How the commentators have changed*

Cole is the second worst, only jbl is worse. Both need to go as far as i am concerned

While i do miss good old jr, wwe needs to work on building new one


Graves and the other guy who did takeover were pretty good

Hi there.

My answers are after your questions.

Cheers.

My preferred team is Corey Graves and Tom Phillips.

So much of this.

I was very anti-Cole up until the Beast in the East event. Seeing him with a bit more freedom really made me rethink my thoughts on the commentary team. Now part of it comes down to the delivery, I don't think Michael Cole can sell those OMG moments like JR could, even ignoring the lines the emotion that comes through JR's voice sounds so much more genuine. But I think if the commentary team was given more space to breathe it wouldn't be as bad. When you think about it doing that job would be rough - having to call shows in real time with heavy directions and full lines coming through the earpiece at the same time.

But yeah, the best commentary right now is on Smackdown with Ranallo. He knows how to make a match matter.

I'd get rid of the three man teams, doesn't work. If they do a brand split I'd re-do the announce teams. RAW, Mauro and I wanna say Zeb, I feel Mauro's passion and Zeb's history with the business they could be good, plus I wanna see Zeb on TV again. SmackDown I'd have Byron and maybe Rich Brennan. He was doing ok on SmackDown last year and hasn't done much since.

I just hate that they don't let Cole call moves and actually call the action and put over the talent and the moves to help build the match. That's why I like Ranallo so much.

1) I used to like Michael Cole as a backstage interviewer, and as an announcer on Sunday Night Heat. Unfortunately, through no fault of his own, he has been thrusted in the role of corporate shill. He is the Tony Schiavone of WWE, and that's not a bad thing. It's just his role. Know who's bad? Josh Matthews, but he's TNA's problem.

2) I think I read it somewhere on this board (or maybe FB) that an announcer's job is to make it so that a blind man can understand the action happening in the ring. Now, I would take that to mean that there's an assumption that a blind man had at one point seen Neville's Red Arrow or Zack Ryder's Rough Ryder or AJ Style's Style Clash etc. etc., and assuming that to be the case, I can safely say nope. Not happening here. I once listened to an entire match while cleaning my room, and didn't even know someone won until his music played. It wasn't until I checked online that I found out the match ended by DQ or something (Memory is fuzzy). Again, part of the problem is there constant shilling of WWE Apps, Trends, and other nonsense.

3) Mauro has found a good blend of being able to commentate and shill. Might be because he adds a breath of fresh air to the product since he's new, but I really enjoy his commentary and his voice. Reminds me a little of Scott Hudson from WCW, who I thought was underrated.

4) Maggle.

5) I often thought it would be cool to watch an entire episode of Raw or Smackdown and go on Periscope and do play by play. However, I fear doing that because it's a hard job. The announcers are lucky that they have notes and are fed lines at certain points. Sometimes the action is so frantic that to call the match move for move would be a tongue twister as you search for different ways to say chinlock and punches in a way that makes it dramatic. They have a hard job, so I try to cut them some slack. (Side note: I think I will try to do a Periscope play by play one night. Just to see if I'm correct with that tongue twister comment. Might be hilarious in the same sense that watching a cat fall down a flight of stairs is hilarious (see Simpsons, Homer Jay when he was taking Polaroids of himself showing sadness until the cat fell down the stairs and he took a Polaroid of himself showing laughter).

I think JR, King (heel) and Mauro would be a cool team.

I really like the new guy from MMA and I loathe the King; he's a disgusting, dirty old man who's time is long over.

I think the rest would be fine if they were told before the show things they need to emphasize and push and then were left alone. I've heard that people actually talk in their ear while they're trying to announce the show.