New Announce Teams for RAW and ECW?

[A.J.]

Source: WZ.com

Monday night was a test run to see how Jim Ross and Tazz would do as a team, and some people were impressed. Vince McMahon has been wanting to split up J.R. and Lawler for some time, feeling the combo is "too Southern," but television producer Kevin Dunn is strongly against it. If it's made permanent, Lawler would join Joey Styles in ECW, and occasionally work matches there as well. Dusty Rhodes really wants Lawler on ECW. Lawler and J.R. are really close and would obviously not be happy with the change.

I thought Tazz and JR did a good job though they seem a little off, but they dont work that often together thought they did an ok job at Rumble 03 together calling the rumble match. But JR and King have been the team for RAW for so long that i really cant seem them brekaing this announce team up. Plus Lawler and Styles on ECW just dont seem like a real fit, thought if VKM wants it...it could happen. But I dunno but I do see where VKM is coming from as a change would be new but still seems iffy to me.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

I would personally like to see JBL and Lawler as a team. Sadly, it would only happen on Smackdown, and I have a life that often prohibits watching a wrestling show on Friday night. Still, they'd be damn funny.

Major concern is the fact that both JBL and Lawler are "color" commentators, while Ross and Cole are the play by play guys.

Can anybody see Ric Flair doing commentary upon retirement?

 

[Lil Wes]

Can anybody see Ric Flair doing commentary upon retirement?

I can definitely see Flair doing commentary if he wanted too. I'm sure he will still be doing something for WWE while retiring from the ring. I think he would make a good commentator.

As for splitting up Lawler and JR. I don't know I've always loved JR and Lawler on commentary. They always do a hell of a job during matches,promos as they usually keep me interested. JR and Tazz were pretty good together and if they were to start calling RAW it would take alot of getting use too. I prefer Lawler on color commentary over all of them as well as JR as play by play. I'd like to see it kept the same but I guess a change wouldn't hurt. After all RAW is the so called #1 so why not have the 2 best at it.

Lawler working with Styles??? I can't see that happening at all Lawler use to always trash ECW. Tazz and Styles are great on commentary as it is right now. Lawler would be good to keep me interested in matches though. While Tazz is on there the matches still bore me.

Really I have no problem with the way they are now as long as Todd Grimsam is never and I mean NEVER! a commentator full time,I'll be happy. I think it's possible we see more switches in the upcoming weeks since Vince wants it to happen.

 

[EPN17]

I think busting up JR and Lawler would be a mistake and that too many people would bitch about it to make it work.

I also don't think Tazz would be a good fit for Raw. No offense, but he's a shitty commentator. JBL has 10 times the talent that he had on Smackdown, all Tazz ever does is agree with whatever is being said and say "it's gonna be off the chain!". I think Styles is pretty bad too, just a guy who got a spot since he can shout OH MY GOD.

Can anybody see Ric Flair doing commentary upon retirement?

I think Flair would be a great choice for a color commentator, I just don't know where they would put him, especillay if he retires next year. They could also dump Tazz and send him to ECW, but I don't think he'd really fit in there.

 

[justinsayne]

I thought JR and Tazz worked well together, but Styles and Lawler???, that does not seem to fit IMO, I could see Lawler going to SD! and working with Cole, but not ECW, Lawler shouldn't be on ECW ever, even if it is McMahons version, I think JBL would work out much better on ECW than Lawler, though ultimately I would rather see Dreamer doing color for ECW than anyone else, maybe what they should do is Have JBL as the GM on SD!, and make Cole & Lawler as the announce team, then have JR & Tazz as the announce team on Raw, and in ECW have Styles & Dreamer be the announce team

 

[chesswiz77]

They shouldn't do this. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But if Vinnie Mac is going to do it it should be:

Raw: Good Ol' J.R. and King Booker(Booker has proven he's good at commentating a match, plus why not trade in a King for a King. Lol!)

Smackdown: Michael Cole and JBL

ECW: Joey Styles, Tommy Dreamer, and Jerry "The King" Lawler-Imagine the fights(both verbal and physical) between Dreamer and Lawler over ECW. Priceless!

 

[Freedom 35]

see Vince has seems more and more like the guy on the red stripe commercials saying "Boo too much of a good thing" he can never leave good enough alone. he always thinks he know best when he really doesnt the announce teams they have going right now are perfect they all have good chemistry with each other and i see no reason why they ever should change

 

[Solid Gold]

I dont think that JBL should ever be taken off of smackdown... that show sucked for so long and I think half the problem was shitty commentating. I love tazz the wrestler but cant stand tazz the commentator. 90's ECW tazz would boot fuck todays tazz for saying half the stuff he does. but back on track, I think that even though when he started smackdown still kinda blew, JBL made that show watchable by his commentating, his putdowns of Miz, Grenier and Wang Yang are priceless and I only watch sometimes just to hear what he has to say. If he leaves smackdown, (which I know was not brought up in the original column), it will kill that show completely. As far as Lawler and Ross, they are like Jordan and Pippen, good by themselves... but great together.

 

[TheShocka2k]

It wouldn't make any sense to add Lawler on ECW because of his past feuds with the whole company and brand. I do like the Tazz and JR combo and enjoyed their commentary on RAW this week. However, King to Smackdown makes more since and have a new announcer partner with Styles. A three man both on Smackdown with Lawler, JBL and Cole would be great and very entertaining. Styles being partnered with someone like Stevie Richards, Stryker or even bringing back Hayman would be good too. I just don't think fans would buy into a Lawler/Styles announce team on ECW.

 

[Tomm2x]

Personally, I feel WWE commentating has grown very stale over the years and any change on would be welcomed on my part.

J.R. will surely go down in history as one of the greatest play by play men to sit behind a mic. I still think some of the matches he called in WCW back in the late 80's and 90's perfectly illustrate how any commentator should approach his job. His combination of enthusiasm and wrestling knowledge provided any excellent audio counterpoint to the physical story being told in the ring. That being said, for probably the last 6-7 years or so, J.R.'s commentating has gone downhill. Perhaps it's predictability in that we're so accustomed to him, or the age that's bearing on him (his lack of excitement and frequent misidentifying of wrestlers), but on the other hand, Gorilla Monsoon more than maintained his approach as he grew older. I think perhaps it's time for J.R. to accept some other role and leave commentating to someone who has more to offer.

Jerry Lawler struck me as amusing 8-9 years ago, but he quickly became a one dimensional character that never developed. His perverted musings stoped being funny to me years ago, mainly because he's the pushing the same jokes week after week, year after year. I personally loved it when he left and Paul Heyman took over.

J.R. and Lawler may be great friends, but I think the comfort of their long-term jobs and friendship has made RAW's commentating stale and even sloppy. The WWE needs some fresh blood. Tazz is not the solution to the problem. Tazz was a great wrestler and if I had my way, he'd still be wrestling right now as an upper card/main eventer. However, his commentating veers between goofy and painful, as it seems Tazz has to struggle at times to come across coherently. As for JBL, I'd have to say the complete opposite. I think he is and always was worthless as a wrestler and latter career push was thoroughly undeserved. However, he has an old school mentality when it comes to color commentating, bringing back memories of Jesse Ventura and Bobby Heenan, with their knowledge and their cutting humor and insults. The WWE should certainly nurture this and keep JBL in the place where he's most valuable, behind the desk.

Is it me, or does the WWE mix things up behind the desk much less than they used to? I remember maybe 10-20 years ago, there was a pool of commentators they'd routinely mix up (Lord Alfred Hayes, Bobby Heenan, Vince, Sean Mooney (on occasion), Jesse Ventura, Gorilla Monsoon, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, among others). Considering how wrestling has tried to take advantage of this generations short attention span (routinely dropping storylines out of the blue, bringing back wrestlers under new gimmicks after being seen a few months earlier ala Snitsky, etc), I'm suprised they feel such a need to keep the commentating teams so consistent. I say, go back the late 80's, early 90's idea of mixing it up, at least until they find someone to provide the backdrop to make their product exciting again, as opposed to the commentators telling the same story, week after week, month after month, and at this point, year after year.

 

[X]

This is just another case of Vince McMahon trying to fix something that IS NOT BROKEN.

When the HELL will Vince understand?

THE FANS LOVE JIM ROSS AND THEY LOVE THE KING. AND THEY LOVE THEM EVEN BETTER WHEN THEY'RE TOGETHER. IF YOU SPLIT THEM UP, YOU ARE ONLY PISSING PEOPLE OFF. NO ONE, I REPEAT NO ONE, WILL FIND A JR+TAZZ TEAM MORE ENJOYABLE. NO ONE.

Jesus christ I am really starting to loathe Vince McMahon. He might as well just shoot his company in the face already. John Cena as champion for almost a year now, horrible horrible horrible storylines like Donald Trump vs. Rosie, Who Killed Vince, and now Who's Vince's Baby's Mama Drama. Put the belt on Khali, thats a good idea! What, wrestling? This isn't a wrestling show damnit, it's a soap opera!

Jesus. If they do this, it's official, I don't watch WWE anymore. I barely do as it is now anyways with how godawful it is, seriously I haven't watched a full episode of RAW, ECW or Smackdown! in about 2 monthes now because of how godawful it has become.

Seriously, TNA, please for the love of good become huge and takeover the WWE. I can't stand anymore Vince McMahon, the guy seriously is absolutely 100% purely fucking INSANE. Or senile. Or both.

Why is it that every year Vince tries to fire JR? WHY?! I just DON'T understand it! This man has given you EVERYTHING you've asked for Vince, and he's beloved by the fans.

Seriously, why does Vince hate JR? He makes jokes about JR's colon cancer, and tries to fire him atleast once every two years on average. And Dusty Rhodes....jesus don't even get me started on Dusty Rhodes, this guy needs to get the fuck out of the wrestling business RIGHT NOW. You are TOO OLD and ALL of your ideas are TERRIBLE. This is the man that has brought us the absolute DRIVEL that has been ECW and Smackdown. He's stuck in the 80s for god's sake. How the hell would the King be a good fit for ECW? The same King who has done nothing but talk shit about ECW for the last 10 years? Yeah, jolly good idea there.

Honestly, I'd never thought I'd say this, but I sincerely wish that Vince McMahon hands over the company to someone else, anyone else but him. He's senile.

 

[CoreyDavis]

This would be terrible IMO, Lawler and Styles? That would be terrible and just way to intense. Tazz and JR were alright, but I swear during Raw the other night it seemed like Tazz wouldn't speak for 20 minutes at a time. He will get better the more he works with JR, but is it honestly worth splitting up the crews? They claim it's a little southern? Well guess where most of your audience is coming from? Yup.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

I think Jerry Lawler doing commentary for E.C.W. is like saying J.B.L. would be pushing for the Miz or Jimmy Yang to become World Champion. Its just not a good mix. Lawler would end up getting into heated arguements with just about every E.C.W. original (all 3 of them) on the brand, & he'd be the opening match or main event every week because of it.

Meanwhile, did anyone else see King Booker basically punk J.R. while Tazz just stood there like a moron? Then when he got back on headset, said he would've did something had he known Booker was going to do that. HE WAS FRICKEN WATCHING THE WHOLE THING GO DOWN?! This was stupid to see.. it made me lose some respect for Taz.

Although I guess I should be more upset at the creative team, as they probably told Taz to just try & get out of the shot.. which, if you look back.. he clearly DOES NOT DO.

At any rate.. whoever the "color" guy is, that sits next to J.R. would have to be willing to wrestle at least 10 plus times a year.. just to stick up for J.R. running his mouth.. lol J.B.L. wouldn't be good, cause he'd probably laugh at J.R. while he's getting his ass beat. And well, RAW was a prime example on why Taz would be just as worthless.

 

[mtuphill]

Wel i allways been a fan of the jr/king combo and still think it works just fine.

I have been such a big fan of JBL on the announce team for smackdown since he took over as he just seems to build up matches so well and compares things happening to big events in usa like superbowl and so on.
i think jbl/cole is better then cole/tazz. Tazz is ok on the mic but i think he should stick to ECW seeing as its like the 3rd show.