa3a2SQ[/YOUTUBE]

When Jerry Lawler had a heart attack a few weeks ago, the professionalism and real life friendship between the two became apparent, as Michael Cole sounded legitimately shaken and upset by what was happening to jerry.The man is on every WWE show without fail, and since this situation with Jerry Lawler (if not before that) he has become a normal play-by-play commentator; his commentary has improved immensely.

However, Jim Ross is still going on WWE television and is rising back to prominence since he began covering for Jerry Lawler. Every time I hear his commentary I get shivers down my spine.

Jim Ross can make a match between Hornswoggle and Ted DiBiase sound like it’s a 5 star epic battle. Michael Cole cannot. Michael Cole does not have the power to make the crowd enhance their reactions to what the wrestlers are doing in the ring like Jim Ross does.

 

[Ellye]

Michael Cole switching to face (or "neutral") made it a lot better. He's a pretty good commentator, but his heel persona wasn't helping anything.

But I don't think JL would return as a heel, as that would be really weird after what happened. So perhaps we will really drop the heel commentator thing for a while.

 

[HBsam31]

I have been loving the commentary lately. Cole has toned down, and really impressed me with how he handled himself during and after King's heart attack. It's great to have JR back. Something just never seems right to me without him in the booth. By far though JBL has added what I think WWE commentary has needed for a long time. He puts over the history, he puts over championships, and most of all he puts over being a champion. He has put more emphasis on the titles in the short time he has been back than has been put on them in years. Loving how he talks about Punks reign and even has compared it to his own, and how hard it is to remain champion for so long. It has been a breath of fresh air all around.