[BRITLAND]

Brad Gilmore, Booker T's podcast co-host, revealed on Twitter that Booker T will be doing commentary on RAW for the rest of the summer. Booker T was originally scheduled to only do commentary for six weeks while David Otunga was away filming a movie. Otunga will reportedly be returning to WWE as part of the Extreme Rules Kickoff panel with Renee Young and Peter Rosenberg.

https://twitter.com/bradgilmore/sta...&ref_url=http://nodq.com/news/497987841.shtml

Maybe WWE realised Otunga isn't up to the job? :booklel

 

[The Tempest]

Good. I don't watch KickOffs anymore and I'm glad he's staying away.

 

[Donnie]

PURRRRRRFECT :book

 

[ellthom]

There is a god!

 

[The5star_Kid]

Booker T can't even speak English.

 

[The Wood]

The commentary team on RAW should just be Mauro Ranallo & Corey Graves, provided that Mauro wants to return. Tom Phillips & JBL can do SmackDown. Michael Cole can move into whatever backstage role he's been groomed for.

 

[All Petite Wrestling]

Maybe Otunga could be good. He wasn't terrible on SmackDown so I'd give him a shot on raw. But, although not directly said, if WWE is scared to start him why bother trading him initially? Is there that much conflict and disagreement in WWE?

 

[Even Flow]

Good.

Keep Otunga off Raw.

 

[JafarMustDie]

Otunga should wrestle again. Why did he even stop? I loved his theme.

 

[Limitless]

Not big on Booker T on commentary but he is far better than Otunga. So this is good. I never watch the kickoffs.

 

[Bret Hart]

Otunga has too much of a generic voice

 

[Jonasolsson96]

Honestly I'm not getting why they dont have Regal announce on the mainroster. He,s by far the best commentator in wwe. Regal and Graves on raw. Philips and Cole on Smackdown. Get rid of Bradshaw and Booker

 

[TylerBreezeFan]

I'll never understand their desire for three man announce teams. Just give me Graves and Cole on RAW and Phillips and JBL on SDL. I guess I'll still take Booker over Otunga, if for no other reason than the fact Booker is the more entertaining of the two.

 

[The Wood]

Jim Ross should still be calling WWE PPVs. He could do the RAW ones and Mauro could do the SmackDown ones. You need announcers who can use their emotion to separate it from a regular television show.

 

[THE MAN.THE MYTH.THE SHIV.THE END.]

Booker sucks to a much lesser degree than Otunga, so this is somewhat good news.

 

[RCSheppy]

Booker T is fucking annoying. He just yells and 95% of the time i have no idea what the hell he's actually saying.

 

[starsfan24]

Is Booker at least gonna be on the panel to update who is looking jacked? Man I hope so.

 

[Mra22]

The commentary team on RAW should just be Mauro Ranallo & Corey Graves, provided that Mauro wants to return. Tom Phillips & JBL can do SmackDown. Michael Cole can move into whatever backstage role he's been groomed for.

Please no, Ranallo is trash

 

[Architect-Rollins]

I mean both Booker and Otunga can peace out for all I care. Both are terrible at commentary.

 

[blackholeson]

This company can't even figure out how to make Raw seem like a big deal. For those of you who watch Monday Night Football should understand where I am coming from. Even if you don't like the teams playing it's still presented as if you should care and as if all those games air great teams, which we know they don't. Yet, it's still this big game atmosphere that you just can't write down on paper. However, you can see it live just like Raw.

The WWE needs to figure a few things out before they realize that they have had the wrong people sitting ringside calling matches for years upon years. Heenan and Monsoon were the last great pairing. Please don't argue otherwise. Those two were brilliant entertainment and their work was timeless. Before I get to any of that I think it's important to talk about the big stage feel that Raw lacks in general.

First, the music. Are the people who run music productions high on crack? Do they know how to market to the folks actually buying the tickets, you know the adults who work for a living. I swear the WWE market team is lost and they have no clue that the music they should be using has to be focused on a a particular age demographic. The kids aren't buying anything. In fact the half of the viewing audience are adult males and a smaller percentage of adult females.

Market teams for other companies play music that would have be relevant to the age demographic that it is trying to sell it's vehicle to. WWE market team I present to you the perfect theme for Monday Night Raw. It's a song called Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N' Roses. It's the perfect song for this show even though it's not the Raw we knew in the mid and late 90's. With that said you can't get a more raw theme than this. It is the generation that is financially supporting the WWE today. It's not some out of touch new age shit that only broke ass teens and younger kids listen to.

The WWE is on the line of boring in terms of presentation much similar to Major League Baseball and Professional Golf. That's bad. Nothing against Jim Ross, The King, JBL, or anyone else, but seriously they're the not the first people that come to mind when it comes to wrestling. In fact, most people don't care, but those that have the slightest clue are going to at best remember Hulk Hogan, possibly Ric Flair, and perhaps even Stone Cold Steve Austin. Now of course with wrestling fans this is a real lineup. You don't need all three sitting there doing color commentary.

Noticed I said Hogan, Flair and Austin? Hogan has to be one of the first people that fans new, old, and current see. I'm not talking over the top Hulkamania either. We need someone who knows how to run the mic and capture the audience. He can do that and was doing it with the most over the top and cheesy face gimmick of all time, brother. I think people seeing the professional side where he is calling matches, telling stories, and basically carrying the show with another great legend on the mic.

I have become a huge fan of Steve Austin. What he says on his podcast about certain stars has been spot on. I would love to hear him say this as a color commentator. Austin on Color Commentary would be amazing because out of character he sounds legit and I can understand him when he speaks. He looks the part as well. People will remember him and at least they'll take him seriously because he can share his side of the business as well.

Austin and Hogan are two of the biggest names in the business ever. Both were geniuses who knew how to sell their character. They'll do the same thing sitting ringside. Imagine the kayfabe "rivalry" between the two men sitting ringside calling matches. You have to have to contrasting, but yet balanced names to make up a successful wrestling color commentary team, imo.

Austin and Hogan make the most sense. Both were huge draws and changed the industry. However, from a character standpoint you had two totally different men altogether. Allowing two of the greatest sit ringside and figure out how they're going to put talent over would be an amazing thing to see. From the sounds of it I would love to see, hear Austin become this generations Jim Ross, but with that Rattlesnake bite to it all. I would expect Hogan to blow us all away with his expertise in wrestling in general, moves, holds, submissions, who invented them, who created the move and why? All that trivial shit and we come to find out that good ole Terry Bollea is a true wrestling nerd. Even if that's not true, make it all up, it's entertainment.

I did say Flair and I honestly think Flair serves a role. Ric Flair should conduct all backstage interviews and in ring live interviews. Show off his mic work and become the person asking all the hard questions. Which ironically enough he did that his whole career when feuding with "Face" talent and he was playing the heel. Flair given a small role like this would eliminate all these no name hacks who interview backstage anyhow. Which brings me to my next issue. The backstage interviews.

I think the WWE really lost touch with how to set these up. They need to go a lot further than they ever have. Remember this is sports entertainment. Ric Flair is a limousine riding, jet flying, you know the rest. I think he should have personal one on one interviews riding in his kayfabe personal limousine. That would classify as a "back stage" interview because it's not held in the ring. Get my point? Another example would be Ric Flair having a stage, or set up much similar to the Tonight Show.

The WWE used to do this. This theme with a stage already set up somewhere in the arena, usually live with the audience. I say back stage and not live with the audience. The in ring interviews should be rare and only for big time feuds. Flair should have this "retro setup" with a desk, a band and back up singer. Flair would be dressed like he used to dress in the 80's. Bring back that 80's glow to the presentation, make it feel like a real throw back. Interview the stars after matches and possibly even prior to matches. It doesn't have to be a pre match, or post matches interviewee at all. I would love to see Jimmy Hart in that live band. Lol.