WWE Announces PERMANENT Changes to Commentary Teams for RAW AND Smackdown

[Crippler]

Turns out that adding Booker T to Monday night's Raw broadcast wasn't a one week deal due to Jerry Lawler's illness.

The permanent Raw team, WWE has announced, will be Michael Cole, JBL and Booker.

Lawler isn't gone, though, as he'll be moving to Thursday nights to be a permanent fixture on Smackdown along with Cole and Byron Saxton.

Pay-per-view (PPV) broadcasts will be manned with the old Raw team of Cole, King and JBL.

Here's the press release:


WWE® ANNOUNCES NEW BROADCAST TEAMS AS A PART OF SMACKDOWN®'S MOVE TO THURSDAY NIGHTS

STAMFORD, CONN., January 8, 2015 - As part of WWE SmackDown's move next week to Thursday nights at 8 PM on Syfy, WWE has announced changes to the broadcast teams for its flagship programs Monday Night Raw® and WWE SmackDown. Starting Monday, January 12, Michael Cole, Booker T® and John "Bradshaw" Layfield® will handle play-by-play and color commentary on Raw. Michael Cole, Jerry "The King" Lawler® and Byron SaxtonTM will be the hosts for SmackDown when it debuts next Thursday at 8 PM on Syfy.

The broadcast team for WWE pay-per-view events will continue to be Michael Cole, Jerry "The King" Lawler and John "Bradshaw" Layfield.

Michael Cole has been the voice of WWE for more than 15 years, calling all of the action on Raw, SmackDown and WWE pay-per-view events. Booker T is a WWE Hall of Famer, a multi-time World Heavyweight Champion, and recent panelist on the Raw pre-and-post shows on WWE Network. John "Bradshaw" Layfield is a former World Heavyweight Champion and a frequent guest contributor on the Fox News Channel. Jerry "The King" Lawler is a WWE Hall of Famer, and a mainstay at ringside, bringing his unique form of color commentary to WWE fans for more than 20 years. Byron Saxton is a former ECW® and NXT® broadcaster, and most recently was a reporter for Raw and SmackDown.

http://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe-sm...eals-new-announce-teams-for-raw-and-smackdown

 

[AZUCAR!]

Good. I hate Lawler nowadays. I hardly watch SD too, so i'll only have to put up with him on PPV's.

 

[Dale]

So I don't have to hear Lawler anymore and his awful, awful jokes? Fuck yeah

Byron Saxton fucking sucks though.

 

[SAIYANS]

King is the original voice of Thursday night SmackDown. Before the brand split he had announced more SDs than Cole or JR. A great way to make the show seem more special is put him on it

 

[Deezy]

So they kick the white guy from Smackdown and added Byron? 2 white guys and a PHX team for both shows.

Well atleast my Mondays wont have any "he got them Krispy Kreme eyes" or lame jokes.

Now the parents of Memphis will have to patrol playgrounds on Mondays now that Lawler won't be accounted for on Mondays.

 

[Keith]

Booker is a step up from the King, although I did find some of his past annoncing work to be clitche. The banter between him and the Heel version of Cole were the highlights IMO.

 

[PHX]

Not a bad change at all but I agree about not being a fan of Byron on commentary. Really wish they would have picked someone else for that spot.

 

[Chris]

I guess I'm in the minority here but I don't mind Byron as an announcer. He's definitely not anything special, but I think he does the job good enough

 

[Twitchy]

HULK HOGAN, WE COMIN FOR YOU NI$$A

 

[Defiant]

More of Booker T's baffling commentary is always a good thing. Jerry is relegated to Smackdown and Saxton moves up to SD now means we are inches closer to a tolerable broadcast team.

 

[Keith]

Having watched last weeks raw I see that Booker is as bad on commentary as always, no scrub that he is even worset:

BTW who is the heel supposed to be on that team? Assumed it was JBL but then his involvement with the NWO segment throws that idea away.

 

[Deezy]

Fuck that outdated heel announcer shit...leave it with Gorilla and Heenan. Commentary is just guys watching a show and. Giving a few incites to the action.

Watch any real sports program and it's the same shit. This isn't radio where Howard Cosell paints a picture of everything. We can see it on TV.

I love how people say McMahon is out of touch, but when he tries something new, they piss and moan about changing something that worked 30 years ago.

 

[Dale]

I don't see how ANYONE can be worse than Lawler, that guy is so far over the hill it's a joke.

 

[Keith]

Fuck that outdated heel announcer shit...leave it with Gorilla and Heenan. Commentary is just guys watching a show and. Giving a few incites to the action.

Watch any real sports program and it's the same shit. This isn't radio where Howard Cosell paints a picture of everything. We can see it on TV.

I love how people say McMahon is out of touch, but when he tries something new, they piss and moan about changing something that worked 30 years ago.

Well he's not trying anything new the anti-hero thing was first used about 20 years ago. And I was asking a question not knocking him.

Dale Booker is not worse than the King no, but then that isn't saying much really.

 

[Deezy]

Well he's not trying anything new the anti-hero thing was first used about 20 years ago. And I was asking a question not knocking him.

Dale Booker is not worse than the King no, but then that isn't saying much really.

JBL was never a clear heel on commentary, those days are over. He is just JBL reacting to the show anyway you or I would. He sides with the authority because he is a corporate kiss ass. He doesn't like Ascension because they were claiming to he better than guys he knew.

That's the reality era. They react the way we do online.