FanPost

The Irrelevancy of Commentary in WWE

WWE.com

On last night's episode of NXT, viewers were treated to Kevin Owens once again heeling it up on guest commentary, this time for Finn Balor's match with Rhyno. While Owens was comedic gold throughout the entire match, one thing that he kept harping on particularly stood out. Owens, the guest wrestler on commentary (i.e. not his regular job), had to keep reminding the professional commentators to focus on, and call, the match.

This, while hilarious, is indicative of a much larger problem within the WWE in regards to commentary.

Now, as we all know, the WWE is "fake", though many fans prefer the more accurate term "pre-determined". Be that as it may, the company is ostensibly marketed as "sports entertainment". In mainstream sports in the United States, the commentary team generally consists of some combination of a play-by-play guy, a color commentator, and an analyst. Let's briefly look at how commentary is covered in the Big 4 sports in America.

In the NFL, play-by-play is in-depth. Pre-snap, the commentators will inform viewers how the backs, receivers, and quarterbacks are set up on offense, what package the defense rolls out, if they're showing blitz, etc. Once the ball is snapped, play-by-play follows the ball. If it's handed off to a running back, the back's actions are described, and blocking schemes are discussed. If it's a pass play, they will talk about what the quarterback is doing, who he throws to, and the result of the pass.

In the MLB, it's equally detailed. Commentators will explain if the defense is shifted for a particular batter, the actions of the pitcher, "the wind-up, aaaaand the pitch...". Then, if the ball is hit, they explain where it was hit to, what the defense does, if the batter is out or safe. If the ball is not hit, they explain if the pitch was a strike or ball, usually what kind of pitch it was, and if it was a ball, where it missed the plate.

In the NBA, action follows the ball. The commentators will talk about who has the ball, where they're going, who they pass to, whether or not they shoot. If they shoot, they inform whether the shot missed or went in, and if it missed, who went up for and came down with the rebound, and follows the flow of play from there. Often times, they'll even discuss plays ran such as a pick-and-roll or a post-up.

The NHL is more fast-paced than any of the other three major sports, but still, the play-by-play commentators are often fast-talkers who can keep up with the movements of the puck, informing viewers who has it, who's passing it and to whom, who's shooting, who made the save, or if there was a goal. Penalties are called, checks are talked about, and if a fight breaks out, the announcers even do their level best to keep up with the punches being thrown.

Sure, each of these sports include the mention of stats, previous meetings of the opposing teams/players, future meetings, and any intrigue within the game. But, generally, these snippets are held to either between plays or innings, during intermissions or halftime, and don't actually interfere with the action itself. The detailed commentary that is offered in these sports is mainly why there is a market for radio broadcasts of sporting events. When you listen to a football, baseball, basketball, or hockey game on the radio, the announcers can paint a clear picture in your mind of the action taking place in the game.

Could you imagine trying to do that with a WWE event?

And therein lies the problem. WWE treats its commentary, not as sports commentary, but more like listening to the DVD commentary on a TV show. Even play-by-play announcers like Michael Cole or Rich Brennan rarely actually call any moves besides guys' signature moves with special names, finishers, or the most basic wrestling moves, such as DDTs, suplexes, clotheslines, and dropkicks. Kevin Owens brilliantly bashed Brennan for this on commentary last night, calling him out for merely exclaiming Finn Balor's name in an excited tone rather than calling the impressive move he'd just performed.

It's not like the WWE is strapped for time to put over its programming. Between Raw and Smackdown, that's five hours of main roster TV per week, not including pay-per-view or WWE Network special event weeks. During those five hours, we often see the same video packages and replays multiple times, not just in one week, but in concurrent weeks. Couldn't those video packages maybe be trimmed down a little bit, or not shown as much at all, in favor of giving the commentators or wrestlers time to talk about what is instead eating up time when the play-by-play guy should be calling the match?

And if it's a case of the announcers not being able to call the moves, that's even more embarrassing. It's well-documented how difficult it is to be an announcer in the WWE, what with having sometimes up to six different voices in your headset telling you what to say. But look at Michael Cole. He's been announcing for the better half of two decades with the WWE; he should be a walking textbook of wrestling moves by now! Other guys on the announce team qualify as well: JBL, Jerry Lawler, and Booker T had long, storied careers in wrestling. Byron Saxton and Corey Graves were both in-ring performers at one point, as well. There's no excuse for them to call less moves than the commenters in the Raw/Smackdown/NXT live blogs here on Cageside Seats do.

Kayfabe may be dying out a little more each day, but for all intents and purposes, the WWE is still, and will for the foreseeable future continue to be, sports entertainment. It's high time that the commentators and play-by-play guys began treating it as such.

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