thegame
June 27th, 2003, 9:34:43 PM
Another edition... Feedback is welcome!
Calling the Action...
Perhaps the most important part of having an entertaining wrestling show, other than wrestling talent, is the precence of charismatic and energetic announcers, calling the action and providing both comidic and substantive analysis. In today's WWE, many fans would argue that neither show is heavy on talented announcing.
For my money, RAW still has an acceptable announce team, with Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler in the booth. Ross is by far the most talented play-by-play man in the business today, with Joey Styles stuck in Indy-exile. Ross has extensive knowlege of wrestling, and also throws in a unique character flare that gives the matches he calls, and most important segments on RAW an additional level of substance. Jerry Lawler, however, has turned out to be not nearly as talented. With his days of being a true "heel-announcer" truley over, Lawler has become an annoying precence beside Ross on most occasions. Known earlier in his career as an announcer as being an antagonist, Lawler has now become a wishy-washy second wheel to Ross, without any charisma or interesting views. Except with Booker T, Lawler has little to say anymore.
Now I turn to SMACKDOWN! Words are difficult to find to describe my personal hatred of Michael Cole. In short, he has become the reason why I don't watch this show any longer. The talent on the show is less than that of RAW, but was good enough to watch if there was a different announcer doing play-by-play. Cole is a walking, talking insult to the wrestling fan. He is a complete mark for any storyline that comes across the show. He overdoes anything and everthing that happens during matches or spots that he calls. He has very little in the way of wrestling knowlege, and almost always uses no historical background when describing wrestlers or matches, unlike his talented predecessors like Tony Schivonie, Joey Styles, Jim Ross, and of course Gorilla Monsoon. Cole is a joke as on air talent, making himself and the talent around him look bad. Tazz, the once respectable, downright amazing ECW Champion, is also more on the side of joke than serious as an announcer. His jokes are poor copies of Lawler's, and he has very little in the way of heel style color commentary.
It all makes me long for the days of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan, or Jessie Ventura even. With these men, the fan was always entertained, no matter how poor or meaningless the match was that they were calling. Heenan himself is a legend, setting the standard for all other color commentators who came after him. Monsoon, the greatest play-by-play man ever, brought a new level of respectablility and prestige to both wrestling and the WWE itself. WWE owes much of it's success in the 80s and early 90s to both Monsoon and Heenan. I just hope that the WWE can soon return to this level of excellence in the broadcast booth... and get rid of Michael Cole!!!
Just a little venting. Sorry about that one.
I am thegame
Calling the Action...
Perhaps the most important part of having an entertaining wrestling show, other than wrestling talent, is the precence of charismatic and energetic announcers, calling the action and providing both comidic and substantive analysis. In today's WWE, many fans would argue that neither show is heavy on talented announcing.
For my money, RAW still has an acceptable announce team, with Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler in the booth. Ross is by far the most talented play-by-play man in the business today, with Joey Styles stuck in Indy-exile. Ross has extensive knowlege of wrestling, and also throws in a unique character flare that gives the matches he calls, and most important segments on RAW an additional level of substance. Jerry Lawler, however, has turned out to be not nearly as talented. With his days of being a true "heel-announcer" truley over, Lawler has become an annoying precence beside Ross on most occasions. Known earlier in his career as an announcer as being an antagonist, Lawler has now become a wishy-washy second wheel to Ross, without any charisma or interesting views. Except with Booker T, Lawler has little to say anymore.
Now I turn to SMACKDOWN! Words are difficult to find to describe my personal hatred of Michael Cole. In short, he has become the reason why I don't watch this show any longer. The talent on the show is less than that of RAW, but was good enough to watch if there was a different announcer doing play-by-play. Cole is a walking, talking insult to the wrestling fan. He is a complete mark for any storyline that comes across the show. He overdoes anything and everthing that happens during matches or spots that he calls. He has very little in the way of wrestling knowlege, and almost always uses no historical background when describing wrestlers or matches, unlike his talented predecessors like Tony Schivonie, Joey Styles, Jim Ross, and of course Gorilla Monsoon. Cole is a joke as on air talent, making himself and the talent around him look bad. Tazz, the once respectable, downright amazing ECW Champion, is also more on the side of joke than serious as an announcer. His jokes are poor copies of Lawler's, and he has very little in the way of heel style color commentary.
It all makes me long for the days of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan, or Jessie Ventura even. With these men, the fan was always entertained, no matter how poor or meaningless the match was that they were calling. Heenan himself is a legend, setting the standard for all other color commentators who came after him. Monsoon, the greatest play-by-play man ever, brought a new level of respectablility and prestige to both wrestling and the WWE itself. WWE owes much of it's success in the 80s and early 90s to both Monsoon and Heenan. I just hope that the WWE can soon return to this level of excellence in the broadcast booth... and get rid of Michael Cole!!!
Just a little venting. Sorry about that one.
I am thegame