Best/Worst Announcers & Commentator Chat

[BomberPat]

I'm sure this has been done before, but spinning off from Michael Cole chat in the Royal Rumble thread, who are people's favourite commentators, and what makes a good announcer?

As an ECW nerd in my younger days, I was completely sold by the received wisdom that Joey Styles was the best announcer in the business. Nowadays, I find him extremely annoying. One of the things that he stood out for was "knowing all the moves", which is really just the commentator equivalent of being an indie Movez guy without any rhyme or reason. It might appeal to us nerds, but for the most part the viewer doesn't need to know the name of every single suplex or submission hold, they need to understand what those moves do in terms of effect on their opponent and on the story. "Dropped him right on his head!"" is a more effective bit of commentary than "Underhook Release Tazzplex" or whatever. Excalibur is similar now, but it's less of an issue as he's not calling matches on his own.

My all-time favourite commentators are Kent Walton and Lance Russell. Both treated wrestling credibly, but never took it too seriously, so had a touch of humour and lightheartedness to them that's utterly lacking in the modern WWE announce team - given that the canonical "great" WWE announce teams are Monsoon/Heenan and Lawler/Ross, the complete lack of humour from the current lot is shocking. Lance Russell, in particular, had a warmth to him that was utterly endearing and welcoming, and just made the whole show feel like a cosy, familiar part of your routine - he was more akin to someone like Terry Wogan to his Radio 2 audience than a sports broadcaster in that respect. 
The only person who comes in that balance of experience, talent, enthusiasm and familiarity today is Tony Schiavone. Best in the business.

Favourite colour guy is Jesse Ventura. I prefer him to Heenan. Heenan's stuff was funnier, but Ventura played the logical heel commentator better - Heenan could sometimes reach a little too hard for a joke at the expense of the match, whereas Jesse was always focused on telling the story from a heel perspective. 

[Jazzy G]

Watching the NWA stuff from '86 and the nepotism at work David Crockett is pretty bad.

I'll echo the love for Schiavone. I grew up on Tony & Jesse on WCW Worldwide, so will always have asoft spot. Schiavone was prety bad towards the end of WCW, but I defy anybody to show enthusiasm for that product at the time.

I also really enjyed Cole & Tazz on Smackdown in 05-06 because they just didn't seem to give any fucks. Tazz could be a good analyst and tell you why a move hurt when they weren't dicking around and ripping the product to pieces.

Heyman alongside JR during 2001 was great, because JR had to start upping his game while Heyman was delivering his trademarked hyperbole. He had to work again, after coasting alongside Lawler and his jokebook for so long. He could do with somebody like that in AEW now to try and snap him awake and sharpen him up again.

Kent Walton was amazing on World Of Sport, and Lance Russell could be good as well. Watching the old Starrcades you get a real appreciation for Gordon Solie, and it's obvious why so many people looked up to him.

 

[gmoney]

7 minutes ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Watching the NWA stuff from '86 and the nepotism at work David Crockett is pretty bad.

I'd heard that for years before ever hearing his work and found that I disagree entirely. He's fantastically enthusiastic, and sells the show to a ridiculous degree. I wouldn't put him on any best list, but he's far from being bad I reckon.

[Bus Surfer]

This isn't a best or worst thing, but I watched the above clip and it really stuck out to me how much Ventura always gets away with taking the piss out of Vince on commentary. I get Vince wasn't the face of the company back then so it's a little different, but has anyone else been 'allowed' to give him pelters in the booth before? 

Imagine that happening today. Unthinkable. 

[Factotum]

19 minutes ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Heyman alongside JR during 2001 was great, because JR had to start upping his game while Heyman was delivering his trademarked hyperbole. He had to work again, after coasting alongside Lawler and his jokebook for so long. He could do with somebody like that in AEW now to try and snap him awake and sharpen him up again.

Yeah them two always stick out in my mind, especially in their calling of WM 17 which is fantastic. Paul E's knowledge and winding up of JR was perfect and got the best out of Ross. When Lawler came back it just wasn't as good, and by the time Lawler turned face it was just awful

[BomberPat]

Heyman knew exactly how to push JR's buttons to get the best out of him. I don't know if there's anyone around now who could get that from him - JR would just get grumpy and refuse to play ball rather than leaning into it, like he used to with Ventura in WCW.

Edited February 2, 2021 by BomberPat

[The Gaffer]

They really are the winners. They're even on the best card of all time, and actually added to the package. They're also a commentary team that I go back to even today and they're still about as good as I remember them. Heyman was genuinely hilarious and could clearly rationalise on behalf of the heels whilst still being four feet up their arseholes, and on the flip side would hold disdain for the pithy meanderings of the faces whilst still giving due credit to their skills. 

Cole and Tazz were great in the early years of the brand split, and I think it's something they deserve credit on. Maybe Vince's eye was more off the ball with Smackdown, but Cole was far more human and done well as the genial, fans standpoint 'host' of Smackdown whilst Tazz wasn't too inane yet and provided some nice daftness along with decent shoot style wrestle talk/perspective on the big matches. They also really done a great job of feeling like they were taking the fight to Raw, and had some personal pride in the brand. 

JR and King outstayed their welcome - they were bound to - but their early incarnation can't be topped as my favourite commentary duo from my favourite era in company history. From when Vince left the desk right up until Austin's injury in the fall of 1999 they were dynamite. JR's investment in Austin as being the toughest SOB and King's relentless glee at being more or less the unofficial Corporate Commentator made for a consistently fantastic dynamic. King's good commentary seemed to just come with his wrestling gear. As soon as he switched to naff t-shirts with airbrushed crowns and lions on them, he was finished. 

Those are my top three, from the admittedly extremely limited position of being a mostly WWE watcher. Most other commentary pairings have ranged from awful to barely noticeable.  

[PowerButchi]

Best team is Russell/Brown. Second best is Russell/Hayes/Garvin. Third is Cruise/Rhodes.

 

That's actual fact.

[tiger_rick]

Interesting that @BomberPat mentioned "knowing all the moves" in the OP. I was just thinking about this during the Women's Royal Rumble on Monday morning. I used to think the same but now I'd far rather listen to Vince McMahon call everything "What a manoeuvrer", react excitedly to everything, sell heels as utter cunts and pretend every near fall is the finish than any of this nonsense. @GeronimoJacksBeard mentioned their dreadful booking of Rumbles being someone comes in, does their spots and then disappears into the crowd was absolutely spot on and it's made far worse by their handful of spots being yelled out with some ridiculous name. Someone will come in, immediately go into a spam of signature moves while Tom Phillips yells out random shit "There's the Back, Sack and Crack drop. She's hit her with a Vajazzle buster. Here comes the club foot. It's My Little Pony time, King."

I'm a big fan of AEW but they're as bad with Excalibur yelling out ridiculous move names all the time. He's not a bad commentator, he's fine when he's discussing character and motivation. He needs to learn the other stuff doesn't matter that much.

Gorilla and Jesse for me. A fantastic duo with incredible chemistry. I love Heenan but he's not as good as Jesse at selling the story. He's as funny but unless it directly involves him, it's not as good.

Never been into the likes of Solie and Russell. It's a bit too straight for me. Respect the hell out of them but it's not my favourite commentary.

Edited February 2, 2021 by tiger_rick

[Chris B]

While Michael Cole has shown flashes of being good, he's been the lead voice of WWE for quite a bit more than half the time since Vince took over the company. And when he eventually leaves, I don't think anybody is going to miss him or think the replacements aren't as good. Hell, announcers that have really grated on people have felt like a breath of fresh air just for being different. It's not that he's terrible, necessarily - he's just so bland, so corporate. At best, you don't hear him. 

On a more recent note, I did not see Tazz and Excalibur becoming one of my favourite commentary teams in years. They clearly enjoy working together, and the two of them just trying to make each other laugh is just fun. I thought the two hour shows were going to be far more work than I've found any of them - they make it a breeze.

[AVM]

I was really impressed with Samoa Joe when he had his run on commentary. In terms of play-by-play I like Mauro Ranallo and I used to like Joey Styles.

[Marshmallo]

Michael Cole's best work when he was properly heeling it up on the women's NXT which then carried into Raw.

"I used to be a war correspondent now I'm covering this!"

 

Joe Galli and Stu Bennett were brilliant on NWA Powerrr (much like everything else on the show). Treated it seriously without acting like the audience were idiots.

[Vamp]

One of the old Chicago wrestling matches on YouTube has a commentator bugger off at the start of the match to get something to eat and then comes back because the match gets interesting.

He's the best. 

[Wrasslin]

35 minutes ago, Marshmallo said:

Michael Cole's best work when he was properly heeling it up on the women's NXT which then carried into Raw.

"I used to be a war correspondent now I'm covering this!"

 

Joe Galli and Stu Bennett were brilliant on NWA Powerrr (much like everything else on the show). Treated it seriously without acting like the audience were idiots.

The episode with Punk and Cole on commentary when Cole turns up part way through is magic.

[PowerButchi]

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

I was just thinking about this during the Women's Royal Rumble on Monday morning. I used to think the same but now I'd far rather listen to Vince McMahon call everything "What a manoeuvrer", react excitedly to everything, sell heels as utter cunts and pretend every near fall is the finish than any of this nonsense.

Yup, I want to be sold the story. I really couldn't give a fuck about naming the moves. The moves aren't what's the interesting part (except for good punches).

 

Disagree with Russell being "too straight" though. He's as hammy and fun as all hell, especially when he was on The Pro with PS Hayes and Jimmy Jam. His style is polar opposite of Solie (who I don't dig either).

Edited February 2, 2021 by PowerButchi