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113 Posts
Firstly , I think the essential three ingredients for a great match are:
1. Obviously, first you need two skilled wrestlers that know what they are doing and can tell a good story in the ring.
2. A crowd that isn't dead, one that is basically loud, passionate, marking out.
3. A great announce team that elevates everything to the next level.
The third one is what I want to discuss. What, for you, makes for a great wrestling announcer?
Here's my list.
1. Distinct voice. This one is pretty simple. I find guys like Cole, Grisham, and Striker to not be so entertaining because they have very ordinary, bland, plain white guy voices. I think a great announcer needs a very distinct tone, vocal character, accent, whatever, something that just makes them instantly recognizable and easy to listen to. When JR talks, or Ventura, or McMahon, or old heel Lawler talked, you always knew who it was. They all had distinct voices. Now, most of these dudes are interchangeable drones.
2. The announcer should have strong opinions, and blatantly pick a side. They need to pick an alignment and stick to it. I hate how you have all these tweener announcers, it doesn't work for me. And every show should have one heel and one face commentator. Each one should argue and debate the merits of the feud/wrestlers, and believe he's right. I always find it entertaining when the announcers argue amongst themselves, and/or are openly supportive of a particular wrestler. As much as it kills me to say it, I do like how Cole is an unabashed Miz fan. This isn't the NFL, the announcers have no need to be impartial, so let them be over-the-top biased.
3. Passion. This is so simple, but almost all the guys now don't have it. Back in the day, if Austin or somebody did something cool, the announcers would go apeshit and almost have a heart attack, they were that pumped up. That over the top enthusiasm was so infectious you couldn't help but get excited with them. Now, even the biggest events only elicit weakass responses from the announcers. A blah reaction in them gets a blah reaction from me.
4. Exaggerate everything. This is another under-rated aspect. The announcer has to make every match seem like it's World War 3. He needs to amplify the feud, he needs to make every suplex into a life-threatening injury, he needs to transform the boring into high drama. I miss the way they used to do this. It's like... you'd see a guy take a big bump, and you could tell it hurt, BUT the announcer would be like " OMFG ...HIS BACK IS BROKEN! HE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME MAN AGAIN!!!! OMG!" etc. etc. It always makes me smile when they say just like these outrageous bullshit comments, but you can't help but laugh at it.
What are yours?
1. Obviously, first you need two skilled wrestlers that know what they are doing and can tell a good story in the ring.
2. A crowd that isn't dead, one that is basically loud, passionate, marking out.
3. A great announce team that elevates everything to the next level.
The third one is what I want to discuss. What, for you, makes for a great wrestling announcer?
Here's my list.
1. Distinct voice. This one is pretty simple. I find guys like Cole, Grisham, and Striker to not be so entertaining because they have very ordinary, bland, plain white guy voices. I think a great announcer needs a very distinct tone, vocal character, accent, whatever, something that just makes them instantly recognizable and easy to listen to. When JR talks, or Ventura, or McMahon, or old heel Lawler talked, you always knew who it was. They all had distinct voices. Now, most of these dudes are interchangeable drones.
2. The announcer should have strong opinions, and blatantly pick a side. They need to pick an alignment and stick to it. I hate how you have all these tweener announcers, it doesn't work for me. And every show should have one heel and one face commentator. Each one should argue and debate the merits of the feud/wrestlers, and believe he's right. I always find it entertaining when the announcers argue amongst themselves, and/or are openly supportive of a particular wrestler. As much as it kills me to say it, I do like how Cole is an unabashed Miz fan. This isn't the NFL, the announcers have no need to be impartial, so let them be over-the-top biased.
3. Passion. This is so simple, but almost all the guys now don't have it. Back in the day, if Austin or somebody did something cool, the announcers would go apeshit and almost have a heart attack, they were that pumped up. That over the top enthusiasm was so infectious you couldn't help but get excited with them. Now, even the biggest events only elicit weakass responses from the announcers. A blah reaction in them gets a blah reaction from me.
4. Exaggerate everything. This is another under-rated aspect. The announcer has to make every match seem like it's World War 3. He needs to amplify the feud, he needs to make every suplex into a life-threatening injury, he needs to transform the boring into high drama. I miss the way they used to do this. It's like... you'd see a guy take a big bump, and you could tell it hurt, BUT the announcer would be like " OMFG ...HIS BACK IS BROKEN! HE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME MAN AGAIN!!!! OMG!" etc. etc. It always makes me smile when they say just like these outrageous bullshit comments, but you can't help but laugh at it.
What are yours?
