WWE Commentators

[Stein Lager]

Ok so I have no problem with the current commentators, this is just to gauge who you geezers think would be ideal commentators for raw/smackdown/ppvs. Being a huge attitude era boy.. I always thought I'd just rant J.R n King, J.R n King, J.R n King, but I've grown out of that AND the attitude era whether it's commentators or the whole PG vs tv-14 bullshiz, I'm going to accept and enjoy the wwe no matter what their giving me, I'm gonna look at the positives. I used to hate Michael Cole, but he's grown on me, hell even Booker somewhat has.. But if the commentators were in my control, I would change a couple things..

To this:

Raw -

Michael Cole
Jerry Lawler
Jim Ross

Smackdown -

Michael Cole
Booker
Josh Mathews

Ppvs -

A rotation of the five....

I think michael Coles grown as a commentator and a personality so I like him on all shows to keep a degree of continuity and a familiar voice on all shows

(forgive me if this has been done 20 times, and even if it has it would be nice to get a fresh opinion)

So what's your ideal commentator setup??

 

[Peridot]

same as the OP here apart from two things. First take King off. He isnt the same as he used to be and he needs to retire. Id replace him with striker. JR id only use for PPVs, to allow for his health and his talent relations commitments.

RAW Striker and Cole
SD! Cole, Booker and Josh
PPVs JR, Cole and Booker

 

[The_Reptile_]

Honestly? I'd take Josh Mathews and Scott Stanford off of Superstars and put them fulltime on RAW. As far as I'm concerned, they're the best combination of Commentator's that WWE can give us without bringing in JR, who's getting up there in years.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Booker T is awful. I'm sorry, but I'm sick of people saying he's decent or just getting into it, because he isn't, he's simply awful. He continues to say the stupidest things, he goes on about lactec acid, he repeats "Oh my Goodness," ten times during any given show, he screws up more names of moves than Jerry Lawler, and that's saying something and he talks more than the play-by-play commentator who although may get great heat, to me has worsened as an actual commentator.

If WWE wanted someone to add to the commentary team, go to FCW, stop being delusional and take Abraham Washington and place him behind a desk. If not that, William Regal is doing a great job on NXT. Dude knows the names of every hold, and he isn't like Matt Stryker where he rambles on about how the hold effects you or anything, he just gives you the name of the move.

The only commentator I actually enjoy listening to in the WWE asides from Regal, is Josh Matthews. That guy has came on leaps and bounds. He doesn't blurt out ******ed stuff like Booker T, he doesn't screw-up the names of moves, he tells Michael Cole to STFU half-way through a broadcast which is always welcome and he's honestly the only person doing his job correctly.

RAW should be Cole, Lawler, Matthews.

Smackdown should be Cole, Matthews and someone decent.

PPV's should be Cole, Lawler and Jim Ross

 

[Good Golly It's Ollie]

Traditionally commentary in wrestling has consisted of the play-by-play guy and the colour guy, usually an ex-wrestler, right? Now I know this hasn't really been the case for the past year as Cole, the non-wrestler, has been the colour guy, with all the ex-wrestlers as play-by-play-ers.

All things considered I'd like to keep the team at three, but I'd probably keep it the same for both shows. The reason for three is that in the PG environment, WWE seems to have re-discovered its need for both a heel and a face for colour commentary. I agree with this motive because it allows audiences to see both viewpoints instead of just the heel one. Ideally out of the guys currently in use, I'd like to choose:

Play-by-Play Guy: Scott Stanford
This guy is still kinda new to WWE but I think he's awesome. His voice has an 'old school show business' feel, and he's done sports commentary in other places as well. He's got a stand-out and enthused form of delivery too, and he really sounds 'into' the product.

Heel Colour Guy: Jerry Lawler
Because I like Lawler better this way, and I grew up with it. Flimsy reason I know, but I don't care. The only problem is, how do you turn King heel again after all this with Cole?

Face Colour Guy: Josh Mathews
Josh is actually a trained wrestler so he could feed some input into the morality aspect, I feel, and counteract heel King. I think Josh has a great delivery, always putting over the psych/emotions of a match.

Other options for SD!:
- William Regal, he's been proving his commentary ability over on NXT recently, which I've only seen a couple of times during his run, but he's good at being both the colour guy and at telling us about the moves etc. Once Lawler retires he can be the heel colour guy in my section above.
- Striker; he's a bit of love-or-hate as far as the fanbase is concerned, but I liked his approach too.

And that's my ideal team. As for Booker, stick him back in the ring, he's good enough to go, and Cole - make him a full-time heel manager, he'd be good at that.

 

[Rockyfolifebo!!!]

No offense, but i think it's kind of absurd having Cole do Raw and SD! They tape Raw live on Mondays, then I THINK they tape Smackdown Tuesdays. Plus to do PPV's on Sundays. Cole would have like one of the busiest schedules. Keep him on Raw. As far as Booker goes, he's okay. I think it's hilarious when someones about to do a big move and he goes"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH", in that moaning tone. It's too funny.

Now if only they could get in touch with Joey Styles again. Hmmmmm?!?!

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Right now WWE has 10 guys floating around commentary:

1. Todd Grisham
2. Matt Striker
3. Josh Matthews
4. Booker T
5. Scott Stanford
6. Jack Korpela
7. Jerry Lawler
8. Michael Cole
9. William Regal
10. Jim Ross

I would have these teams:

Raw: Josh Matthews, Scott Stanford and William Regal

Smackdown: Todd Grisham, Jim Ross and Matt Striker

My favorite commentary teams are Josh Matthews and Scott Stanford who have really good chemistry going on Superstars while Todd Grisham and Matt Striker were so great in their first run on ECW. When Striker debuted, everyone loved his commentary, I don't know why the IWC turned on him so quickly. It did seem like Striker's success on commentary went to his head, but now that he's been humbled, he could go back to being great.

Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole both need to go. They've been with the company way too long so it will be hard to make that happen, but I think its possible if they are moved onto other roles. Maybe they can make Lawler a GM-type character while Cole can be a manager. They both would fit better in those roles while William Regal and Scott Stanford can take their place.

Booker T never makes any sense. They have him in the booth because he's a legend, but he has no business being there. His ramblings are usually incoherent and even if he says something that makes sense, no one can understand him. He should be either wrestling or making sporadic appearances like his buddy Kevin Nash. I think Booker still has another run left in the tank and he should get another run in the main event to put the new young heels over.

Jim Ross is the best, period. And not only should he be used for one more run on commentary, but he would be greatly utilized if he can coach the other commentators. By putting him in the booth with Grisham and Striker, he'll help them improve tenfold.

And keep Jack Korpela as an interviewer. I personally don't like them at all, but they do need someone to hold the microphone while Cena screams into it.

 

[TheConnecticutBlueblood]

RAW Commentators:

Jim Ross - Play by Play Commentator
Jerry The King Lawler - Heel Colour Commentator
William Regal - Witty tweener Colour Commentator

NXT Commentators:

William Regal - Witty tweener Colour Commentator
Josh Matthews - Play by Play Commentator

Superstars:

Matt Striker - Heel Colour Commentator
Scott Stanford - Play by Play Commentator
Josh Matthews - Tweener Colour Commentator

Smackdown:

Josh Matthews - Face Colour Commentator
Scott Stanford - Play by Play Commentator
Micheal Cole - Heel Colour Commentator

PPV will be Raw Commentators for Raw matches, Smackdown Commentators for Smackdown matches and joint for interpromotional matches like Royal Rumble matches, survior series.

 

[The Perfect Max]

First off, I would change Lawler to the style of commentator he was around '03. He wasn't a heel, but he would side with a lot of the heel superstars and bicker with JR (which was quite funny).

I would change Michael Cole back to his original plain commentary without his heel lines like "I would like to kiss the Miz's ass one day." Like he was in 2009 and further back.

Josh Matthews is a brilliant commentator. Nothing to change except for bringing him on more often.

Booker T. Booker, Booker, Booker... we know it was an impact move but you don't have to say "Oh my gosh, guys" 20 times during a 5 minute match between Curt Hawkins and Yoshi Tatsu. OK? Just needs help, does Booker. He would do better on NXT because he works on Tough Enough and knows about upcoming superstars.

I actually liked Matt Striker. As much as I found him irritating, he did make sense somehow.

Stuff E=mc! Jim Ross=Commentary. 'Nough said.

Upcoming commentators/presenters/interviewers like William Regal, Todd Grisham, Jack Korpela and Scott Stanford are actually quite good. Hell, Grisham is a Slammy Award Winner, beating Jim Ross!

I would bring Abraham Washington and Byron Saxton back also. They were alright commentators. But, I would make Washington a generic commentator and keep Byron Saxton an "Up my ass" character.

RAW
Jerry Lawler
Jim Ross
Josh Matthews

SmackDown
Matt Striker
Michael Cole
Todd Grisham

NXT
Abraham Washington
Booker T
Byron Saxton

Superstars
Jack Korpela
Scott Stanford
William Regal

Pay-Per-View
Jerry Lawler
Jim Ross
Michael Cole

 

[mr_dna]

Cole should just be scrapped as a Commentator he is just flat out killing it , He was really good but ever since this heel shit he spends more time whineing then anything else

I think Josh should be the new golden boy give him some air time with JR and he could be great

Raw:
King
JR
Josh

Smackdown:
Regal
Booker T
Scott Stanford

Booker T is pretty bad but you think he has only been at it since Febuary and i have noticed he dont seem so bad at the PPV maybe he needs a lil time with JR to tune his skills

Cole is what is bad about WWE Commentators today as he dont actually do it .

Be nice to have foley back but with that shit with Vince i dont think he would but who knows with Trips and Stepth in the future it could happen as he was pretty good

 

[gers09]

RAW
first get King back to being a heel type he just at his best that way, and JR they two are the best together bring in someone else too maybe regal or booker Cole he would serve best as a manger right now so he off keep on raw tho.

SD
Striker
Josh
regal of booker (who ever does't do raw)

PPV
JR
KING
& ONE OF SD

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

if it were up to me this is how id have the announcers sorted out between the weekly shows and the monthly ppv's

RAW: King & Striker
Smackdown: Booker T,Josh Matthews and Micheal Cole
PPV: King,Booker T & JR

i cant stand cole so id put him on the show i dont watch i will never get the point of a heel announcer its a stupid idea and always will be

 

[stilltippin]

Just Leave it how it is.

Michael Cole and Lawler on Raw

and Michael Cole and Booker on Smackdown.

I think there is a third wheel over on smackdown, i think that guy can be dropped.

Booker is never gonna get better untill he has to do more work.

PPVs should be all three of them. Cole, Lawler and Booker.

No confusion what so ever. Nice and Simple.

Cole is better than any Announcer WWE currently has doing work, so i enjoy him on both shows and the ppvs.

 

[TimAH]

I'd really see them give a shot to some older guys who are retired wrestlers who cut amazing promos. Guys like Piper, Hayes, Dibiase, Roberts or find out what it would take to get Ventura to do it.

 

[Joshua]

A lot of you guys make it sound like JR is a full time WWE commentator. This guy is perfectly content sitting at home, posting blogs and Twitter updates, and selling that BBQ sauce.

As for the commentators keep them basically the same. Mathews, Cole, and King are all brilliant. Maybe move Booker to SuperStars but that doubtful. Vince is rewarding him for leaving IMPACT Wrestling. They have to keep him relevant that's why he is still on SD! every week though. If he isn't announcing then he will probably be pushed back into the ring.

 

[Daniel]

WWE has some good commenators in the company. Some of them are not necessarily being used well, however. I love the three-man booths. They have a better dynamic than two man booths. I've always said that.

Let's look at Raw. The announce team of Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Josh Mathews is perfect. Cole is the annoying heel and the only one who is able to give the Raw GM the heat it deserves. Lawler, I'm not too keen on. He's alright, he's just there. He doesn't really sound interested in the product and that annoys me. Mathews is an announcer I love. He's a fan, and he's constantly trying to be the best commentator he possibly can be. I don't want to be "that guy", but I do love Jim Ross at the announce booth. He showed a few months ago that he could still get the job done. However, it soesn't look likely so I'll leave it.

Smackdown is trickier. I, for one, love Booker T. Yes he gets stuff wrong, yes he talks shit, but he's damn entertaining. And that's what you want from a colour commentator. Michael Cole is serious overkill on Smackdown. I can handle him on one show, but two drives me crazy. I know he's trying to be a heel, but there's a fine line between being a heel and being so annoying I don't want him to live. To replace Cole, I want the return of Matt Striker to Friday nights. His funny, comfortable and insightful. He's clearly a wrestling fan like all of us (listen to his reaction to Booker T's return) and he can call the action accurately. If someone performs a Michinoku driver, he'll tell you. Cole can't call a powerslam correctly. My third guy is a difficult pick. I'm inclined to say Josh Mathews, I think he and Striker would work brilliantly with eachother. But I'm also a fan of the rather old school Scott Stanford. He's done sterling work on Superstars. I also like Jack Korpela, but I don't think he's ready just yet. So these are my picks (NXT and Superstars don't matter).

Raw
Michael Cole
Jerry Lawler
Josh Mathews

SmackDown
Matt Striker
Booker T
Josh Mathews (or Scott Stanford)

 

[Mick Foley is the Best]

Put Cole as the GM of Raw and make these changes

Raw: Jerry Lawler-Heel color commentator
JR: Face play-by-play commentator
William Regal: Tweener color commentator, main gimmick is poking fun at Lawler

SmackDown: Booker T-Face color commentator
Todd Grisham-Face play-by-play commentator
Matt Striker-Heel witty color commentator

NXT: Booker T-Face color commentator
Byron Saxton-Heel play-by-play commentator
Zack Ryder-Face color commentator

Superstars: Keep Josh Matthews and Scott Stanford
Jack Korpela-Face play-by-play commentator