Do you think the commentry would be better if they didn't know what was going on?

[Disturbed316]

Ok, I was thinking at work, how great the commentry would be for WWE if they didn't know what was coming next.

I was watching Smackdown the day before and they recapped when JBL beat Undertaker. Michael Cole's "NO, NOT THIS WAY" seemed so forced, that it just sounded stupid. It could just be he is crap anyway, but whatever. So I got thinking today at how great it would be if they weren't clued in on what was going to happen.

For example, when Mankind fell through the cell at KOTR 98, you could tell that King/JR didn't know that the bump wasn't going to happen and thus produced one of the most famous lines in recent wrestling history. You could hear the real emotion in his voice and it really added to what just happened.

I've noticed how shit the commentry has become lately, both Raw and Smackdown and JR has always been the butt of jokes. It seems that even WWE has noticed this and has stuck Coach out there with them.

Would you think that if the guys on commentry weren't told about what was going to happen in the matches, that the overall commentry would improve?

[Xero]

Which bump are you talking about? If they didn't know that Mick was coming off the cage to the announce table they could have been killed. There was no way in insuring that Mick was going to hit the Spanish table.

As for the idea, I read in the Death of WCW that the announcers didn't know what was happening some of the time, and thus produced some crappy commentary.

Instead of pulling off spur of the moment stuff, they would probably be more confused than anything.

[LK]

Which bump are you talking about? If they didn't know that Mick was coming off the cage to the announce table they could have been killed. There was no way in insuring that Mick was going to hit the Spanish table.
I've heard JR say that he had no idea that Foley was get thrown off the cell.

[Disturbed316]

Nah, the second bump through the cage wasn't ment to happen.

The reason the announcers in WCW didn't know what was going were because they were fucking idiots. Nothing to do with the fact whether they knew what was going to happen or not.

[CharismaInjection]

Exactly, why do they need to know what's going on? Unless they're involved, I say they stay as clueless as the audience.

[RemyRed]

Which bump are you talking about? If they didn't know that Mick was coming off the cage to the announce table they could have been killed. There was no way in insuring that Mick was going to hit the Spanish table.

As for the idea, I read in the Death of WCW that the announcers didn't know what was happening some of the time, and thus produced some crappy commentary.

Instead of pulling off spur of the moment stuff, they would probably be more confused than anything.
I thought most of WCW's commentary was excellent. Even after Bobby Heenan was gone I thought Tony Schiavone and Scott Hudson did a great job.

[Disturbed316]

Hudson was horrible, and dont get me started on Madden.

[Kane Knight]

JR's hit or miss with his play by play. If you remove that, he'll NEVER get a move right.

[JH]

if jr did'nt know what was going on instead of saying oh my god it's matt hardy he'd be saying oh my god king it's jeff hardy

[darkpower]

While I disagree with Cole being crap (he's alot better than JR is), I think there might be a time in which commentators should be left in the dark for those reasons. But if you do that, they might end up shooting on someone and say something that the WWE might not WANT them to say.

[V]

in the past (certainly not now) JR actually had me believe he didn't know what was happening

you'd have to get announcers who were actually into wrestling A LOT (even the shit low card matches) and would be able to pretend that what is going on is real.... in other words, they would have to be MARKs, and i really don't think anybody inside the business can be a mark for every match =\

cuz seriously, what if JR slips "my god vince who is writing this stuff" instead of "OMFG MASTERS DOES IT AGAIN"

[Kapoutman]

As Bobby Heenan said in his biography, a commentator should always know what's going to happen. He's not a real sport commentator, he's there to enhance what's happening. If he doesn't know what's happening, he'll be as clueless as the audience, which would serve no purpose at all.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don't mean to doubt the awesomeness that is Bobby Heenan, but sometimes the greatest enhancement of all is being surprised and truly shocked at what is going on. This wouldn't have worked in WCW, where the title was basically a political asset, and it would have eben really hard to make it seem credible and exciting when it was knowingly killing the company.

Right now, I think the WWE could use a little more surprise with their commentary. Tell the team Lesnar will be back in about two months, and instruct them not to critise him, and whatnot. Do this with all debuting talent, etc. and then have Lesnar come in that night, or the week so you genuinely get a "WTF?" feel going. Don't tell the commentators when a title is changing hands, unless it seems like a bad move. Nunzio taking the belt from London would have been a good choice of surprise title win. Heidenreich & Animal winning the WWE Tag Team Titles probably would have been a bad surprise win.

I think it really would differ between your commentators, though. JR is probably the "markiest" commentator you will find. That's not exactly a bad thing. He can sell anybody winning anything, and make it seem surprising, Jerry Lawler being surprised by a guy holding a belt they shouldn't would probably be more of a negative surprised reaction.

Not sure if I've illustrated my point here, but I think it depends on what's happening and what's going to happen that commentating decisions need to be made. Commentating could be an artform in the WWE if done right, and it would mak a real master to get all the information to the commentators at the right time. Telling a commentator that a title switch will happen justa few minutes before the end of a match could really help the commentator get the excitement pumping through them. Particularly if they thought it would be retained. Instead of doing that surprise switch where THEN the commentators talk about how exciting it was, the excitement building earlier could enhance the match.

I dunno, I'm probably not making much sense.

[Impact!]

I say give the announcers the basics. I.E if theres something that needs to be explained or needed to build a feud/storyline tell them, otherwise just tell them the basic mentality. Like for an upcoming RAW you could say ok tonight ther will be:

Edge V Kane - Hell in a cell

CCC V Val Venis V Kerwin White

HBK and Hogan meet to sign for their match at summerslam

Shelton Benjamin V Eugene - Gold Medal

Kurt Angle and Jercho V John Cena and ???



with this they have a basic grasp of whats happening but there still the element of surprise ie

Edge V Kane - Hell in a cell - Matt Hardy comes down from the roof ala HBK and Sting, attacks Edge while on the roof of the cell, then climbs down and grabs lita gets the rope and goes back up to the roof abducting lita

CCC V Val Venis V Kerwin White - Tomko comes out from the back helping Kerwin or CCC get the victory alligning himself as their new problem solver.

HBK and Hogan meet to sign for their match at summerslam- special guest referee announced as Bret Hart

Shelton Benjamin V Eugene - Gold Medal - HHH returns and distracts Shelton costing him the match for some reason (I'm thinking like a WWE writer)

Kurt Angle and Jercho V John Cena and ??? - John Cena's partner is the returning Brock Lesnar.

------------

The reactions you would get from the announcers would make the moments better and if necesary Vince and others are always able to tell the announcers something through the show anyway.

I hope that made sense.

[The Gooch]

As Bobby Heenan said in his biography, a commentator should always know what's going to happen. He's not a real sport commentator, he's there to enhance what's happening. If he doesn't know what's happening, he'll be as clueless as the audience, which would serve no purpose at all.

Exactly.

The commentators role is to get the wrestlers over and create excitement. If they are too busy trying to figure out what is happening their primary focus of pushing the wrestlers and creating drama may be lost.

[TerranRich]

Why is everybody afraid of the commentators shooting? They're not supposed to shoot...they're WWE employees. So that would never happen.

Unless you guys were joking. In which case, I seriously did not know that was going to happen. WHO WRITES THIS CRAP, VINCE?