wrestling / Columns

The 8-Ball 06.14.12: Top 8 Underrated Announcers

June 14, 2012 | Posted by Ryan Byers

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the 8-Ball. As always, I am your party host, Ryan Byers, and I would like to start off this week by thanking everybody who provided feedback on last week’s 8-Ball, as, though I don’t formally keep track of such things, I think that the column would have to be the most commented upon installment since I took over the reins back in February.

I would be surprised if this week’s installment drums up quite as much discussion, but it was a fun column to write nonetheless, and I hope that you enjoy reading it as well.

With that said, let’s hit the content . . .

Top 8 Underrated Announcers

Over the course of the past year-and-half or so, there has been much virtual ink spilled on pro wrestling websites covering the topic of announcers. Most of this has been the result of Michael Cole’s heel character, which many have argued is the antithesis of what a lead play-by-play man should be and others have claimed is a big part of the reason for the recent decline in WWE’s ability to draw on pay per view outside of blockbuster events like Wrestlemania.

Though a handful of folks have defended announcers like the heel Cole and attempted to marginalize the importance of the pro wrestling commentator, the fact of the matter is that the lead announcer is one of the single most important people on the promotion’s payroll. After all, pro wrestling is a business, and the most popular model for this business over the last several decades has been to use a not-particularly-profitable television show to drive other income streams such as ticket sales, merchandise sales, and, most importantly, pay per view sales. Your lead announcer essentially serves as the promotion’s number one salesperson, explaining how a viewer can purchase those wares and, even more importantly, WHY the viewer wants to purchase them.

Even if you take the more contemporary view that wrestling is just another TV show and should be looked at as such, the announcers still play an incredibly important role, as they are the characters of the show to whom the viewer is the most exposed, meaning that an announcer who the audience cannot stand will have a significant effect on the viewing public’s overall impression of the program.

So, as an acknowledgment of the critical role that commentators play in professional wrestling, this week I give to you the announcers who had a great degree of skill but didn’t necessarily receive the kudos that they deserve.

Here are the Top 8 Underrated Announcers.

8. Allison Danger

For whatever reason, there haven’t been that many regular female announcers in pro wrestling’s history. Of the handful that has existed, for my money, none has been better than Allison Danger. Danger has popped up on-and-off at the announce desk for a variety of different independent promotions, but she has appeared most regularly as the color commentator for the all-female independent group SHIMMER. The Canadian-born wrestler wields two tools that make her particularly well-suited for her color commentator role. The first is her decade of experience in the ring, which gives her a great understanding of what it is that other wrestlers are attempting to do when they string together a particular sequence of moves or sell something in a certain manner. The second is a razor-sharp wit, which you will most likely conclude runs in the family when you consider Danger together with her brother, “King of Old School” Steve Corino. The former “Woman of Honor” has quite the sense of humor and a boatload of knowledge regarding pop culture, meaning that she can always drop a clever reference when the occasion calls for it. Everybody needs to give this woman’s commentary a listen, and, if you do, you will most likely agree with me that it would be excellent for her to work in a national promotion.

7. Don West

As I noted in the introduction for this piece, pro wrestling announcers are actually salespeople. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that TNA wrestling was going to be employing the Home Shopping Network’s Don West as a commentator. It seemed like a natural fit. Unfortunately, though wrestling announcers are salespeople, there are some differences between calling a wrestling match and schilling baseball cards on HSN, so West had a few early missteps and developed a reputation from the unforgiving internet audience as being a poor commentator. Over the years, though, Don improved significantly and, though he might not have been able to call names of holds that well or recite wrestlers’ backstories from outside of TNA, he had an unbridled enthusiasm for what he was seeing that made him a joy to listen to more often than not. Among those who saw it, who could forget the X Division match in which West became so excited in cheering on the Amazing Red that he literally got out of his chair, grabbed the house mic, and lead the audience in a chant of “Go, Red, Go?” West also had a heel turn later in his TNA stint, and, though I wasn’t following the company particularly closely at the time, from the bits and pieces I heard, he worked well in that role, too, delivering some almost Ventura-esque lines. West is now gone from TNA and probably will not commentate again, which is a real shame.

6. Scott Hudson

WCW was pretty brutal from 1999 through 2000. (I say “1999 through 2000,” because parts of it were picking up in 2001 immediately before the company’s death.) During that period, the quality of matches was declining, major talent was departing, and storylines were becoming increasingly nonsensical due to frequent shifts in backstage power. However, one of the few bright spots of the company was the commentary of Mr. Scott Hudson on Monday Nitro. Though he probably wouldn’t be in my Top 8 Announcers of all time, I include him in this list of underrated announcers because he was still pretty damn good and gets virtually no credit for it due to the fact that WCW was so godawful during this period that people were too busy complaining about Vince Russo and Sid Vicious to give poor Scott Hudson any kudos. What helped Hudson’s commentary immensely was the fact that he was a long-time fan of the pseudo-sport before being employed by any pro wrestling company, so he had some idea of what those who tune in on a weekly basis want to hear. His style was not over-the-top with emotion like some or overly technical like others. He simply described what was going on in simple, easy-to-grasp terms and kept from being too bland by peppering in a few comments that showed off his very dry wit. Unfortunately, once WCW went under, it appears that the WWF was not too keen on working with Hudson and Hudson was not too keen on working with the WWF, leading to his disappearance from the national stage.

5. Johnny Polo

In 1995, Scott Levy became known to wrestling fans as “Raven” and has used that name ever since. However, before Mr. Levy developed the groundbreaking Raven character, he landed in the World Wrestling Federation as the spoiled rich kid Johnny Polo. Polo debuted in 1993, the same year that legendary announcer/manager Bobby “The Brain Heenan” was being phased out of the World Wrestling Federation, and, though I have never heard this directly stated by anybody involved in the Fed, it appears from watching his performances that Levy essentially wanted Johnny Polo to be the company’s replacement for Heenan. He was part manager, part announcer, and, as part of the latter role, he did an overtly heel gimmick in which he was the obnoxious, wealthy twerp who annoyed Gorilla Monsoon to no end. If I hadn’t actually watched Johnny Polo’s work and somebody told me that the WWF had brought in a character to be a direct replacement for Bobby Heenan, I would have told you that it was the dirt worst idea imaginable, as nobody could replace the Brain. However, in terms of being a Bobby Heenan replacement, Polo worked surprisingly well. Levy appeared to be just as clever as Heenan, both in terms of calling the sport from a serious perspective and slipping in one-liners, plus the character was just different enough from Heenan’s that it didn’t feel like a total retread. Unfortunately, due to what I believe are creative differences, Polo did not last quite two years in the Fed. If you can track down some of the limited footage that exists of him, though, you’ll be in for a treat.

4. Les Thatcher

The legendary Les Thatcher takes us back to the old school of professional wrestling. Making his in-ring debut in 1960, Thatcher was a junior heavyweight star for several years before he decided to change things up and step behind the announce desk. Les was a commentator and interviewer for a variety of different promotions over the years, including Southeastern Championship Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, and, many years later, for groups like Smokey Mountain Wrestling and his own Heartland Wrestling Association. Thatcher, due to the era that he came from, hand a strong and admirable commitment to convincing wrestling fans that the “sport” they love is legitimate, and he always managed to do so in a way that was not condescending and did not insult anybody’s intelligence. In addition to just doing straight commentary, Thatcher was a valuable asset to the production of any television show he was involved in, as he also had a history of developing and producing new segments for wrestling television shows, including “Personality Profiles” that gave fans personal information about their favorite wrestlers and therefore allowed them to connect to the stars on a more human level. Those people who remember Thatcher’s commentary and his involvement in television production almost always speak highly of him, but the problem is that there are a lot of fans out there now – particularly younger ones – who just aren’t familiar with his body of work. That’s why he winds up on our underrated announcers list, as history has unfortunately forgotten the man.

3. Lance Russell

Some might question why I have Lance Russell on a list of underrated announcers. After all, the folks who regularly listened to Russell call wrestling action consider him one of the best of all time, as many lists place him at the third greatest commentator in the history of the industry, right behind Gordon Solie and Jim Ross. The reason that Russell makes this list despite the fact that many have heaped accolades upon him is that WWE is writing mainstream professional wrestling history, and the WWE version of professional wrestling history doesn’t really include Lance since he a) never worked directly for them and b) worked predominantly in a territory (Memphis) whose video tape library is slim to none and can’t be marketed in any way to make the E a significant chunk of money. In fact, rumor has it that, when it came time to induct Jerry Lawler into the WWE Hall of Fame, the company deep sixed a campaign to have Russell do the induction, despite the fact that Lawler and Russell worked together more closely than just about any other wrestler/announcer tandem in the history of the sport. WWE instead opted for an induction by William Shatner, reportedly because they didn’t feel that their audience would be familiar with Russell. They would probably be right, but that’s only because nobody is educating contemporary fans as to who Russell is . . . and that’s just sad.

2. Bob Caudle

There is no way that an announcer like Bob Caudle would fly in the contemporary professional wrestling landscape. That’s got nothing to do Caudle’s level of talent, though. It’s got everything to do with the fact that modern, national pro wrestling promotions are obsessed with cosmetics, and, be it WWE or TNA, they wouldn’t let somebody as portly, as obviously middle aged, and as (gasp) southern as Bob Caudle on to one of their wrestling shows. That’s a damn shame, because, quite honestly, Caudle would probably be on my list of the top eight announcers of all time, underrated or not. What made Bob Caudle great? He was just so damn genuine. He seemed like he was getting into the action in front of him just as much as any fan, whether it was the beloved babyface making his comeback or a dastardly heel bending the rules behind the referee’s back. There have been several announcers like this over the years, oftentimes in the territories a local weatherman or other broadcaster from the television station upon which wrestling aired, the natural evolution of which was the Mike Hogewoods and the Don Wests of the world. Caudle was similar to these men in a lot of his delivery, but he differed in one important respect: He knew about professional wrestling. Many of the other “wide eyed” announcers were wide eyed because they were unfamiliar with the product, making everything seem like a big deal to them. Caudle, meanwhile, maintained a sense of wonder regarding the sport despite working in it for decades. That was a truly amazing, endearing quality.

1. Tony Schiavone


Remember when your favorite professional athlete got late into his career? Remember how his performance trailed off a little bit and he wasn’t nearly as good as he once was? Remember how some people actually started to say that he outright sucked? Chances are good that, if this person was legitimately a talented, high level athlete at one point in time, those last couple of years where was not in prime form did not invalidate the rest of his career and earn him a reputation as a player who was never any good whatsoever. Most likely, history treated him honestly and fairly, stating that he was a great, even if he did have a couple of years towards the end during which he was a step or two below where he used to be.

And that’s why I’m completely confused about Tony Schiavone’s reputation amongst professional wrestling fans. Yes, from 1999 through March 2001, Tony’s announcing in WCW was nothing short of godawful. However, 1999 through March 2001 comprises a small minority of Tony Schiavone’s career. The man first showed up as an announcer on a national professional wrestling broadcast in 1985, and, for over a decade, his work largely got good reviews. In fact, if not for the existence of Jim Ross, he probably would have been considered the single best play-by-play man in all of pro wrestling during the late 1980’s, when he was calling the heyday of the Four Horsemen in Jim Crockett Promotions.

Yet, despite all of the years that Tony Schiavone was a perfectly serviceable announcer – and, in fact, a damn good announcer – people still choose to judge his lengthy career by just a couple of years at the end, when he was calling a product that virtually nobody on the planet could take seriously or get excited about. He should have a significantly better historical reputation, and the fact that he does not makes Tony Schiavone the most underrated announcer in pro wrestling history.

NULL

article topics

Ryan Byers

Comments are closed.