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Commentary question for blog

Do you think commentary would be better if they were not given the results of the matches before they happened? 

They tried that.  It was called "WCW Nitro."  Didn't work out well for anyone involved.  

Comments

  1. To be genuinely shocked sounds good if you in a booking meeting and throwing out ideas but the execution is bad.\



    At least it was for Nitro.


    I mean Schiavone isnt JR, so who knows if it could have worked on the WWF program during the same time.

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  2. I'll give the easy and obvious answer, commentary works best when the commentary team isn't yelled in their ear constantly, actually understand wrestling and the psychology related to it and most importantly, they put over the wrestlers and the angles properly. For the most part, the current team fails and I think that's mostly because of Vince.

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  3. Satan, formerly WankerMay 4, 2013 at 12:16 AM

    Replace the current announce teams with Japanese people who don't speak English.

    See, 'cause... Japanese wrestling is better and... my solution would be to replicate their comme- let's move on.

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  4. I remember JR once saying he liked as little information as possible. Because he felt he gave a more realistic call if he didn't know too much.

    I think it could work if you had the right people doing it. Of course there may be certain things you want to get over but otherwise let the announcers do their job. No one told Gorilla to call Bret "The Excellence of Execution" and thats why it worked so well. Cause it was based on something real. Bret was a great wrestler and Gorilla noticed that.

    As flair4dagold said all the Vince yelling in people's ears is good for no one.

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  5. Who's side is he on???

    ...seriously, I have no clue...

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  6. "Say it was vintage Sheamus, Cole! SAY IT!!!"

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  7. I'd vote no, just because at the end of the day, the announcers are there to enhance the action and the overall "story." If they don't know the ending beforehand, they can't work to that end. For instance, since so many WWE faces act like heelish jerks anyways, it would be hard for announcers to sell a heel turn.

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  8. cabspaintedyellowMay 4, 2013 at 1:16 AM

    WWE posted a video about the top ten moments where the Streak almost ended, and in 60% of the clips, Michael Cole was shouting "THIS IS IT! THE STREAK IS OVER! THE STREAK IS---Two count!"

    I feel like if he didn't know the finish, he wouldn't ruin a nearfall by selling it as a formality. I don't think it's his fault, but more how he's produced. However, I still wish announcers knew a bit less than they did, given the risk of ruining a potentially awesome moment via "commentary spoilers" (which, granted, they're only spoiling something two seconds ahead of time, but I can't count how many moments would have been improved if Cole, or even Vince back in his heyday, since it WAS his primary commentary style, would have just shut up about THIS BEING IT!).

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  9. "I think that's mostly because of Vince."

    You could say this about most of WWE's faults these days.

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  10. Honestly, I love Japanese commentary. It's easy to understand the names and most of the moves, and just listen to their emotion.

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  11. the problem with Nitro wasn't that they didn't know finishes, it was that they didn't get to see backstage segments. Genuine surprise is good. give the guys what and who you want to get over and let them call the match without knowing every twist and turn, including the finish.

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  12. They were given the results of Raw matches before they happened.

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  13. Taz and Cole used to do this on SmackDown and I thought it worked great. Most notable example is their response to the ring breaking from the Show/Lesnar superplex.

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  14. I would love to see them do something like on the website or the mobile app where you could have alternate commentary for Raws and PPVs with, say, Joey Styles and Matt Striker, and have them do a more old school style commentary with in depth analysis and calling all the moves properly. I doubt they'd ever do it but it'd be fun nonetheless.

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  15. "As flair4dagold said all the Vince yelling in people's ears is good for no one."

    Another strongly agree here. Ever since I heard of the phenomenon it has become something I often consider when I'm watching. That crazy grandpa Vince is hovering over their shoulders constantly, ready to reprimand any perceived slip up and/or prompting them to tow the company line constantly.



    Each announcer seems to deal with it differently, too. At least in my imaginings. For example I imagine JBL does his sports references and often questions the onscreen events at a basic level. Or when he is arguing with Cole I sometimes wonder if he is really arguing with Vince.

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  16. Styles and Striker as a commentary team given more freedom would be awesome. As long as Joey stayed away from his "oh my god" crutch for the most part.

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