Would The Commentary Gimmick Benefit CM Punk?

[Harthan]

For those that aren't familiar with CM Punk's ROH days, he spent a vast majority of his career there in two roles - as an active wrestler and ROH's color commentator. In his commentary, he did much of his time as a heel, and not only put over himself as a heel tremendously, but was an expert color commentator, really enhancing ROH's early shows. The question is, with SmackDown's commentary team lackluster and lacking a real color commentator, and with CM Punk finally a main event heel, would he be able to work the same gimmick, and if so, would it benefit him?

The WWE is fairly used to guest commentary, and Punk's done it - not only done it, but really done well with it. Guest commentary is a pretty standard process in the WWE, but it's usually only done for one match, and usually to further an angle. This scenario would have Punk call the entire show as a color man - excepting when he wrestles, of course - probably with JR as the play by play man.

It's no doubt the SmackDown team isn't great. JR is just not built for color, and Grish needs a color man to work - see Grish/Striker. The combination isn't good. Punk and JR could very well hearken back to the old JR/King arrangement, with Punk ragging on JR, cheering for the heels, and JR defending what's right against Punk. It's a dynamic that's lost in the WWE by and large, and that could bring some improvement to SmackDown.

Furthermore, it could do a lot for Punk. Rather than getting a minute or two of promo time on TV, he'd have an entire TV show to put himself over. While some might say we'd get sick of Punk by then, check out some of the old ROH shows he calls - he just acts as a heel commentator most of the time, and really only addresses himself occasional moments - a combination that gets him over very well as a heel.

Now, arguably, this is unnecessary for Punk - the guy is already drawing loads of heat, and so, this might not really be needed. On the other hand, it could be less about Punk needing it as it would be helping SD in general, to create a proper commentary team for the show. His commentary in ROH was a substantial boost to the show's atmosphere, and could do the same for SD and SD's PPV matches.

So what do you think? Would this help Punk? Would it help SD? It it something you want to see?

 

[gd]

I think this would be a great idea. In my opinion, a heel/face commentary team is far more interesting than the typical commentary in wrestling today. Grisham and JR are awful together, and Punk when bring in something new and different. As long as he acts like a commentator while at the table and isn't talking about himself or his feud the whole show, it will be great.

Not only will he be more over with the fans, but it would also be a reason for every face on Smackdown to hate him. Punk has really been great ever since he's gotten some significant promo time, this gimmick could put him over as one of the greatest heels ever.

However, I don't think this is very likely. Apparently, Vince doesn't want commentators to be stars and doesn't want them to detract any attention from the matches, so I can't see Punk or any other heel commentator in the near future.

 

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

I agree that the team of Jim Ross and C.M. Punk would be a very effective one for Smackdown. I am not really much of a fan of Todd Grisham, as I don't think he has much of a voice for commentary. He has greatly improved over the years on his time on Heat, but for him to be Play-By-Play and J.R. to be color commentator... it shouldn't be that way, in my opinion. If C.M. Punk really is as good of a commentator as you say, then he could very well be the Play-By-Play announcer for a whole show. While Todd Grisham stays backstage doing interviews and whatnot.

It really think it could work. But knowing WWE, I don't find it very likely. However, it could help Smackdown and C.M. Punk if it were to happen. It would be very interesting how the commentary goes throughout the show.

 

[X]

I'd absolutely love to see Punk take on time as a commentator every week, he was always highly entertaining in his ROH days and now he's improved even more on the microphone and has real confidence like never before. Having a heel commentator take place of Todd Grisham (who is simply just terrible) would be a large improvement for the commentator's team.

Will it happen though? Absolutely not. McMahon is too stubborn trying to groom Grisham and the other baby-faced children he has on the commentators team to put Punk in that role. It doesn't make much sense practically as well, having to switch out announcers every time Punk wrestles or cuts a promo. It could work, and I'd love to see it, but it just won't happen. That's far too radical an idea for McMahon.