WWE commentators ... not what they used to be

[eezy1]

U could tell his heart wasnt in the new ECW but Joey Styles is still one of the best commentators in the business. He is great solo and also great with the right heel commentator to partner with.

 

[skibbiez]

Bring back Ventura lol I do, however, like the chemistry between the three man team of King, Cole, and Striker. WWE just needs heel announcers. I hate to hear every announcer suck up to the good guys. Just waters down the show in my opinion. My favorite announcers were Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan or Ventura.

 

[chief]

Michael Cole said on RAW this week when the ads were coming on "Stay tuned to find out who will be the New Unified Tag Team Champions", did anyone else notice that?

Otherwise I don't mind the commentators too much, they aren't perfect, but if I had Vince shouting in my ears all the time, I would make mistakes too.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

If Vince stayed the hell out of their ears and let them be themselves then there wouldn't be a problem like there is. Back in the old days they called it how they saw it. And if you look back they didnt wear them god-aweful headsets, which is a tell-tale sign someone is telling them what to say. Let them call the match how they see it at that time. It shows more emotion and reality, which will bring more to the show. Yet another reason the old days are better than today.

Vince feeding them lines isn't some new development, it's how they've been doing commentary for years. Go and watch 'Beyond The Mat' when they're showing the Foley/I Quit segment, and there's a clip of Vince and Stephanie sat at the Gorilla position, and all the boys are watching the match on the monitors (you see a direct chot of Taker and HHH sat together watching the match), and you hear Vince feed a line, and they then play a soundbite of King delivering the exact same line some 3 seconds later. So Vince feeding lines has been going on for the last decade at least, even for the experienced announcers.

The main problem is that with the exception of Striker, none of them show any real interest in wrestling. If Cole isn't doing commentary, he sits there looking bored as fuck, with a facial expression that looks as though he doesn't understand the appeal of what's going on in the ring. King can't form a coherent sentence anymore, and if he does, he usually gets the talents' names wrong, and forgets matches and angles that he was at ringside for. Here's an example, at the Royal Rumble '07 when Taker and HBK were the last 2? JBL said, "Two legends are going to go at it again!" and King responded by saying "I don't know if we've ever seen it, but it should be great".

Really King? You don't remember the 1st HIAC match or the Casket match that you commentated?

On top of that, they like to sit around during PPV matches and talk shit to each other instead of doing their fuckin' jobs, and it's kept happening ever since they started having 3 man announce teams at the PPVs. During the MVP/Miz match at the Rumble, they did more time talking about MVP's rap sheet and the fact that wasshername from the view fancies him, than they did actually calling the match, and i was sickened. How they didn't get a Vince ear bashing loud enough to be heard through the mics, i'll never know, but i was truly ashamed to listen to the commentary for that match.

Another problem is that they now don't do anything to help the wrestlers sell. Back in the day if there was a big spot, JR would sit there for 5 minutes going 'Don't do it, you'll end his career, he doesn't deserve this! and then another 10 minutes after the spot going 'How is he still standing after that horrific chair shot?' or if a heel cheated, Cole would be on their back about it for ages on end right up until the next match started.

Now if a heel cheats they just say 'He stole one' and that's as far as they go to develop any heels during matches, and if there's a big spot, rather than try and sell it by sounding legitimately worried for the wrestler's health, what do they do now?

THEY STOP TALKING ENTIRELY!!!!

Now, surely that's a cardinal sin in the world of sports commentary. At no point, ever are you to leave the audience in silence. Whether there's a tumbleweed blowing across the ring or the gate's of Hell opening inside it, the announcers should always have some kind of input to help promote what's going on inside the ring. Instead we're treated to absolute silence until the action begins again. Look back at the Hardy/Punk ladder match, and when Hardy jumps off the ladder and crashes through the table, JR and Grisham stop talking for at least 3 minutes, and in my opinion as a long time fan, that's disgraceful.

The announce teams need serious work. Cole and King are simply dragging Raw down. Grisham is too mousey and doesn't have enough authority in his voice for you to take him seriously, and Striker simply needs to shut his mouth. He uses bullshit analogies, spurts rules and regulations that we all know aren't true, and says stuff about the talent in order to promote them and it more often than not just sounds stupid. I personally don't rate Striker any higher than i did Adamle. As much as Adamle sucked, i never felt the need to hunt him down and rip his vocal chords from his throat like i do every time Striker speaks

 

[Serious Mozzarella]

I've never actually had too much of a problem with any announcers except for JBL, because I found everything about him to be a bore, and his announcing skills are no exception. I like the idea of a PBP/(heel) Color commentator, but I also like the idea of two completely unbiased announcers as if they were working a real sporting event.

While my opinion of Michael Cole is not a popular one, I do think he's gotten much better over the years, and I wouldn't mind seeing him work shows for the remainder of his career. JR and Lawler are very good, I LOVE Striker, and Styles is doing just fine.