The lost art of announcing in WWE.
By megamatt
@megamatt (14292)
United States
March 25, 2010 7:36am CST
I honestly think the announcing in WWE is pretty much at the lowest point it has been in quite some time. Quality announcing can make a good match "great" and a great match "epic". Sadly, these days, I don't see too much of that from the WWE product. Mostly it has to do to the absence of Jim Ross, due to health issues. I hope that he'll be a part of Wrestlemania this year. Still, we all knew this day was coming, one day, there would be no more JR as an announcer, at least full time. Yet, WWE has no one to fill his shoes.
Yeah, Michael Cole, whose improvement has been minimal over the past fifteen years or however long he has been announcing. And who I am not entirely convinced is not a robot. Todd Grisham has improved ever so slightly, going from horrible to passable, but nothing special. Josh Mathews is fine, but he's just not someone I see being credible enough to move up to the big time. Good for the lesser shows like NXT, and back in the day Velocity and ECW, but not good enough for a RAW or Smackdown. Then on the color commentary side is Jerry Lawler. Who is still fairly good but not as great as he was back in the mid 90s. Then Matt Striker...well let's just say this. When I have to mute the television so I don't feel the desire to punch it out, that's a problem.
The problem is that WWE management wants to hire people to do announcing who look good on camera, no matter how good they are in calling the action in the ring and getting a story across. The announcers should announce. We should not be able to see them. When I think of my favorite announcing teams of all time I think of teams like Jesse Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon. Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan. Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, you know people like that. I enjoyed that one RAW where Jesse Ventura and Vince McMahon commentated that battle royal because that was a blast when the announcing was actually good. Plus, it wasn't like Vince could yell in his own headset, which is another problem. Announcers are afraid to go outside the box and improve, because they might upset Vince.
So do you think the announcing in WWE has really taken a dip in quality in recent years? And who are some of your favorite WWE announcing duels of all time?
3 responses
@standbymeforever (887)
• Australia
23 Apr 10
Two of the best announcers ever were Monsoon and Ventura..that of course being in that time. Nowadays you have Lawler and JR who are the best. Its just sad that JR has been out for awile and also that the pair dont get to commentate together on RAW. I dont like Michael Cole, Matt Sryker or Todd Grisham they are awful.
They should bring in a legend to commentate like Roddy Piper. That would be great.
@AllenWiggs (404)
• United States
28 Mar 10
I agree for the most part, the announcing isn't what it once was, well at least on Raw, that and nothing new happening on there in years is why I stopped watching the show. I think Michael Cole plays a great WWE only a$$hole on NXT which works pretty well. I don't like him talking as is, so him being someone I hate works very well for me. I completely disagree with you on Matt Striker though, I love his announcing. He is a good blend of Bobby the Brain Heenan with geeky references. He sides with the heel (the E has really been lacking a heel color commentator for ages now) and he has a larger vocabulary then anyone else on the team which I like. Sometimes his phrases don't make the most sense, but at least he isn't repeating "vintage this and vintage that" or that something is a "slobber knocker". There is variety there which I enjoy.
@hbk2244 (180)
• United States
25 Mar 10
You hit the nail right on the head. The days of Bobby Hennan & Gorilla Monsoon together were better than any announcing duo you can but together today. Here are my top five duos of all time.
1. Hennan and Monsoon
2. Monsoon and Ventura
3. McMahon and Ventura
4. Ross and Lawler
5. Styles and Heyman