Should Renee Young replace Lawler on Commentary

[ASKane]

I am getting to a stage now where I find to difficult to watch wrestling with the volume on as the commentary is so bad and I think a major part of why it is so bad is Jerry Lawler and I think WWE have found the right person to replace him, Renee Young. She has shown great personality while doing interview segments and showed that she can work well with JBL and Cole on their YouTube show. I think now is the time for WWE to get Lawler off TV, He has had a good run but his time and reason to go came last year with his Heart Attack, it could have been the perfect reason to retire and fans would have been able to remember his career with fond memories rather than his recent run of terrible commentary.

Your Thoughts on Young replacing Lawler

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

1) Lawler's act has gotten really old but the fans love him and if the WWE hasn't replaced him by now, I don't see why it would happen in the near future.

2) Renee Young is good at doing what she's doing; interviewing people and doing lead-ins on WWE OnDemand. But it's a bit of stretch to suggest that she could do color commentary on Monday Night RAW.

 

[LODemolition]

If they were to drop Lawler on Raw, they wouldn't need a replacement. The commentary on Smackdown is just Cole and JBL and it's much better. The more JBL gets to talk during the matches, the more entertained I am.

 

[Quinn30Colo]

I have seen some bad threads before but boy. Absolutely NOT….She's never been in the ring, she adds no enthusiasm to the work. I'm not sure which raw it was (this past monday or two Raws ago) but she introduced someone and it was very bland.

If you want to bring back a Trish Stratus or a Lita, someone who has been in the ring as a worker, I'd be on board. Now I don't watch the Youtube segments as you may, but what expertise is she going to add? How much of the questions she asks are fed? Lawler's position is from an expert analyst, Renee Young is not the person.

 

[indianfanboy]

My commentary team for RAW would be William Regal and JBL, and for SmackDown! it would be JBL and Cole. I've really liked Regal's work on the mic on NXT and I think he'll do a much better job than Cole. Of course, they need a facepalm evoking character to publicize the WWE app and social media activity. This means that Cole stays.

 

[CM Steel]

AsKane you need to pump your brakes. Renee Young is doing a great job where she is right now and Jerry Lawler will retire from the WWE while still doing commentary. Come on now! If you want to start a thread, don't let it be like this. And if your going to replace the King, why with Renee Young? Because she's on the JBL & Cole show? There are far more better people for the job over Renee.

You must have a crush on her huh?

 

[litarock82]

I think lawler is fine being the third wheel on raw, although if a replacement were needed it would have to be none other than mick foley, he worked hard as a coommenterot in the passt

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Regal is clearly being groomed to be Lawler's replacement and that is the way it should be. Women colour commentators are just a bad idea, not to be sexist but they haven't been in matches that the guys have to make it believable.

 

[Mental]

Shes good to look at and ok talking in small doses, But I think her voice is a bit squeaky and annoying and three hours of it would be severe overdose.

 

[dman1373]

no way should she be on commentary. I heard her at commentary in nxt and she is terrible.

 

[hatehabsforever]

There's absolutely no way that Renee Young is anywhere close to being ready to replace Jerry Lawler as an announcer on Monday Night RAW. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of Renee Young. After watching her up here in Canada on a show called Aftermath, I've come to appreciate her work. She is very knowledgeable about the WWE. She is a very attractive woman. She is quite passionate about the product. And I think she is doing really well so far in her time with WWE. I love her backstage interviews or even ringside interviews with the superstars. She is pretty entertaining.

But after watching NXT for the very first time next week, I found her work there to still be lacking. She may be able to be developed into a reasonable announcer, but she is not one yet. I found her work with NXT to be lackluster, and she still has a ways to go to improve upon that. Frankly I found NXT hard to watch, and she did nothing to enhance my experience.

I say keep her exactly in her current role with RAW and SD. Let her develop her skills and build upon her currently impressive job in her existing role. But let's not fast track her into a position that she isn't ready for. After all, if they wanted to bring someone in to replace Lawler who was not a particularly great announcer, they could always try to bring Taz back to the WWE.

 

[Headman]

I miss Mike Adamle. He was awful but hilarious. Instead of Rene they should replace Lawler with Adamle so he can continue to say "Jamaican me crazy mon!" and Cole can correct him "He's from Ghana now.". Either that or turn Lawler heel again.

 

[Blade]

Honestly, I think Renee would bring a welcome breath of fresh air to Raw or Smackdown. She has one quality that no other announcer in the WWE has at the moment: She doesn't try too hard. I don't know if we've simply become accustomed to melodrama and ridiculousness at commentary thanks to the ***** on Raw, but Renee is so natural and easy to listen to.

The sooner we get Renee, William Regal and Byron Saxton onto the main shows, the sooner those shows will be better, as they already help to make NXT the best hour of wrestling on TV.

 

[sTyLnK]

Seen her for years here in Canada. She really knows her stuff and it's awesome that the WWE hired her. But she's not very good at commentary. I say stick with interviewing.

 

[MCMG]

Renee Young is fantastic at what she does but I'm not sure commentating on Raw is the right move at this time. Firstly, I don't mind Lawler that much. He still makes me laugh on occasion and I think he should retire on his own terms.

Moreover, traditionally the colour commentator has some wrestling experience. Lawler, JBL, Booker T, Tazz, Foley. Of course, this doesn't have to be the case but I think it helps. I suppose, with JBL there it isn't as much of an issue.

Personally, I like both Regal and Alex Riley and when Lawler retires, I wouldn't mind either of them taking his spot. I think Renee Young is more suited to her current role of interviews and whatnot.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

Well Renee Young is a backstage interviewer, Pre-Show Panel Host, Dot Com exclusive interviewer, Host of After Total Divas, etc. but she isn't a commentator so I don't see how that would really work at all. She is great at what she does & she should just keep on doing it.

As for commentary, (with the exception of times like when we got Jim Ross for a Mania match) it has been getting on my nerves for years now but I don't think it necessarily has anything to do with Jerry Lawler. The way the commentary is done with Michael Cole in the head seat over promoting all the stuff no one cares about, JBL with joking banter & out dated references & Lawler with nothing but the occasional overused tid bit of information or something random that has nothing to do with the match going on in the ring is how the WWE & more specifically how Vince wants it. So until someone else takes control of feading the commentators lines, info, etc. & WWE realizes the commentary has been going down the toilet for awhile now, I don't think much of anything will change. Maybe we will see Alex Riley or Scott Stanford fill in if JBL has to climb another mountain or if Lawler has another heart attack but that's about it for now.

 

[wiskidd]

I think if anyone should go it's JBL. As a heel announcer he just won't listen to any reason which is one reason Coach didn't make it and Michael Cole changed and now has become one of the best voices in wrestling.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

I personally think the commentary team is overexposed. I preferred it when each show had a different commentary team with different voices over each match. JBL is definitely entertaining, but 3 times a week is overkill. I wouldn't go as far to say that Cole is "entertaining", but he's definitely watchable in small doses. Lawler is probably the only one that is god-awful and shouldn't be on any hour of TV. But as others have said before, the fans love him, and Vince isn't going to get rid of him any time soon.

Keep Michael Cole, Lawler and JBL on Raw, but how about we change up Smackdown?

1. Paul Heyman- Bring him in to do the heel commentary on Smackdown while JBL does the heel commentary on Raw.

2. Scott Stanford- I personally think he's severely underrated. He has the same "plain PBP" style of Michael Cole, but with an actual entertaining and likable personality. If they don't want to use him as a manager, make him the PBP of Smackdown.

3. Booker T- I thought he brought something different to the table, and even though he got annoying at some points, he had some good lines and running gags. Put him on Smackdown with Heyman and Stanford.

Now, dump Alex Riley on NXT and keep the 3-man team of Renee Young, William Regal and Tom Phillips. Have Mick Foley do TME with Josh Matthews to make that show feel a little special, and rotate whoever is around for the Superstars tapings. (Not that anyone watches Superstars anymore)

 

[#tamale]

What is the issue with having a female commentator? Adding an attractive female commentator who knows wrestling and can bring insight to help bring out a female perspective for women viewers would be a new experience instead of inserting former wrestler "X" on the announce team.

I don't think Renee Young should replace Lawler at the moment, but in the future if she continues to improve I don't see why not. It's not like the commentary team is lighting the world on fire. The upside to having Renee Young is better than continuing with the same method of doing things. It also would certainly give us a break from Lawler's awful t-shirt selections.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

I'd much rather have her be a play by play announcer than the color commentator, and Lawler is very much the color commentator. The color commentator's job is to fill in the gaps, usually with "expert" analysis, which is why it is commonly a former pro who fills that role.

Lawler is very much a fan favorite and he has been with the company longer than most others(even with his quitting after the firing of his ex wife) so he likely has a lot of sway in the locker room. He has good camera presence, but his jokes often fall flat. He was great as a heel commentator, but now that role falls to JBL, and JBL isn't much better. He too often goes out of his way to shit all over Cole, and he comes off as pretentious when he rambles on about the great great grandfather of the guy currently in the ring. The first time I heard the story of how Jack Swagger's great grandma's brother's nephew once held the North Eastern Regional Ultimate Grappling Championship in the '70s I was fine with it, but hearing it every other match gets old.

Don't rush her though. She is currently doing a fine job where she is, and putting her on a team with Cole, who always has Vince in his ear and JBL, who has a tendency to shit all over the other guys at the booth, probably won't go over very well right now.

 

[cm ben]

I'll be a broken record and also say no/not yet. I think she's doing a great job as backstage interviewer--she actually injects some personality into the interview, either with commentary/follow-up questions or simply effective facial expressions. She should be "head interviewer" right now for sure. But... yeah, her announcing on NXT has been pretty abysmal. It might be the fault of the play-by-play guy, too, but there are just too many gaps where no one's talking, too many moments where everyone's interrupting each other, and too many moments where a pointless comment is made that no one can follow up on.

Jerry's... fine... if only for nostalgia's sake at the moment. If there were to be a replacement for him? Honestly, I wouldn't choose William Regal. As much as I've enjoyed his career, his commentary on NXT leaves a lot to be desired--he stumbles over his words a lot and repeats the same thing week-to-week. Booker T was a lot of fun. But honestly I thought Brad Maddox was AMAZING the few weeks he did color on NXT. He was kind of irreverent and all-over-the-place, but it was fun to listen to, and there were never any awkward gaps and pauses like I hear with a lot of the commentators they're trying out.

So yeah! Not Renee! Maddox!