In light of JR's return to RAW, I thought it would be fitting to shine some light on the greatest commentators in WWE's history. I for one, do not put JR in my top 5. I never much cared for the JR/King combination of the attitude era. I think the attitude era killed quality commentary in wrestling. The commentators started acting more like narrators of a story, as opposed to play by play men calling a sport. There was a time when wrestlers didn't stand in the ring talking on a mic for 20 minutes despite having nothing of interest to say, once those kinds of segments started occuring on a regular basis, in my opinion it killed a lot of what the announcers brought to the table. They used to be the voices of wrestling, while the wrestlers wrestled. Now the wrestlers -oops, I mean sports entertainers- do it all themselves. I think a lot of the talking that goes on in the ring, would be better off being brought to viewers attention by the announcers themselves. I prefered it when the announcers did most of the announcing. Not the wrestlers. So here's my top 5.
#5)Vince McMahon
McMahon was kind of annoying as an announcer, but whatever flaws he had he more than made up for when it came to the pay per view introductions. Especially the roll call of names just prior to the Royal Rumble. "Hakuuuuu!" Huuuuuulk Hooooogaaaaan!" and the "Uuuuuultimate Warrrrrrior". Lol. I sware he must have had a few brain aneurysm's emphasizing some of those names the way he did. He made Haku seem like the most important guy who ever lived. When Vince McMahon said "it's time to rumble...its time for the Royal Rumble!" you knew it really was time to Rumble. It just got you jacked for the match even more than you already were.
#4)Mean Gene Okerlund
As good as Vince was at introducing the ppvs, even better than that were the PPV reports that led up to the event. Im talking about the Royal Rumble Report, Summerslam report, Wrestlemania Report, all with their own specific theme music, and all hosted by the legendary Mean Gene. And even better than the ppv reports, was Mean Gene's voiceover for the opening credits of every WWF television show: "The WWF...what the wooooorld is watching". Mean Gene had more gravitas than all of todays announcers combined, and he had a better radio voice than Casey Casem.
#3)Bobby The Brain Heenan
As good as Mean Gene was, his partner in crime was even better. No one, I repeat NO ONE, will ever come close to Bobby The Brain in terms of injecting a little comedy into wrestling. There are plenty of guys in wrestling over the years who THOUGHT they were funny (Cena, Lawler, Nash, DX), but Bobby Heenan actually WAS funny. And not just funny for wrestling, I mean in general. He could have been a comedic actor. He could have been Leslie Neilsen or Johnny Carson's goofy sidekick on the Tonight Show. Bobby really was that funny. To this day no moment in wrestling is as funny as Bobby Heenan's color commentary during the barber shop segment where Marty Jannetty was thrown into the glass by Shawn Micheals. "Did you see that? What an act of cowardice! Jannetty tried to dive through the glass to escape! What a coward!" ~Bobby Heenan. Other notable Bobbyisms' include "that's not fair to Flair!" and of course referring to the fans as "humanoids". XD
#1 & 2) Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura
As much as I appreciated Bobby's humor, the best commentary in wrestling comes when the announcers take what they are commentating on seriously. A wrestling match is at it's best when the commentators who are calling it approach it the same way they would if they were calling play by play of a baseball or football game. And thats what Monsoon and Ventura were so good at. You needed a medical dictionary on hand to keep up with the some of the technical terms Monsoon would use during a match, and Ventura did something that no other heel commentator has ever done- he gave the heels credibility. He didnt just portray them as 2 dimensional bad guys, he tried to give credibility to their complaints about the babyfaces. One specific moment sticks out for me. It was Ricky Steamboat vs Rick Rude. Steamboat was in a sleeper and his arm was being dropped 3 times by the referee. But when they got to the third time, Steamboat forgot to hold his arm up and it dropped to the mat. That was a big time botch. Rude should have won at that point. But the ref raised it again and this time Steamboat kept his arm up and the match continued. A botch like that would more than likely be glossed over in the attitude or modern eras. But not with Ventura callling the match.
Jesse called the ref out on it, but did so in a way that didn't break kayfabe. He gave credence to Bobby Heenans claims that referees were bias and that due to a guy like Rude's reputation he sometimes didnt get the calls that another more law obiding wrestler might get. Ventura took a botch and turned it around on itself into a postive by saying that some of the heels are right when they question the officiating of the wwf. Gorilla also managed to cleverly cover up the botched spot without igoring it by giving it a real world sports event analogy. He said that sometimes referees simply make mistakes. Even in the NFL, no ref is going to get every call right. "They aren't perfect, Jess. Referees are human too. Human error is a part of sports"~Monsson. Thats brilliant stuff. Simple yet brilliant. And its all being improvised on the fly. That level of improvisational skills at the commentary table is unheard of in todays wrestling landscape. And it's been that way ever since the attitude era.
We'll be very lucky if we ever again get to see that kind of quality commentary.
#5)Vince McMahon
McMahon was kind of annoying as an announcer, but whatever flaws he had he more than made up for when it came to the pay per view introductions. Especially the roll call of names just prior to the Royal Rumble. "Hakuuuuu!" Huuuuuulk Hooooogaaaaan!" and the "Uuuuuultimate Warrrrrrior". Lol. I sware he must have had a few brain aneurysm's emphasizing some of those names the way he did. He made Haku seem like the most important guy who ever lived. When Vince McMahon said "it's time to rumble...its time for the Royal Rumble!" you knew it really was time to Rumble. It just got you jacked for the match even more than you already were.
#4)Mean Gene Okerlund
As good as Vince was at introducing the ppvs, even better than that were the PPV reports that led up to the event. Im talking about the Royal Rumble Report, Summerslam report, Wrestlemania Report, all with their own specific theme music, and all hosted by the legendary Mean Gene. And even better than the ppv reports, was Mean Gene's voiceover for the opening credits of every WWF television show: "The WWF...what the wooooorld is watching". Mean Gene had more gravitas than all of todays announcers combined, and he had a better radio voice than Casey Casem.
#3)Bobby The Brain Heenan
As good as Mean Gene was, his partner in crime was even better. No one, I repeat NO ONE, will ever come close to Bobby The Brain in terms of injecting a little comedy into wrestling. There are plenty of guys in wrestling over the years who THOUGHT they were funny (Cena, Lawler, Nash, DX), but Bobby Heenan actually WAS funny. And not just funny for wrestling, I mean in general. He could have been a comedic actor. He could have been Leslie Neilsen or Johnny Carson's goofy sidekick on the Tonight Show. Bobby really was that funny. To this day no moment in wrestling is as funny as Bobby Heenan's color commentary during the barber shop segment where Marty Jannetty was thrown into the glass by Shawn Micheals. "Did you see that? What an act of cowardice! Jannetty tried to dive through the glass to escape! What a coward!" ~Bobby Heenan. Other notable Bobbyisms' include "that's not fair to Flair!" and of course referring to the fans as "humanoids". XD
#1 & 2) Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura
As much as I appreciated Bobby's humor, the best commentary in wrestling comes when the announcers take what they are commentating on seriously. A wrestling match is at it's best when the commentators who are calling it approach it the same way they would if they were calling play by play of a baseball or football game. And thats what Monsoon and Ventura were so good at. You needed a medical dictionary on hand to keep up with the some of the technical terms Monsoon would use during a match, and Ventura did something that no other heel commentator has ever done- he gave the heels credibility. He didnt just portray them as 2 dimensional bad guys, he tried to give credibility to their complaints about the babyfaces. One specific moment sticks out for me. It was Ricky Steamboat vs Rick Rude. Steamboat was in a sleeper and his arm was being dropped 3 times by the referee. But when they got to the third time, Steamboat forgot to hold his arm up and it dropped to the mat. That was a big time botch. Rude should have won at that point. But the ref raised it again and this time Steamboat kept his arm up and the match continued. A botch like that would more than likely be glossed over in the attitude or modern eras. But not with Ventura callling the match.
Jesse called the ref out on it, but did so in a way that didn't break kayfabe. He gave credence to Bobby Heenans claims that referees were bias and that due to a guy like Rude's reputation he sometimes didnt get the calls that another more law obiding wrestler might get. Ventura took a botch and turned it around on itself into a postive by saying that some of the heels are right when they question the officiating of the wwf. Gorilla also managed to cleverly cover up the botched spot without igoring it by giving it a real world sports event analogy. He said that sometimes referees simply make mistakes. Even in the NFL, no ref is going to get every call right. "They aren't perfect, Jess. Referees are human too. Human error is a part of sports"~Monsson. Thats brilliant stuff. Simple yet brilliant. And its all being improvised on the fly. That level of improvisational skills at the commentary table is unheard of in todays wrestling landscape. And it's been that way ever since the attitude era.
We'll be very lucky if we ever again get to see that kind of quality commentary.
sad face.
What all can I really say about JR? In the attitude era and even now, he always wanted to put the in-ring action first and then bring it to the greater picture of the storyline. As we all know (and as he makes evident in his blogs), JR is a fan of that in-ring psychology. He's a very strong believer that the in-ring action should come first in commentary instead of the storyline. Compared to other commentators now, JR doesn't use the current match to put over other storylines that don't relate to the match. A lot of the time in this modern-era, too often is the current match neglected and used to put over other storylines. Just completely disregarding the match. JR always made it his duty to put over the current match and make us wonder if the in-ring competitors will continue this match into a feud or sorts.