Hi Scott,
Why hasn't Lawler been put out to pasture yet? He has been going through the motions for years and adds nothing to the broadcast. Having some new blood like Regal or Christian would at least make the product feel a little less dated.
Why hasn't Lawler been put out to pasture yet? He has been going through the motions for years and adds nothing to the broadcast. Having some new blood like Regal or Christian would at least make the product feel a little less dated.
There is a million zillion things wrong with the announcing, and Lawler phoning in his commentary is the least of them. Besides, we'd just get some other poor bastard who then had to listen to all of Vince's crazy yelling in his ear if Lawler stepped down. JBL is a much bigger problem at this point, I think, as he's gone from interesting color guy to Vince's ventriloquist dummy, mindlessly yelling about how much fun we're all having and how when they say "Us-" we say "-O". They already told us that during their entrance! That's not new information in the least!
I was a fan of Albert during his NXT run. he started getting really fun on color.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, Crow Sting would be a better color guy than Lawler and/or JBL., and would probably accurately reflect the way we feel about the product, too.
ReplyDeleteAnother announcer email? Just what we need!
ReplyDeleteWhat would be the worst that could happen to Lawler or JBL if they call the show their way? I doubt an in-ring burial or humiliation would be in order. They're both considerably rich anyway, so I doubt they'd be job scared.
ReplyDeleteYou might remember earlier this year when an unedited Smackdown came out and you could hear Cole having to redo audio because certain words aren't there. It's unreal how micromanaged the shows are and how much the announcers have to tweak their words. It really would be interesting to hear them on their own.
ReplyDeleteThat would make for an enjoyable PPV moment,
ReplyDeleteCole: "Remember, the only way to win this match is by pinfall--"
JBL: "Jesus, Vince, shut the fuck up; we get the damn point!"
Needless to say, Alex Riley would soon be informing us that we do, indeed, have a flying Uso.
I'll reiterate the point I made before. Imagine if Gorilla was talking about Terminator 2 rather than focusing on the match at hand:
ReplyDeleteWarrior splashes Hogan.
Gorilla: "HASTA LA VISTA BABY! YOU'RE TERMINATED FUCKER!"
Heenan: "Are you just quoting movies now Monsoon?"
Gorilla: "WILL YOU STOP!"
Christian would be great and Corey Graves is already showing promise but as with most things, Vince is the real problem.
ReplyDeleteQuiet maggle, the announce team is just fine.
ReplyDeleteWho'd be crazy enough to give a vigilante a live mic?!
ReplyDeleteIf it ain't Jim Ross then it ain't worth listening to.
ReplyDeleteI feel like every announcer (even Michael Cole) starts off good, until they inevitably succumb to Vince/Dunn/whomever screaming in their ear telling them what to say. Jim Ross being the only real exception.
ReplyDeleteFormer stars like Foley or Austin would be fucking amazing to have on commentary, but I doubt any of them are willing to put up with that shit.
I was wondering what to say when they said "Us-"
ReplyDeleteListening to old school shows like when Jesse and Bobby the brain would do commentary they would say some funny shit that would even add to bad matches. Lawler was good like that too until after the attitude era. Now I kinda tune out all of them.
ReplyDeleteUm......
ReplyDeleteFoley had a spell on colour commentary on Smackdown, he hated Vince's screaming into the earpiece though, I think it led to him leaving (or at least not staying on with) WWE..
ReplyDeleteJBL needs a face announcer that can believably call him on his shit.
ReplyDeleteehh, never a big fan of Lawler, but he was atleast tolerable when he played a complete heel before the attitude era. Once he went puppies crazy, he was done. Heyman was such a breath of fresh air in 2001, and seemingly not having Vince yell in his ear.
ReplyDeleteYes I agree. Heyman was good after Lawler left. Lawler became repetitive with the dirty old man act.
ReplyDeletedon callis
ReplyDeleteAgreed on JBL. It's scary how much he, alone, brings down the tolerability of the program.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite things to do is imagine that's Vince in JBL's ear screaming, "Reference the Simpson Brothers, God Dammit! Shaun and Steve, their names were Shaun and Steve!! Make sure you mention they were from South Africa or you're fired!!!"
ReplyDeleteGive him all he has? Who wrote that?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if The Juggernaut Roman Big Dog Reigns would like that very much.
ReplyDeleteBiggest problem with the announcers is that they are like your dad when you are 14. If your dad thought something was hip or cool, you would immediately turn against it. So if the announcers are hyping that adam rose with his entourage or the new day are hip and cool, they are just burying them immediately.
ReplyDeleteHe went to TNA soon after he left.
ReplyDeleteI mean, part of me liking the heels is Cole's limp-wristed condemnations of their actions. Fuck you Cole, I'll root for Rollins because I don't want to have anything in common with you.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the minority, but I find certain inappropriately JBLisms (rapping along with R-Truth, hating the bunny) entertaining. But Jesus the team gets insufferable. It would be one thing if they did the goofy shit in moderation but they don't.
ReplyDeleteActually, delusional old man Jerry Lawler would be all kinds of awesome. Just handcuff him in front of Gran Torino for 24 hours and tell him to copy that. Bring in Superstar Bill Dundee as a sidekick and just have them crap all over everything.
ReplyDeleteThe announcers veer from calling a match "an all time classic" to complety burying or ignoring a match with no middle ground. The only time they ever actually talk about what's happening in the ring is when they repeat some talking point (that's his hurt arm!!!) over and over. They never really call a match. And everybody hates it except Vince.
ReplyDeleteThey can't use pronouns or call it a belt.
ReplyDeleteI miss Cole and Tazz, they definitely sounded like they had much less Vince interference than today and they called the fucking match. I always liked the audience surrogate-to-seasoned wrestler dynamic they had on their calls, like Cole asking Tazz to describe how such-and-such hold affects a guy in the ring physically.
ReplyDeleteThe one they changed on Smackdown was Summer Rae and Fandango making out in the ring. Cole had to change it to kissing. I mean....who is even going to think about that and possibly be offended by it/care about it?
ReplyDeleteTheir penchant for calling any RAW match going over 15 minutes a "classic" is just inane.
ReplyDeleteVince is just....in his weird little closed-off bubble, he just doesn't seem like a real fucking human. The story that always kills me was when they were pitching the Big Show poisoned burrito thing during the Eddie feud and Vince is all WHAT THE HELL IS A BURRITO?!, never knowing that he often ate burritos himself during lunch.
ReplyDeleteKind of weird that of all people, Lawler gets the Gorilla Monsoon lifetime employment contract.
ReplyDeleteRepeat. He. Went. To. TNA. Yep, it's a problem.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I'm concerned, Lawler is the lesser of three evils. He's also the only one that has any (kayfabe) credibility left or is able to elicit any empathy from the crowd (if an announcer is going to get beaten up to get a heel heat, it's got to be Lawler). Cole was ruined (by no fault of his own) by the unbearable heel run that was thrust upon him. Truth be told, like a lot of WWE's woes, the issues w/ announcing are a direct result of a lunatic screaming in to the commentators' ear pieces.
ReplyDeleteEverything is too overproduced. End of story.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually for the announcers not using pronouns.
ReplyDeleteThere has never been a time that I did not find The King annoying on commentary. I was elated when he quit over The Kat and Paul E. stepped in to replace him. Paul E. and J.R. were the best team this company has had in over 20 years.
ReplyDelete