New Announce Teams

[Dark One]

This seemed important enough to deserve its own thread rather than bury at the end of the draft show thread.

WWE's New Announce Teams (http://www.wwe.com/article/new-wwe-announce-teams-revealed?sf31321272=1)



It’s a New Era for the entire landscape of WWE, which continues to change and evolve with the WWE Brand Extension Draft. That includes the announce teams for WWE programming. The teams for Raw, SmackDown, "WWE Superstars" and WWE Main Event are all experiencing a major shakeup, including one major voice changing shows and several rising commentators being inserted into the lineup.

The new announce teams for WWE’s New Era will feature Michael Cole, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton Monday nights on Raw, while Mauro Ranallo, JBL and David Otunga handle the commentary for SmackDown Live every Tuesday night.

Also receiving a makeover will be the announce teams for WWE Superstars and WWE Main Event. Both shows will be led by Tom Phillips, and he will be joined each and every week by Graves on WWE Superstars and Otunga on WWE Main Event.

[Dark One]

As with the rest of the Draft, they took what people wanted, mixed it together with the shit nobody wanted, and dumped out a big ol' pile of god damn it.

Byron Saxton, Corey Graves, and Michael Cole together? WHY? Good for Corey for getting the Raw spot, but... seriously?

Mauro being saddled with JBL and Otunga?

JUST GIVE ME ONE SHOW I WANT TO WATCH, WWE!

[Dark One]

Probably accidental coincidence, but I'm just going to pretend this was on purpose:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">&quot;It's good to be friends with The Boss ... it has its advantages.&quot; - <a href="https://twitter.com/StephMcMahon">@StephMcMahon</a> to <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEGraves">@WWEGraves</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWEDraft?src=hash">#WWEDraft</a> <a href="https://t.co/gdoch0DNww">pic.twitter.com/gdoch0DNww</a></p>&mdash; WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse/status/755597841544847360">July 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Triple A]

I don't know anything about David Otunga... does he have any personality?

Only based on his name, can only imagine him having the same personality as the Usos

[Triple A]

How come they are getting rid of Lawler... damn

[Fignuts]

He drinks coffee.

That's about all there is to the guy.

[Emperor Smeat]

Been rumroed for years the WWE has wanted to replace Lawler in the booth but he was actually pretty good once he got paired together with Ranallo.

WWE must have really high opnions on Graves to promote him straight to RAW since the rumors for a while was him replacing Saxton for Smackdown. At least now Saxton doesn't have to worry about being constantly verbally trashed by JBL.

[Lock Jaw]

Taking bets on how long until Corey Graves becomes terrible

Also interesting how Lawler is no longer.... "end of an era" or something......

[Lock Jaw]

Also, Corey Graves was one of the best parts of seeing Eva Marie, but now they aren't going to be on the same show.

[Dark One]

Otunga can talk to an extent, I think, but he's been a very bland stumbly commentator. Might get better if he finds his voice, but JBL is probably going to murder him, and Mauro's just going to keep trying to actually do the job correctly.

[Dark One]

THE USOS LOVE TO HAVE FUN, MARROW

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

[BigCrippyZ]

Thank God. JBL was regularly horrible.

[slik]

THE USOS LOVE TO HAVE FUN, MARROW

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

I can hear JBL saying that (shudders)

I wish we could keep Lawler on SD and get rid of JBL permanently...hate how he always shouts everything and is kind of an asshole

[Heisenberg]

I don't know anything about David Otunga... does he have any personality?

Only based on his name, can only imagine him having the same personality as the Usos

He started out in reality TV, just like his pal The Miz

[Simple Fan]

JBL is the best commentator on Raw so him coming to Smackdown really hurts Raws team. Never heard Otunga but I'd imagine JBL will treat him like he does Saxton so it won't be any different. Hate that King is gone because him and Mauro were good together and JBL with them would have been great.

[Triple A]

Simple Fan going on a mad tear 2night with the contrarian/weird wrestling opinions

[Simple Fan]

Smackdown #1

[Dark One]

CyNick DAHLEETED the original Simple Fan.

[Simple Fan]

I'm not real sure what that means.

[Dark One]

Just top guy business.

[Simple Fan]

What ever "top guy". Doesn't change the fact that Smackdown Live is going to destroy Raw.

[Lock Jaw]

Could happen.... feel like they will be forced to have to be more creative since they have the weaker roster....

[Emperor Smeat]

According to Mauro Ranallo, the joint branded ppvs won't have multi-teams for commentators. Probably also means he won't be doing them either.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">No. One night only. <a href="https://t.co/y2ATnBQlHf">https://t.co/y2ATnBQlHf</a></p>&mdash; Mauro Ranallo (@mauroranallo) <a href="https://twitter.com/mauroranallo/status/755604863195705344">July 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Mr. Nerfect]

Mauro and JBL could actually be a really fantastic commentary team. It's not that I don't like Otunga, but I don't think he should be in there. Have David Otunga do either Superstars or Main Event with Tom Phillips or Byron Saxton and have Jerry Lawler do the other one with the other.

[Droford]

JBL will call him Murray Rollo

[Emperor Smeat]

Lawler ended up getting relegated to ppv pre-shows for apperances now.

UPDATE: In addition to the commentary booth updates on Raw, SmackDown Live and more, WWE Hall of Famers Booker T and Jerry “The King” Lawler will bring their decades of experience in sports-entertainment to recurring Pre-Shows and Kickoffs as key analysts, among other names still to be announced. Stay with WWE.com for additional updates.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Hate three-man teams.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Thought Renee was in line for something too. Otunga leaps over her boo.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

It's more than time for Corey Graves to be on an announce team. Byron is gonna get so much shit.

Wonder what this means for the NXT Announce Team.

[GD]

Tom Philips is beyond the brand extension. Fuck Todd Grisham and Josh Mathews.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

He was drafted to the Social Media Lounge.

[Cool King]

Watching SmackDown was the first time I had watched it in years and it was the first time I heard Mauro Ranallo and I really liked him.

Unlike most, he actually calls the match and mentioned the name of the moves, instead of doing the Micheal Cole "OH!" when a move is done. I was both surprised and happy to hear the name "Frankensteiner" for example, during the Jericho/Cesaro match on SmackDown.

I honestly can't remember the last time I heard "Frankensteiner" on WWE television.

Along with Ranallo, I was enjoying Lawler's commentary for the first time in a long time.

Both were just so good together.

Now though, that seems to have been thrown away in favour of Ranallo, JBL and Otunga. I can't help but think that's going to be a car crash. I feel that JBL may hinder Ranallo. As for Otunga, I don't know as I don't think I've ever heard him call a match.

As for Raw, I'm not really a fan of Cole but I do like him more than I like Saxton, and I'm hoping Graves is good, as like Otunga, I've never heard him call a match.

As for Lawler, I think it kinda sucks that he's been relegated to Pre-Show analysis, but I get the feeling that this is probably the final stage of Lawler's time in WWE. He's been slowly getting phased out for a while now.

I'd say that Lawler will be gone from the WWE within the next five years.

[Rammsteinmad]

I don't mind Lawler being gone. Not that I really have anything against him, but he's been a constant for the best part of 20 years. It's time for some fresh voices to take over.

[Cool King]

Yeah you're right.

I think being caught off guard with Lawler's heel commentating when I watched SmackDown just put me in a nostalgic mood and made me realise how much I missed it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I liked the Mauro/Lawler team, but Mauro/JBL has got the potential to really synch into some sort of sports-based realm. I listened to David Otunga on Main Event this week. The guy is well-spoken and seemed well-versed, but was another annoying babyface passive voice. A lot of his commentary was "Whoa, look at that" sort of stuff. He will add nothing. They should bring him back as a manager or something, or at least give him a chance to grow in NXT with Triple H guiding him.

[Poit]

Corey Graves's debut on the Raw announce team will be in his hometown of Pittsburgh.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I hope they introduce him and let him make an entrance. RAW is going to be three hours, so they need to fill it with something.

[Poit]

Well, he might get an entrance during Superstars, since the new team for that is Corey Graves and Tom Phillips.