The General Wrestling Thread

[EmpireWF]

Watching a repeat of WWE Superstars...

Josh Matthews is decent as always but I've never heard of this Scott Stanford dude.

...sounds like if you took a dude from a baseball commentator team and told him to do a wrestling broadcast.

Stanford is a local NBC sports reporter who WWE hired a while back. Didn't know they had him doing actual commentary.

[JayDizzle]

Stanford is a local NBC sports reporter who WWE hired a while back. Didn't know they had him doing actual commentary.

What's great about it is there's no face/heel overtone in his voice.

He's just a dude calling a match, making references and asking questions for his broadcast partner.

No handing chairs to wrestlers, no costing people title matches... just calling what's on the monitor.

[dave]

What's great about it is there's no face/heel overtone in his voice.

He's just a dude calling a match, making references and asking questions for his broadcast partner.

No handing chairs to wrestlers, no costing people title matches... just calling what's on the monitor.

I don't know why people are dogging Michael Cole. He's been fucking hilarious throughout this storyline.
I loved at the Rumble when Lawler asked him if The Miz had a weakness and Cole answered "his kindness."
I literally fell off my couch laughing.
Cole is doing what he's asked to do. And him consistently calling Bryan Danielson a nerd is so stupid, it's funny.

How is Cole any different than Danny Davis the referee in the 80s.

It is still entertainment.

I think Cole is doing a good job in this storyline ... and I like how The Miz pretty much disregards him.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I don't know why people are dogging Michael Cole. He's been fucking hilarious throughout this storyline.
I loved at the Rumble when Lawler asked him if The Miz had a weakness and Cole answered "his kindness."
I literally fell off my couch laughing.
Cole is doing what he's asked to do. And him consistently calling Bryan Danielson a nerd is so stupid, it's funny.

How is Cole any different than Danny Davis the referee in the 80s.

It is still entertainment.

I think Cole is doing a good job in this storyline ... and I like how The Miz pretty much disregards him.

While Cole may be entertaining, the primary job of the lead announcer of a wrestling show is to get the storylines over, and ultimately sell the product. The viewers have to be able to "trust" what the announcer is saying, in order for the announcer to truly get the storylines over and sell PPV's/tickets/merch/whatever.

A heel lead announcer is counter productive in this regard. By Cole playing a heel role and ripping on the babyfaces, he fails to get the babyfaces over. Cole putting over The Miz makes fans think The Miz is just a geek like Cole.

Eventually, Cole will either wrestle Lawler, or be involved in a PPV match of some type as a ref or manager. Otherwise, what is the point? And after the angle plays itself out and runs it's course, what do they do then? They will have boxed themselves into a corner. Cole can not go back into normal babyface announcer mode, because people will be confused and not believe him when he tries to put over the babyfaces.

It's a fucking mess. The only way this works, is if Cole stays a heel, and they have a new babyface announcer waiting to take over. Which they don't, because they don;t think that far ahead in 2011.

[dave]

While Cole may be entertaining, the primary job of the lead announcer of a wrestling show is to get the storylines over, and ultimately sell the product. The viewers have to be able to "trust" what the announcer is saying, in order for the announcer to truly get the storylines over and sell PPV's/tickets/merch/whatever.

A heel lead announcer is counter productive in this regard. By Cole playing a heel role and ripping on the babyfaces, he fails to get the babyfaces over. Cole putting over The Miz makes fans think The Miz is just a geek like Cole.

Eventually, Cole will either wrestle Lawler, or be involved in a PPV match of some type as a ref or manager. Otherwise, what is the point? And after the angle plays itself out and runs it's course, what do they do then? They will have boxed themselves into a corner. Cole can not go back into normal babyface announcer mode, because people will be confused and not believe him when he tries to put over the babyfaces.

It's a fucking mess. The only way this works, is if Cole stays a heel, and they have a new babyface announcer waiting to take over. Which they don't, because they don;t think that far ahead in 2011.

I won't pretend to be as big a pro wrestling fan as you Warner ... but I have been a fan for way too damn long. I guess I just don't take it that seriously.
I don't expect announcers to be objective or professional.
Back to the days when Jesse Ventura was cheering for bad guys, I always considered announcers and colour guys part of the entertainment.
The WWE has just reversed it - Lawler is the good guy, Cole the bad guy.
And today's product is so different from the 80s when there were so fewer PPVs and main event matches.
Personally, as you already know, I preferred the days of 4 PPVs a year and squash matches on Saturday mornings (or Saturday night on TBS).

WWE does everything in its power to keep people from actually buying PPVs.

It's sad that the two biggest heat drawers in the WWE are Cole and Vickie Guerrero.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I won't pretend to be as big a pro wrestling fan as you Warner ... but I have been a fan for way too damn long. I guess I just don't take it that seriously.
I don't expect announcers to be objective or professional.
Back to the days when Jesse Ventura was cheering for bad guys, I always considered announcers and colour guys part of the entertainment.
The WWE has just reversed it - Lawler is the good guy, Cole the bad guy.
And today's product is so different from the 80s when there were so fewer PPVs and main event matches.
Personally, as you already know, I preferred the days of 4 PPVs a year and squash matches on Saturday mornings (or Saturday night on TBS).

WWE does everything in its power to keep people from actually buying PPVs.

It's sad that the two biggest heat drawers in the WWE are Cole and Vickie Guerrero.

I'm not saying that the Cole gimmick isnt working (for now). What i'm saying, is what is the exit strategy? I'm not sure they have one. Can the heel lead announcer work long term? It's never been tried, but i'd lead towards no.

[dave]

I'm not saying that the Cole gimmick isnt working (for now). What i'm saying, is what is the exit strategy? I'm not sure they have one. Can the heel lead announcer work long term? It's never been tried, but i'd lead towards no.

Meh.
Randy Orton punted a woman in the head (Stephanie McMahon) and now little kids love him.
Wrestling fans have the memory of an elephant ... not you, just most.

Oh wait, there's my elephant memory ... he just kissed her after punting her husband.

[EmpireWF]

I don't know why people are dogging Michael Cole. He's been fucking hilarious throughout this storyline.
I loved at the Rumble when Lawler asked him if The Miz had a weakness and Cole answered "his kindness."
I literally fell off my couch laughing.
Cole is doing what he's asked to do. And him consistently calling Bryan Danielson a nerd is so stupid, it's funny.

How is Cole any different than Danny Davis the referee in the 80s.

It is still entertainment.

I think Cole is doing a good job in this storyline ... and I like how The Miz pretty much disregards him.

Cole is doing a good job of being a complete dick and getting over by saying so many obnoxious things.

However, it's stupid in the big picture because what does it accomplish? While Cole is being an uberheel, he's also asked to get over all the other storylines on the show. Obviously, his credibility is shot because of his angle.

The end game we all assume is him getting his ass kicked by Lawler at Wrestlemania.

Then what?

The night after, he'll still be there calling the show beside Lawler and we'll still have to take Cole seriously (although it's impossible) when he's selling us the rest of the show.

[dave]

Cole is doing a good job of being a complete dick and getting over by saying so many obnoxious things.

However, it's stupid in the big picture because what does it accomplish? While Cole is being an uberheel, he's also asked to get over all the other storylines on the show. Obviously, his credibility is shot because of his angle.

The end game we all assume is him getting his ass kicked by Lawler at Wrestlemania.

Then what?

The night after, he'll still be there calling the show beside Lawler and we'll still have to take Cole seriously (although it's impossible) when he's selling us the rest of the show.

In a year, most people will forget Cole was ever a heel.
And, frankly, it's not like anyone liked Cole anyway.

[EmpireWF]

Is anyone else as bored of Randy Orton as I am?

Everything he does makes me yawn. His stupid shtick of moving slowly, slapping the mat, his monotone style on the mic...unfortunately, we'll see him beat Punk at Mania...

on the bright side, Punk's promos should be fun and in the end, it is a fresh match-up.

[dave]

Is anyone else as bored of Randy Orton as I am?

Everything he does makes me yawn. His stupid shtick of moving slowly, slapping the mat, his monotone style on the mic...unfortunately, we'll see him beat Punk at Mania...

on the bright side, Punk's promos should be fun and in the end, it is a fresh match-up.

Orton has the look McMahon (an obvious homosexual) likes.
It doesn't matter what fans want.

[SHOGUN]

Is anyone else as bored of Randy Orton as I am?

Everything he does makes me yawn. His stupid shtick of moving slowly, slapping the mat, his monotone style on the mic...unfortunately, we'll see him beat Punk at Mania...

on the bright side, Punk's promos should be fun and in the end, it is a fresh match-up.

Absolutely. I still like him because he's a local guy, but holy shit is homeboy dry.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I was sick of Orton years ago.

He brings literally nothing to the table. Robotic promos. Boring worker. And has now failed twice to get over huge as the next big babyface.

I just don't get it.

He was most entertaining as the smarmy guy with the bad Bama Bangs haircut back in 2005 (or whenever it was), when he did the "Get Well Randy" gimmick when he broke his arm.

[Cody]

Does anyone notice all TNA pretty much is old WWE superstars?

[Warner2BruceTD]

Does anyone notice all TNA pretty much is old WWE superstars?

You don't say?

Exhibit A, as to why TNA can not (and likely never will) gain any traction.

People see them as second rate, people want something new.