Why having a strong announce team is the most important thing in wrestling

Yesterday, I wrote a recap column about all the wrestling shows I watched, especially AEW Collision. After finishing it and actually reading it back, I thought it was time for me to write this column. I’ve wanted to do it for a while but never felt it was the right moment. However, with the whole WON Awards controversy over the Worst Commentator award and my own experience watching AEW last weekend, I decided to write this now.

When you look at the history of wrestling or sports in general, the one thing that always stands out is who is calling the action. From hockey to baseball to boxing and MMA, the commentary team is crucial because their job is to sell the action to the fans and make what they’re watching exciting.

Let’s focus more on wrestling. When you think about great play-by-play announcers, you think of Jim Ross, Lance Russell, Gorilla Monsoon, and Gordon Solie. I would even add Vince McMahon, in his own way, to that mix. What made them so good at their jobs was that they had strong color commentators to complement them. Jim Ross had multiple partners throughout his career who helped elevate him, but he was at his best with Jerry Lawler because they knew how to elevate each other. Ross was the straight man, and Lawler was the comedic foil.

Vince had Jesse Ventura, Gorilla had Bobby Heenan, and so on. The point is, those guys knew what their jobs were: to sell the product and make fans excited enough to pay money to see the show live and buy merchandise.

Now let’s move to today’s product. The reason Michael Cole has lasted as long as he has as a play-by-play announcer is that he’s had many strong partners over the years. Even when he was difficult to listen to—mostly because of Vince micromanaging him—he was still able to sell the product, which is what mattered most.

You look at TNA’s announce team of Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt. These guys have great chemistry and know how to sell the TNA product, which is why casual fans seem to be gravitating toward TNA right now over other promotions.

In WWE, you have Cole and Corey Graves on Raw, Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett on SmackDown, which is a strong team, and Vic Joseph and Booker T on NXT. While I’m not a big fan of Booker’s style—I did name him my worst commentator in my year-end column—he still helps Joseph stand out.

In AEW, that’s been one of their biggest weaknesses since almost the beginning. They’ve had some good commentary teams, like Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness, and Ian Riccaboni with McGuinness. But for the most part, they’ve either had bloated three-man (or larger) teams or teams that seem more focused on being fanboys than actually selling the product to casual viewers.

Like I mentioned in my last column, my biggest issue with Collision last Saturday wasn’t the in-ring action, because the matches were really good. It was the way Schiavone and Excalibur called the action. Schiavone, who was one of my favorite play-by-play announcers in the ’90s, was all over the place and seemed more focused on being over the top and constantly shouting than actually calling the match. Excalibur, meanwhile, didn’t seem comfortable as a color commentator and often felt like he was stepping into Schiavone’s role and trying to call the action as well. That made it difficult for a newer viewer like me to really connect with the product.

In the end, you can have the best product in the world, but if you don’t have a strong commentary team to sell it, you might as well forget about growing your audience. The commentary team is the first line of defense for any TV product. They’re the voices fans hear first, and they’re responsible for selling that product. If fans find them annoying, they’ll change the channel and watch something else. We’ve seen that in the past with WWE, and we may be seeing it now with AEW.

While I know the hardcore AEW fanbase isn’t going to criticize anyone on the announce team because they tend to live in their own bubble, for the rest of us, I think this is the company’s biggest issue right now and the main thing they need to fix. Personally, I’ve heard good things about Bryan Danielson as a color commentator, so maybe pairing him with Schiavone on the main show could help. They could also bring back Ian Riccaboni with Nigel McGuinness for Collision and move on from Excalibur, who, in my view, doesn’t add much and makes the presentation feel too indie.