Most annoying thing about WWE commentators - the "catchphrases"

[Blade]

Wrestling commentators having catchphrases isn't a new thing, many commentators throughout history have always had their little sayings. From Ed Whalen with his little nuggets of random ridiculousness such as a "Ring-a-ding-dong dandy" to Jim Ross with his "By God"s and his "Slobberknockers." Now, when those guys did it, it was never really annoying. Possibly because it was so entertainingly awful (Whalen) or filled with emotion and not overused (Ross). But either way, these guys got away with it without being mocked incessantly.

Now we've got these new generation of commentators, Cole and Grisham and Striker. I can deal with Grisham, but the other two drive me insane, mostly because of their awful catchphrases. Cole's "vintage" has been around for a while, reaching new levels of teeth grinding ridiculousness in the last year. But now Striker has made a word his own. I've noticed him saying it at least once per match and it drives me crazy. Any time any part of a wrestler's body gets hurt by his opponent, Matt Striker says it's being "hyperextended." Seriously, go watch the last few weeks of Smackdown and the last few PPV's. He always says it a couple of times per show. The irony being that he's trying to sound smart but he ends up sounding like an idiot with a very limited vocabulary.

So am I the only one incredibly annoyed by this?

 

[Theo Mays]

I've never really noticed that about Striker. I for one thoroughly enjoy Striker's work and enjoy it much more when it is him and Grisham teaming up. Maybe I don't notice this as I think of Striker's "thing" being that he gives loads of nicknames to pretty much any superstar. Cole's is blatantly obvious and you can tell it is forced and something that isn't natural and is used so we can poke fun at Michael Cole.

But next week on SD I'll definitely listen to see if Striker overuses "hyperextended".

 

[MizMark]

The thing that annoys me with them, especially with Cole and Lawler is their fake laughing at stupid jokes. Or the way that Cole will defend a face for cheating and laugh about it, but a heel does it and it's a disgrace. I like it how Lawler brings him up on it some of the time though, although saying that, I didn't like Cole and Lawler ganging up on Striker during the Rumble, I think it happened at the last PPV too. Striker would say something and Cole would try and knock him down a peg. Michael Cole's vintage is F'ing annoying, but it's just Cole in general that drives me crazy, rather than one thing. I prefered Mike Adamle, honestly, because you could laugh at him. You can't laugh at what Cole does, rather get very pissed off instead.

 

[Schizophrenic]

What annoys me the most is that some o the wrestlers dont seem to even know the names of the moves. For example every time somebody does something big, Cole follows it up with "and he hit him with that move!" Grisham is the same way. I was waching SmackDown and Drew hit his DDT and Striker called it the "Future Shock" or "Wave of the future" or something like that and Grisham said right after, "Yeah hit him with that DDT." We know it's a DDT and Striker just named the move, it's not "that DDT" anymore you tool. Striker is one of the better ones they have. I will never get over Cole's "Vintage Bragging Rights" ont he first time PPV. That's just a stupid mistake that shouldn't have happened. It was still funny when DX got on commentary and tore Cole a new one about his commentary.

 

[justinept]

The thing that annoys me with them, especially with Cole and Lawler is their fake laughing at stupid jokes. Or the way that Cole will defend a face for cheating and laugh about it, but a heel does it and it's a disgrace. I like it how Lawler brings him up on it some of the time though, although saying that, I didn't like Cole and Lawler ganging up on Striker during the Rumble, I think it happened at the last PPV too. Striker would say something and Cole would try and knock him down a peg. Michael Cole's vintage is F'ing annoying, but it's just Cole in general that drives me crazy, rather than one thing. I prefered Mike Adamle, honestly, because you could laugh at him. You can't laugh at what Cole does, rather get very pissed off instead.

So... one of the things you don't like about Michael Cole is that he defends the face for cheating and then says it's a disgrace when the heel cheats ...

... so kind of like Vince McMahon used to do ... or Gorilla Monsoon ... or Jim Ross from '93-96 ... or basically any other face announcer would do when the product is geared toward kids? Isn't that how wrestling announcers have always been, with exception to the Attitude and Post Attidude Era?

You're right that it's annoying, but that's moreso because the product isn't geared toward us... it's not Michael Cole's decision to do that. He's told to do that.

 

[MizMark]

So... one of the things you don't like about Michael Cole is that he defends the face for cheating and then says it's a disgrace when the heel cheats ...

... so kind of like Vince McMahon used to do ... or Gorilla Monsoon ... or Jim Ross from '93-96 ... or basically any other face announcer would do when the product is geared toward kids? Isn't that how wrestling announcers have always been, with exception to the Attitude and Post Attidude Era?

You're right that it's annoying, but that's moreso because the product isn't geared toward us... it's not Michael Cole's decision to do that. He's told to do that.

I totally understand that. But it still doesn't make it less annoying that he(his character or whatever) finds it funny when a face cheats to win. And if this product is aimed at kids then surely they should be taught that cheating isn't tolerated whether you're a good boy or a bad boy? Rather than it's okay for a good boy to do it, but not for the nasty one.

 

[JohnnyBlaze1986]

With all your complaints, NO ONE tops Mike Adamle.

"Jamaican Me Crazy"
"Uno, Dos, Adios"
"Jeff Harvey"

The list goes on and on and on. To think that WWE paid him $100G a year expecting him to be the next big commentator and EVERYONE what wound up happening.

It wasn't the Wrestlecrap 2008 Gooker Award winner for nothing...

 

[InterestingDrug]

The worst had to be Jerry Lawler's overuse of the word "Puppies". He used this so emphatically for so long, he lost all credibility as an announcer. It got old rather quick and he continued to use it for five more years. Since I skip through most of the Divas matches on my DVR, I haven't noticed if he still used this rather annoying catch phrase.

Gordon Solie's catch phrases were some of the best. "Crimson Mask" was my favorite of his. There was an episode of WCW where Crowbar was placed on the announce team and used all the classic catch phrases there were. I remember him shouting crimson mask over and over at one point in the match. Cant remember who was wrestling, but Crowbar's color commentating is stuck in my brain to this day. Anyone remember this match?

 

[pun2003hh]

With all your complaints, NO ONE tops Mike Adamle.

"Jamaican Me Crazy"
"Uno, Dos, Adios"
"Jeff Harvey"

The list goes on and on and on. To think that WWE paid him $100G a year expecting him to be the next big commentator and EVERYONE what wound up happening.

It wasn't the Wrestlecrap 2008 Gooker Award winner for nothing...

Ha, actually, I am pretty sure the reported figure Adamle was making was around 300k per year. Which is more then most of the enhancement talent... awful.

You know what is sad? I was watching Summerslam 02 last night, specifically the Rock vs Lesnar. You know what struck me about the match? The awesome commentary from Michael Cole. Cole is completely capable of calling a match passionately and entertainingly, which proves to me that the dreck we hear now is being spoon fed to him by those in the Gorilla position. Joey Styles was a great play by play man, but was also awful under the recent years of WWE controlled play by play.

 

[Madness]

It would have to be Micheal Cole.

He is by far the worst commentator, and has the worst catchphrases. Every commentator has their own catchphrases that they repeat during the show, but its all in the delivery.

Vintage this and vintage that, we know that Triple H's spine buster, Cena's 5 Knuckle Shuffle, and HBK's flying forearm are the moves you are gonna see before their finishing moves. We know that they are "Vintage" moves.

Same thing with the Diva's. "Sexy, Smart and Powerful".

He just sounds like he's reading from a teleprompter. He sucked, on Smackdown!, as a backstage interviewer and now, having to listen to him on Raw, just makes me shake my head. Vince, what are you thinking?

Quick little comparison between him and Jim Ross. JR had the same three catchphrases that he loved to repeat over again during the show. But the difference is that JR would have you at the edge of your seat watching a title match. He had emotion, sounded like he was actually surprised at what happened and kept you in suspense during the match. Remember Hell in a Cell with Taker and Foley? When Foley was thrown off the the top of the cage? I remember vividly what JR said. "He killed him, Oh My God he killed the son of a bitch.

Could you imagine Cole calling that match? "Thrown off the cage and through the table, VINTAGE FOLEY!!!!!!!!"

 

[antvision]

When striker 1st burst on the scene as ECW commentator, i was blown away. I remember thinking that he was best i had ever heard. almost too good, bcause I couldnt even focus on the in-ring action, for listening to his wealth of knowledge. he's become kind of annoying now, in that it just seems that instead of schooling us, he's just trying to show off. i'm tired of hearing him tell the fans @ home to bend or touch themselves, to truly appreciate the "pain" the superstars r going thru
.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

I agree with people on a lot of things about the various commentators. The VINTAGE from cole. Then the "By God!!" from JR... makes me want to just break my own neck. Then as much as I LOVE watching Todd and Striker, I hate when Grisham always compares a match to Striker "You've been in a match with (insert wrestler name here) what's that move like?" Shut up...you're not a wrestler anymore. If you were, we'd want to see you in the ring again!! Then don't get me started on the ECW commentators, PUH-LEEZE...those guys are just ... That Bryant Gumbel wannabe. He keeps trying to be smarmy in defending the heels one week, then all of a sudden he changes his tune. I can't tell you how sick I was hearing "We will have a new champ come Royal Rumble after the Christian-Ezekiel match." "Please...Zeke is the face of ECW." That guy is about as charming as Abe Washington. I've seen corpses with more charisma. Then the most ANNOYING catchphrase... EXCUUUUUSEE MEE!! I wish they never brought Piggy Guerrerro back.

 

[iamcountrymusic]

Yeah, the vintage thing by Cole is what really bugs me. Especially when he says it about Sheamus who has only been on tv for like a year if even. It's hard for someone new to have something vintage.

Another "catch phrase" i would say is Cole's terribly fake laugh. It's not a word, but it's something he always does.

 

[Sh0wst0pper]

I would LOVE to be able to go one whole week without hearing Michael Cole refer to Raw as "the longest-running, weekly episodic television show in history". WE GET IT!! It's been around forever!!! Everything he does irritates me! Speaking of Raw, I'll never understand why leaving JR and Lawler together on Raw was SUCH a bad idea!! Heaven forbid they keep a good thing running in the WWE as of late!

 

[The Sandman's Nightmare]

I will agree some of the catchphrases are annoying the main one that comes to mine for me is what many other people already said Micheal Cole's ''Vintage''. Okay seriously HBK's Sweet Chin Music and his nip up, Undertaker's Tombstone Pile Driver and his '' Old School'' walking the rope, HhH 's Spine Buster and his Pettigree are All Vintage along with Rey Mysterio's 619 and West Coast Pop. But John Cena and Randy Orton all the younger guys move's should not be refer to as '' Vintage '' BTW if Cole wanted to call something vintage he should have said it at Summer Slam Survivor Series The Royal Rumble or Wrestle Maina not a brand new PPV.

 

[SSJPhenom]

I rather enjoy the catchphrases used by the commentators. It really doesn't bother me to hear vintage over and over. It didn't bother me to hear slobber knocker, by God, Stone Cold Stone Cold Stone Cold, or puppies. What does bother me about the commentators, however, is when they mess up the name of a move or they say something completely outlandish about a wrestler.

Watch any Orton match with Cole commentating. He continually calls Orton's counter powerslam a scoopslam and it drives me up the wall. Cole calls HBK's inverted Figure Four the Figure Four. I hate that.

Also, the other night he called HHH legendary. HHH a legend? Idk about that one. He uses legendary way to much IMO. Just listen to him. The legendary HBK, the legendary HHH, the legendary Undertaker. How many people can really be legendary?

That's just a couple of things that bother me about the commentators.

 

[SpoodBeest]

Michael Cole seems to be the most annoying when it comes to over using catchphrases. The reason being because he has the persona of a walking cliche. You know at least once a match you might here "vintage" get blurted out. When Batista was face he would always get "Here Comes The Animal!". Kofi Kingston always gets "controlled frenzy" mentioned in his matches.

So really the only one who has an issue with overusing stock phrases is Cole. But I can also be honest that I don't pay that much attention to Smackdown, so a lot of the time I miss how horrible Grisham can be. If any one knows if he is going down the "Cole Road" using annoying phrases please tell me.

The color commentators also have their own bunch of catchphrases, but they don't overuse them to the extent that Cole does. However they are at times, annoying to here. Especially since catchphrases, are supposed to be well.... catchy!

Anyway were going to hear them regardless, so oh well.

 

[Jonnie Walker]

You guys may hate Cole, and sure I find him pretty annoying with his "Oh my!' and "vintage" and whatever else he does that's annoying, but Matt Striker is so annoying. I remember back when he was on ECW and Mark Henry did that neck lock move and he tells me to do that to myself. What about not trying this at home. And him just making up nicknames and sounding all douchey (douchey?) when he for some reason uses an unnecessarily gigantic word of the sorts. Striker and his clone Byron Saxophone over on ECW just grind on my nerves. Lawler is pretty annoying, Grisham wants to be Cole, Cole wants to stop being told to be an annoying douche on TV, Josh Matthews is just there, and JR wants to rehabilitate so we can get some real commentary in this biotch! They should have special guest commentators all the time, because normally they're better than the professional announcers.

 

[Luther_Hull]

The catchphrases are absolutely fantastic. It's mindless shit like this that amuses me, if there's a match commentated by Michael Cole and he doesn't say "Vintage" or "Shades" I actually die a little inside. Although TBH he shoulda kept the "I could be Guest Host!" that was awesome.

Same with JR, if he doesn't say "Bah Gawd" or reference BBQs then it's just not the same. These guys aren't sportscasters, they're entertainers just as much as the wrestlers. Catchphrases are a must.

 

[CaptainZaltan]

Did anyone catch the shot Taz took at Cole on Impact last week? Mike Tenay said in reference to Jesse Neal that he was a survivor of the U.S.S Cole, to which Taz replied "the Cole? I hear that's a VINTAGE ship".

In any case, Cole on commentary bugs the hell out of me. It's not so much the 'putting over the faces when they act like heel's' thing, as much as his complete inability to express any genuine emotion or to put any actual sincerity behind what he is saying. He just sounds like he's reading from a teleprompter, and never stops to think about what he's saying. J.R will at least sound disapproving when he's talking about a face cheating, and he usually changes his tone of voice to convey the proper emotion for the proper circumstance. Cole doesn't seem to bring any personality to the role at all. As for Stryker, I think he's the best commentator in the WWE right now outside of Ross. He knows the moves, and it's always fun to see him point out the hypocrisy of his fellow commentators.

 

[Slowdude]

Did anyone catch the shot Taz took at Cole on Impact last week? Mike Tenay said in reference to Jesse Neal that he was a survivor of the U.S.S Cole, to which Taz replied "the Cole? I hear that's a VINTAGE ship".

Taz also took a shot at Mike Adamle during Foley/Bischoff promo after the first match. Foley said Eric Bischoff was "The Worst Commentator Ever" among another things as Taz goes, "I guess Foley has never heard of Mike Adamle". I love Taz on TNA commentary, always taking shots at the shitty commentators he had to work with. (He sure has improved now that he isn't seemingly fed every single word).

Micheal Cole has to be the worst commentator right now. Everything is Vintage. At first he would seemingly just say it once or twice per show without realising it but over time people caught on and now he says it (Told to say it probably) constantly. I hate when he says a face cheating is alright but a heel cheating is bad. Matt Striker also has become annoying since he has come into the spot light. His lines seem completely fed to him now compared to when he first started commentating on ECW.

 

[''The Icon'' Chris]

I can't stand Michael Cole. His overuse of the word ''VINTAGE'' really gets on my nerves, as does the fake cheery enthusiasm he shows even when an episode of RAW is absolutely terrible.

 

[Sean Valjean]

Micheal Cole abuses catchphrases like no other. Not only does he have the most, but he lacks the right delivery to at least make them bearable (ex. Jim Ross) or a heel commentator to rag on him for it (ex. JBL). It's seems like whenever he comes up with new and potentially cool catchphrase, he instantly abuses it, thus killing it. Though it's probably has to do more with Vince or whoever telling him to do this, but it's still Cole's bland delivery that ruins it.

If Cole had more personality, then he wouldn't be so annoying. But the guy is just so.....fake. I can't even picture him in the real world, that's how fake he is; he's more of a prop than a real person. Though the same could be said for Grisham, Josh, and Saxton.

On a positive note, Cole's catchphrases could make for a great drinking game.

 

[The Doctor]

I actually would like the catchphrases if they weren't annoyingly overused. Cole's "Vintage" is fun to make fun of, kind of like Vance Archer being "INTENSE". Catchphrases are an attempt to give commentators more personality without making them too exciting (Because God Forbid the WWE have commentary that's actually interesting!), but when someone like Cole uses them too much and isn't being funny or ironic about it, they detract from the enjoyment of the program.

I saw people bring up Mike Adamle earlier. I will forever be an Adamle defender, as I thought his voice, style, and catchphrases were hilarious, and that he could have been great as either a commentator or authority figure if he had studied a bit more.

Striker is my favorite commentator, though he has the tendency to go a little too over-the-top. He's still the best, though.

But really, it's not the catchphrases that are the problem but the overuse of them combined with a commentator's distinct lack of personality. Those are the things that can make commentary distinctly unenjoyable.

 

[Regg69]

Man I miss the days of Gordon Solie calling matches.No B.S.,No dumbass comedy.He called it as he saw it,educating the viewer as well.I learned alot about wrestler in those days.But now we are stuck with Micheal "Vintage" Cole.I really dont care for any of the announce teams in the WWE.But they are saying what they are told to say,thats one reason Taz left.