New Ring Announcer & Announcer Shuffle

[Ambiguous Turd]

Looks like WWE found their brand new female ring announcer, and thank goodness they did not go with Angela Fong.

The newsboards are reporting her name is Lauren Mayhew, and where as she is a step up from Angela Fong, her version of the National Anthem leaves a lot to be desired, as far as I'm concerned. Definitely not as good as Lilian Garcia.

Here is a video of her singing the National Anthem:

[YOUTUBE]FyLEB3bQhiU[/YOUTUBE]


Although, here she is actually singing a song, in which it sounds much better. But then again, there are obviously sound sweeteners utilized:


[YOUTUBE]rrq7N8D_3Bo[/YOUTUBE]


Here she is on CSI:

[YOUTUBE]tT7QPpiB228[/YOUTUBE]



I was wondering why Justin Roberts was announcing ECW last night. Apparently, Lauren did the announcing for the Smackdown tapings. And I can only assume this means that Tony Chimel will likely be shifted to Raw temporarily, until they feel Lauren is ready to take over.

Lord knows if they put Howard Finkle as the ring announcer (as much as I like him), he'll commit suicide if they try to remove him again. From what I understand and have been told by a couple WWE employess, the man would "throw himself off Titan Towers if he was ever let go from WWE." Interesting.

But anyway, Lauren Mayhew everyone. Very pretty girl, I'll give her that (she's 23). What do you think of her voice?

 

[X]

Yeah, I'm not very impressed by her. Can't say I'm surprised by this move in the least bit though, all the WWE is interested in is finding a pretty young face, they could honestly care less about her voice. Call me sexist but I've always thought men make much better ring announcers.

Good to see Tony Chimel being moved to Raw though, he's a good announcer and seemingly never gets any respect. He should do well on Raw. However, this is likely going to make Smackdown less enjoyable for me now with this new girl announcing. It's going to take a while to get used to it.

I really wish they would have just brought The Fink back. They did it for one night, and he did a great job, why not just bring him back permanently? The fans love him, he's easily the greatest ring announcer the WWE has ever had, and he's simply being wasted right now. He isn't as attractive as this Lauren Mayhew woman though, so obviously that won't be happening any time soon. Poor Fink.

Can't say I'm thrilled about this.

 

[RVDgurl]

Yeah, I'm not very impressed by her. Can't say I'm surprised by this move in the least bit though, all the WWE is interested in is finding a pretty young face, they could honestly care less about her voice. Call me sexist but I've always thought men make much better ring announcers.

It's not sexist- I'm a chick and I prefer a male to be a ring announcer as well. It really took me a long time to get used to Lilian when she started. And truthfully, it took Lilian a long time to become good in that role. I'm not looking forward to seeing another girl- who probably has no knowledge of the wrestling business- take her lumps until she becomes acquainted with her role.

I really wish they would have just brought The Fink back. They did it for one night, and he did a great job, why not just bring him back permanently? The fans love him, he's easily the greatest ring announcer the WWE has ever had, and he's simply being wasted right now. He isn't as attractive as this Lauren Mayhew woman though, so obviously that won't be happening any time soon. Poor Fink.

This is what I'm saying. Fink has such a great voice! Who honestly cares what he looks like. He knows the business and has a passion for it. I don't think there has ever been an annoucer in the wrestling business who is as good as Fink was. Bring the man back to RAW.

 

[dvayne]

I think the Fink coming back for nostalgia sake would be fine for a little while but I would like Justin Roberts to make the full jump to Raw He has impressed me lately and could be the voice of the future

With ECW and Smackdown being taped together use Lauren as the announcer for both so she can get comfortable on the Mic and Have Tony Chimel as Superstars announcer to give them a separate entity feel

so for now

Raw The Fink
Smackdown Justin Roberts
ECW Lauren Mayhew
Superstars Tony Chimel

Future
Raw Justin Roberts
ECW/ Smackdown Lauren Mayhew
Superstars Tony Chimel

 

[Jack Tunney's Ghost]

Wow! WWE has managed to screw it up royally YET again. They should've just brought Fink back to Raw and that's that. Well, switching Chimel and Roberts around would've made more sense too.

Instead, WWE just proved once again it's a clusterf*ck when it comes to announcers.

Meanwhile, don't get too attached to Mayhew. I don't know know how long her contract is, but, she'll SOOOO leave the WWE once she gets a movie role or a spot on 90210 or Melrose Place or some other part on "legitimate" TV. She's an "actress," "singer," and "ring announcer" in that order.

Flash in the WWE pan.

 

[Egg Salads]

A lot of people are overlooking the fact that Tony Chimel used to be the RAW announcer during part of the Attitude Era in the late 90s. He has been around for a long ass time. He's got a great announcing voice, I think he is WAY better than Finkle.

I just listened to Mayhew singing the National Anthem and it was God awful. I don't even find her that attractive. She has a huge forehead and a small chin. But that isn't as important as her voice, I guess. I'll just have to wait and see what it sounds like on Smackdown like the rest of us.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

Yeah, I was NOT a fan of her singing of the National Anthem. Definitely didn't like her version of it, and just didn't think she had the voice for it, to be perfectly frank.

I also wasn't terribly impressed with her CSI performance, as her acting seemed "wooden" for the role.

The best part in those particular clips was her singing the song, but as stated, voice sweeteners can even make Paris Hilton sound like a good singer, and that is what I fear was the case with her with that music video and her song.

Like I said, I am only speculating that they are moving Chimel to Raw, as he didn't do ECW last night, and Roberts was doing it instead. Sad to see Roberts get bumped off the B Show for Lauren Mayhew, but that's what a pair of boobs can do ... even for someone who has never worked in the business.

I actually agree somewhat with dvayne in that I would like to see different announcers on each of the shows, including Superstars.

I would probably do:


Raw- Howard Finkle (give the nostalgic feel back to the show for a while)
Smackdown- Tony Chimel
ECW- Justin Roberts
Superstars- Lauren Mayhew (make her pay her dues and start at the bottom show.)

Although, if WWE wants Mayhew to sing the National Anthem at the Raw/Smackdown tapings, then that's fine. Personally after hearing her though, I would probably pass.

 

[classicviolence]

Tony Chimmel is horrible. Granted he was the man who got the SCM from HBK @ WM12, during the Ironman match. Justin Roberts is by far the best thing WWE has besides The Fink and he needs a promotion. BTW, BRING BACK THE FINK!!

 

[davidslayer]

I'm with most of you, i prefer men announcers as well. I love howard.. sometimes he does some 'stale' humour, but its all good..

 

[drobs85]

"classic violence" if you really believe for some ludacrous reason that Tony Chimel is "horrible", THen what do you think of Lillian Garcia and Justin Roberts? Just curious. Garcia is incredibly awful and roberts is a very close second. Those two are just awful, and it still to this day amazes me that garcia lasted this long. Bring back the damn fink please. Chimels move to raw was way overdue. How chimel ever ended up on any other show is baffling, as well as why the fink isnt here. By far the two best announcers wwe has had and will ever have, and just like everything else, wwe waistes their talent. Idiots.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

"classic violence" if you really believe for some ludacrous reason that Tony Chimel is "horrible", THen what do you think of Lillian Garcia and Justin Roberts? Just curious. Garcia is incredibly awful and roberts is a very close second. Those two are just awful, and it still to this day amazes me that garcia lasted this long. Bring back the damn fink please. Chimels move to raw was way overdue. How chimel ever ended up on any other show is baffling, as well as why the fink isnt here. By far the two best announcers wwe has had and will ever have, and just like everything else, wwe waistes their talent. Idiots.

Tony Chimel was actually ring announcing as early as 1990 for the House Shows, as I actually remember him from the times that I went. He is ten times better now than when he first started. He was completely monotone and seemed rather emotionless.

Now, he has gotten better, and puts a lot more enthusiasm in his voice. He also has a good announcing voice, in general.

Lillian messes up from time to time, which really isn't acceptable given how long she has been doing it. But, she does have a great voice, and sings very well. Plus, she is bilingual so sending her to Spain or Mexico to do the announcing in all Spanish is a great plus.

Roberts ... I'm not sure why you think he is terrible. I actually think he is decent. Although, Chimel's voice is deeper and in general is a better voice for a ring announcer. Roberts does a good ring introduction for Undertaker, but other than that, I've heard better voices than his. I still prefer Tony Chimel over him.

Ross put in his blog that he expects Roberts to go to Raw, and I certainly hope that isn't the case. Tony Chimel was the ring announcer for Raw during the Attitude Era, and I think he deserves that honor again today. I am just not very impressed with the singing of the national anthem by Lauren Mayhew, but we'll see how well she does ring announcing this Friday. Really surprised they threw her on Smackdown this quick, as she hasn't done any preparation in advance at House Shows, to my knowledge.

But I agree with you that The Fink should be announcing Raw and Chimel should be announcing Smackdown, as they are the WWE's best two ring announcers at the moment. The only reason those two were booted off the A and B shows is because WWE wanted younger faces, and in particular, a woman doing the announcing for Raw. However, now that we are PG, I don't know if age or sexuality should really matter all that much in this aspect.

 

[SavageTaker]

I was definitely not very impressed by her and if I ever decide to start watching Raw again (I decided to stop watching temporarily) then I don’t want to hear her being the announcer. She isn’t terrible but if they want to really make Raw be seen as the A-Show then they need to have the best ring announcer on that show.

I would love it if the Fink was placed as a ring announcer again because he is most certainly the best they have and because he has a great voice for an announcer. Just hearing him announce matches made me excited for those matches because of the way he announced them. But if they don’t want to put the Fink on Raw as an announcer then the best choice they could make is Tony Chimel. He too has a great voice for an announcer and I think he could do a great job as the announcer on the show they consider the A-Show.

Then they could have Justin announcing on Smackdown and the new girl announcing on ECW. Her announcing on ECW is kind of like the perfect fit because she isn’t really experienced much and she could get a lot of experience/training on ECW and if she gets good then she can move up to a different brand.

I just hope that they don’t automatically throw her on Raw OR Smackdown because she really isn’t that good and because there are better choices for them to pick from. Some people think announcers don’t really matter that much but I think they are an essential and important part of a wrestling show so I hope they think where they are going to put her thoroughly.

 

[mister_b1LL]

The last time I checked, WWE never showed Lilian singing the National Anthem during TV shows, unless it's the Tribute To The Troops episode. So as far as singing goes, I don't really care.

All I care about is if she can announce people correctly (as in not screw up their names on the first show) and with a sort of delivery that would get me excited for the matches. As long as she can do that and not sound like the rollercoaster ride that Angela Fong was during her FCW tryouts, I'm cool with it...for now...

I personally think it's time for Chimel to finally make it as the main announcer of RAW since he's the most experienced out of the current announcers (not including The Fink)

 

[colalella2891]

Call me sexist but I've always thought men make much better ring announcers.

Good to see Tony Chimel being moved to Raw though, he's a good announcer and seemingly never gets any respect. He should do well on Raw. However, this is likely going to make Smackdown less enjoyable for me now with this new girl announcing. It's going to take a while to get used to it.

I agree man. I've always thought men were way better ring announcers, IMO. Tony Chimel is sick. Years ago when he announced John Cena's name on Smackdown, it was perferct how he did it. JOOOOOOOOHN CEEEEEENA!!!

I loved it. I'm glad he's on Raw too, he deserves to be on a better show than ECW, plus Justin Roberts pisses me off sometimes, the way he announces.

About the new girl, she's hot, and she has a decent voice if you ask me. She's not nearly as good as Lilian, and obviously I don't give her the same reaction in my mind when I see her, it's pretty different and weird that Lilian gone, but I think she'll grow on me. She'll do a decent job.

As for Howard Finkel, he only announces on special occasions, like Wrestlemania, he's probably the best announcer to date.

 

[ZAPX4V1]

Everybody seems to agree that Howard Finkel would be the best option for Raw, but nobody has brought up the fact that he probably doesn't even want the job. He is 59, and as far as I know, he isn't traveling on the road regularly. I think he just stays in Stamford and works in Titan Towers. He is basically semi-retired, so I would be really surprised if they went with him as the fulltime announcer for Raw.

Hopefully they will either use him for a little while until they make a decision, or go with Roberts/Chimel

 

[JBK2008]

I prefer male announcers as well, and she's total eye candy, but lets see how it goes. She'll get booed at first I'm sure, but give her some time. Who knows she may good or just be bad LOL.

 

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

I've always loved Tony Chimel, and I never understood why the WWE would demote to ECW. His voice, in my opinion was just very easy to like, and I listened to him on Smackdown for years. When he was demoted to ECW for Justin Roberts, whom I'm still not liking the voice of, I was very disappointed. I believe Roberts was still new at the time, and wasn't ready for Smackdown.

This Lauren Mayhew character is no Lillian Garcia. Lillian had a much easier voice to love. Mayhew is okay, but as far as distinction, singing, and looks (the full package), it will be severely hard to find a proper Lillian Garcia replacement. Especially they are looking for some random, good-looking female.

Lauren Mayhew should not really be on Raw. If she was chosen as a ring announcer, ECW would be the better place for her, or maybe Superstars, depending on how she is. If WWE does indeed use Howard Finkel again, then you have four ring announcers. That would be better than one announcer per brand and tri-brand match announcers.

I'd say...

Superstars: Lauren Mayhew
ECW: Justin Roberts
Smackdown: Tony Chimel
Raw: Howard Finkel

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

Everybody seems to agree that Howard Finkel would be the best option for Raw, but nobody has brought up the fact that he probably doesn't even want the job. He is 59, and as far as I know, he isn't traveling on the road regularly. I think he just stays in Stamford and works in Titan Towers. He is basically semi-retired, so I would be really surprised if they went with him as the fulltime announcer for Raw.

Hopefully they will either use him for a little while until they make a decision, or go with Roberts/Chimel

LOL. If that's what you think about Howard Finkle, then you don't know Howard Finkle very well. The man would ring announce until the day he dies if it were up to him. I can only assume he was absolutely heart-breaken when he was replaced by Lilian Garcia. And that's probably why they involved him in angles and such, like trying to get his job back and being Chris Jericho's sidekick ... as he was probably ready to commit suicide.

That's a running joke backstage with him that he would throw himself off Titan Towers if WWE were to ever let him go.

So, ring announcing on Raw would probably turn him into a new man once again.

I just hope that they don’t automatically throw her on Raw OR Smackdown because she really isn’t that good and because there are better choices for them to pick from. Some people think announcers don’t really matter that much but I think they are an essential and important part of a wrestling show so I hope they think where they are going to put her thoroughly.

LOL. She actually was placed directly on Smackdown at the tapings on Tuesday. You'll get to see her ring announcing on Smackdown this Friday. Looks like in the very least, she is starting on Smackdown.

 

[theawsomes1]

personaly i dont care who is the ring anouncer. anouncers are just there to anounce the match.being an anouncer is a pretty easy job all you have to do is stand there during the begining of the match and say the name of the superstar and were he/she is from then anounce their hieght and wieght and you are done. the hard part is remembering all that imformation. For me that is easy and so is it for most other people. if you dont remember the info jus right it down. the cameraman doesnt usually point the camera at the ring announcer so it wont be a big deal to read it of a peice o paper. when the announcer goes into a story with the superstars then they have an actual perpose to be their. the only anouncer that particularly bugs me is tony chimel. he has never been involved in storyline and he just isnt a vercy good anouncer. i think the new girl that is taking over for lillian will be very good.

 

[drobs85]

Lord Sidious. I agree with most of your response to my original post. Garcia and Roberts are awful period, and for Garcia to be here this long just kills me. Just because she can sing doesnt make her a good announcer, you dont sing the introductions. She always sucked. Roberts only announces a few names good. I can only think of two: Umaga and The Undertaker. Now that Umaga is gone its just The Undertaker! Another guy on the post said announcers can make you want to watch the matches, and draw you in, just listen to how finkel or chimel announces the rock or the undertaker or anybody. And then listen to garcia or roberts, makes me want to turn the tv.

 

[drobs85]

Also in terms of "announcer voices & introductions" Fink and Chimel are outstanding, and the best wwe will ever have. While the other ones are once again terrible. "announcer voices & introductions" we're speaking of, Fink & Chimel are waisted just like some of the wwe wrestlers.

 

[Tastycles]

I thought it was interesting that the WWE deliberately tried to recruit a woman for the role, after all it doesn't have to be a woman, and she spends so little time on camera, that the eye candy effect is pretty much a waste of time. I think Tony Chimmel is probably the best announcer they have outside Fink, who is probably too old to tour week in week out. I would use Howard Finkel on PPV though, but I'd probably have a PPV commentary team too, just to give them a bit of a different feel.

I'd put this new girl on ECW, the new wrestlers have to go there, so why not send the new ring announcer there too. If she debuts live, it might be a disaster, Mike Adamle can tell you that.

Justin Roberts is ok, but he seems a bit over eager, although that is a criticism I'd level at Lilian too, so maybe its just my British ways.

 

[FromTheSouth]

If she shows excitement in the role, she'll be fine.

I think she is a very attractive girl, not a terrible singer, and a good fit. That being said, i would put Justin Roberts on Raw. He's younger and his voice seems to fit well. Tony Chimel seems a bit more reserved, and a better fir for SD! Justin Roberts creates excitement in the building before tapings. He is good at riling up the crowd.

I think Lauren will do fine. I also think that we are putting way too much thought into this. The ring announcer has minimal impact on the show. We only notice when they mess up, and as long as she can read, she'll be fine.