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The problem mostly lies in the play by play. There are glaring problems In both AEW and WWE.
1. Play by Play commentators try to document every single move.
If you watch any era prior to the modern era, they would sometimes let moves pass and talk about the story. They keep trying to hit their commentator “spots” so to speak
2.Play by Play commentators are made out to be nerdy and less wise and with WWE they’re using Mcmahons tone and cadence.
Look back at the last greatest play by play guys:
Jim Ross: Had extensive knowledge but had southern no nonsense Oklahoma sass, and coolness, he showed off his knowledge in a laid back way while appealing to mainstream
Gorilla Moonson: An actual wrestler, had extensive knowledge but with a no nonsense New York sass & coolness, he showed off his knowledge in a laid back way.
Tony Schivone: Had extensive knowledge but had a south east middle class type of sass and professionalism.
Gordon Solie: East sass, has a New York mainstream sound but bringing it to the south.
Michael Cole during the Attitude era: Mainstream news anchor sound with no nonsense, yet still innocent sounding to relate to the audience(especially when berating a heel)
The one commentator with a glaring problem pre modern era was Vince McMahon in the mid 90s, he was too focused on wrestling moves, constantly screaming what a maneuver or unbelievable, while having his pitch sound like a brute or a drunk where he exaggerates the B sound and goes too low in pitch sounding deep.
This is contrast to Vince McMahon pre mid 90s when he sounded like a typical New York type commentator, talking about stories over moves and etc
The reason I bring this up is because the problem with the commentary today is that it’s mimicking Vince’s commentating of the mid 90s, having that sloppy drunk sound, low pitch focusing on the B sound.
A notable example is Michael Cole, his pitch is completely different from the Attitude and Ruthless aggression era to way the it sounds now.
Tom Philips even more, because he further more than Cole lowers his pitch to focus on the B sound, take for example when they call Sheamus move “10 beats on bohran”, they say it in the same pitch McMahon would say it in.
So in WWE the problem is the use of Mcnahons pitch and cadence.
But back to the main point is compared to prior years, commentators today have this overeagerness where they come off try hard, whereas JR, Solie, Old school Cole, Schiavone or Gorilla would hit you with facts while sounding cool, the modern day commentators sound like super fans with a nasal libertarian tone.
Joey Styles for example was try hard and never resounded with mainstream audiences, he sounded like a super fan and it was compounded more in ECW by the fact that for the majority of his run he was doing it himself.
In conclusion, old school play by play sounded street smart, today they sound book smart. This stems from indys because local wrestling schools give a student who can’t work a shot on the show despite having zero TV experience.
The classic commentators were either successful wrestlers, sports commentators or newscasters prior to play by play.
3. Color Commentators trying to sound wise.
Jerry Lawler, Bobby Heenan, Jesse Ventura, Larry Zybysko, Taz, Don West... they tried to be funny even if they sounded stupid.
One of the biggest influencers and problems in color commentator today is Corey Graves, who tries to sound clever and wise to wink at the IWC so they could can write posts about a wink and nod at a niche.
It therefore sounds sterile, contrived and boring.
The job of a color commentator is to entertain, not wink at a niche while no one else knows what you’re talking about and boring them.
1. Play by Play commentators try to document every single move.
If you watch any era prior to the modern era, they would sometimes let moves pass and talk about the story. They keep trying to hit their commentator “spots” so to speak
2.Play by Play commentators are made out to be nerdy and less wise and with WWE they’re using Mcmahons tone and cadence.
Look back at the last greatest play by play guys:
Jim Ross: Had extensive knowledge but had southern no nonsense Oklahoma sass, and coolness, he showed off his knowledge in a laid back way while appealing to mainstream
Gorilla Moonson: An actual wrestler, had extensive knowledge but with a no nonsense New York sass & coolness, he showed off his knowledge in a laid back way.
Tony Schivone: Had extensive knowledge but had a south east middle class type of sass and professionalism.
Gordon Solie: East sass, has a New York mainstream sound but bringing it to the south.
Michael Cole during the Attitude era: Mainstream news anchor sound with no nonsense, yet still innocent sounding to relate to the audience(especially when berating a heel)
The one commentator with a glaring problem pre modern era was Vince McMahon in the mid 90s, he was too focused on wrestling moves, constantly screaming what a maneuver or unbelievable, while having his pitch sound like a brute or a drunk where he exaggerates the B sound and goes too low in pitch sounding deep.
This is contrast to Vince McMahon pre mid 90s when he sounded like a typical New York type commentator, talking about stories over moves and etc
The reason I bring this up is because the problem with the commentary today is that it’s mimicking Vince’s commentating of the mid 90s, having that sloppy drunk sound, low pitch focusing on the B sound.
A notable example is Michael Cole, his pitch is completely different from the Attitude and Ruthless aggression era to way the it sounds now.
Tom Philips even more, because he further more than Cole lowers his pitch to focus on the B sound, take for example when they call Sheamus move “10 beats on bohran”, they say it in the same pitch McMahon would say it in.
So in WWE the problem is the use of Mcnahons pitch and cadence.
But back to the main point is compared to prior years, commentators today have this overeagerness where they come off try hard, whereas JR, Solie, Old school Cole, Schiavone or Gorilla would hit you with facts while sounding cool, the modern day commentators sound like super fans with a nasal libertarian tone.
Joey Styles for example was try hard and never resounded with mainstream audiences, he sounded like a super fan and it was compounded more in ECW by the fact that for the majority of his run he was doing it himself.
In conclusion, old school play by play sounded street smart, today they sound book smart. This stems from indys because local wrestling schools give a student who can’t work a shot on the show despite having zero TV experience.
The classic commentators were either successful wrestlers, sports commentators or newscasters prior to play by play.
3. Color Commentators trying to sound wise.
Jerry Lawler, Bobby Heenan, Jesse Ventura, Larry Zybysko, Taz, Don West... they tried to be funny even if they sounded stupid.
One of the biggest influencers and problems in color commentator today is Corey Graves, who tries to sound clever and wise to wink at the IWC so they could can write posts about a wink and nod at a niche.
It therefore sounds sterile, contrived and boring.
The job of a color commentator is to entertain, not wink at a niche while no one else knows what you’re talking about and boring them.
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he was voted worst commentator by the wrestling observer lmao so like literally no one likes the dude anymore
