The coach impressed me...

[Guest Sykotic2002]

I can't believe, but the Coach impressed me with his commentary during the Raven/Stevie match on Heat.  He concentrated on the entire match and didn't wander talking about something else like he usually does.  He even pointed out some psychology when Stevie was holding his back wondering if Stevie could pick Raven up because he hurt his back.  He talked about his back a couple times.  The moment of impressionist only lasted this match as he was back to his usual self the next match, but for a moment he showed something.

[Guest Risk]

I was VERY impressed with Coach on Heat.  He mentioned ECW in the Dreamer-Credible match and in the Stevie-Raven match.  He also knows what a snap suplex is, unlike Michael "likes it in both holes" Cole.  Coach may not be the best commentator, but he DOES know more wrestling moves and their name than the average mark(ala Michael Cole).

[Guest Risk]

He also pointed out Dreamer's arm was hurt, "Dreamer wins with one arm!"  Good psycology by Dreamer on that arm, he sold it like it hurt when the ref raised the hurt arm.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I can always admire a guy getting better at waht he does, but in my opinion, the coach just doesn't have what it takes to be a special commentator. However, if he continues to improve, they should promote him in favor of Michael Cole who also lacks what it takes to be a special commentator, but has been a commentator for a very long time and still sucks tremendously. Speaking of commentators, is the guy on Taz's new theme music the Joey Styles that everybody talks about? The sound bytes they played of him saved that song from being trash to making Taz seem like a badass. I admittedly never watched much ECW, but I remember the commentator being good sometimes, but screaming like an idiot other times. If he could be the guy from the soundbytes, and not the screaming idiot I remember, I think he would make a fine commentator for the WWF.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

So I was watchin the Stevie/Raven match yest, and I am here thinking, 'Wow, Coach is doin a pretty damn good job on commentary' w/ his ref. to their Ecw feud.  Then I start to think a bit more "DAMN, Coach is doing a better job one man commentating than the rest of the Wwf announce team."

 

He was constantly talking throughout, and NONE of it was irrelevant, and there were no pauses...which blew me away.  Joey Styles, eat your heart out.

[Guest TheDames7]

I agree about all of the positive points made about Coach so far, but I really think that Raven should be given some credit as well.  Since Coach & Raven have been working together, Raven has pointed out to Coach names of moves & psychology.  Kudos to Coach for actually listening to Raven and trying to improve.  

 

I honestly think that with all of the exposure to WWF's history that he's gotten lately (From the Vault, hosting Excess, ECW info fed to him by Raven) that he could be a solid commentator and I would love for him to move up.  

 

Dames - 4th String Announcer

[Guest Risk]

Raven and Coach have some STRANGE chemistry.  But it's good.  Coach is the second best commentator in the WWF now.

[Guest TheDames7]

This reminds me of a question I was going to ask.  All the time that Raven's been in the WWF, he's been a heel...why is it that last night, he was recieving a huge face pop when he was called out by Richards?  

 

Is a guy just a face by default if they are an announcer these days?

 

Dames - Guest Commentator

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I forgot to mention how good Raven has been thus far. Speaking of vault footage, why didn;'t they bring out footage of Undertaker's first win over Hogan? It would have worked on multiple levels. It would have showed him killing Hulkamania and shown Flair screwing Hogan. They could have played up Flair's screwing of Hogan and shown that as one more instance of Flair screwing somebody.

[Guest RicFlairGlory]

Raven and Coach have some STRANGE chemistry.  But it's good.  Coach is the second best commentator in the WWF now.

Your #1 better be Heyman... or Vince... or Lawler 10-5 years ago

[Guest Risk]

Raven is the number one commentator in the WWF.  Heyman could conpete with him in that but he hasn't commentated since 2001.  Heels and faces aren't the same as they used to be.  A heel was originally just a dirty wrestler, while the face was the guy who didn't cheat.

 

Nowadays, every wrestler cheats.  This throws the heel/face dynamic out of wack.  Can you understand Austin's character?  Would you concider him a babyface?  Ah Hell No!  In today's wrestling world, you CAN'T catoregize a wrestler by such finite terms as heel and face or good guy and bad guys.

 

Wrestlers have MUCH MORE character than in the old days.  Hope this helps some Dames.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Raven and Coach have some STRANGE chemistry.  But it's good.  Coach is the second best commentator in the WWF now.

Your #1 better be Heyman... or Vince... or Lawler 10-5 years ago

None of those guys can be #1 NOW because they aren't on commentary anymore (except for Lawler, who isn't funny and brings down every match remotely involving a woman).  Although I agree Heyman was priceless on commentary.  Too bad Lesnar still needs him for right now... we want Heyman! OK, I want Heyman!

 

As for who's the best commentator now, it's still Raven by far (what, me biased?), but I do agree with those who say hanging out with Raven has improved Coach greatly because it has.  Coach sounds more sure of himself and produces more useful commentary than before, when pretty much all he could do was the standard WWF PPV shill.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

No team is as good as Monsoon and Ventura. Greatest team ever!

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

bobby and gorilla was the best team ever.

 

Coach was really great during the Raven match. I love that style of commentating and that's why i hate the other wwf anouncers all they do is SHILL SHILL SHILL. it's disgusting that act like corprate whores. it's pathetic.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

Bobby was good at making funny comments, but they went over a lot of people's heads. That's why I have to go with Ventura and Monsoon. Ventura made comments that went over people's heads, but they were entertaining on many levels. Him talking shit about Joey Morella was funny because he was saying funny stuff, but it was also funny because Morella was Gorilla's son. His jokes were funny on many levels. He talked shit about Hogan which was good because he was a heel announcer, but they leaned towards being shoot comments most of the time, which made them funny on another level.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

they were both great teams. I just always feel over laughing at bobby sucking up to flair.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I never got to see that stuff, so I probably missed out on his best stuff. I think Heenan was a damn good manager so I have no problem picturing him doing commentary as a manager. I remember him acting like he was going to have a heart attack during near falls when he was at ringside and I remember him doing little stuff like reaching into his pocket during the matches and slapping people and walking away. His promo after Rick Rude lost the IC Title was great. I think Shane McMahon should have tried to get that role down as Booker T's manager. Heenan's cheating ways pissed people off so he got away with them until there was a payoff that involved him getting his ass handed to him. That's what a manager should do instead of just being eye candy like they are today. Heenan was great for that because he could bump his ass off and get heat for his wrestlers as well as himself.

[Guest Caliban]

It's just been starting to strike me recently how AWFUL the team of Tazz and Michael Cole is. Tazz just doesn't have a voice for play-by-play, and Cole is just a little bitch. He hasn't improved in 3 years, that much is true.

 

I can't get Heat, but by all reports, including here, Coach and Raven are doing a damn good job. I saw them on Excess and they appeared to be building up a rapport. Could be a good idea to move Raven and Coach to Smackdown, and Cole and Tazz to Heat. Give them a chance. Nothing could be worse than what we've got now... right?

[Guest alfdogg]

Raven and Coach have some STRANGE chemistry.  But it's good.  Coach is the second best commentator in the WWF now.

Your #1 better be Heyman... or Vince... or Lawler 10-5 years ago

I thought Vince sucked as an announcer.

 

And I'd take Coach on his worst day over Cole.

[Guest Will Scarlet]

I have been enjoying the Coach-Raven team.  I like how Raven occasionally go into little nuances of wrestling, like a few weeks ago, he was mentioning how if you want to beat the Big Show you have to go for the legs or put him to sleep, and how Goldust was using good strategy to beat the Big Show.  I enjoy incites like that, especially since it made a Big Show-Goldust match a bit more interesting.  

 

Plus, occasionally I have chuckled at a few things Raven has said like when like last week when he went off on some rant about why you should never mess with a scorpion, ending with "Because it's a scorpion, Coach!" For some odd reason that ended up getting a bit of a laugh out of me.  Heck, the commentary team, and the fact I get to see guys like D-Lo and Dreamer makes Heat the WWF show I have looked forward to the most lately.

[Guest dreamer420]

I enjoyed their commentary too.  They were quick to point out anytime someone went for a cover and they didn't hook the leg.

[Guest]

 Joey Styles, eat your heart out.

Joey Styles is the best announce of this DECADE. He went from knowing nearly nothing to having an insane grasp on the entire sport. He even LOOKED the part.

 

"OH MY GOD!!!" is what me and my pals say when something happens on wrestling/wrestling tapes. He was gold, Jerry! GOLD!

[Guest Mole]

I am also enjoying Heat. Raven/Coach do a good job together, with Raven being the strong of the two.

 

Plus, I get to see D'Lo, Dreamer, Raven, etc.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I was glad to see D'Lo, but I would have rather have seen him get in more offense and perform the Lo Down. From the look of things, he's not going to do it on Heat this week either.

[Guest]

Joey Styles in on that Cypress Hill music Tazz uses now? I think that's a rumor.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

He comes on after the first or second verse and after the last verse as well. He says stuff like, "one word describes the Tazzmission - effective," and "Tazz hates everyone, even himself." They have an ECW clip of Tazz cutting a promo on somebody too. He sounded pretty damn intense, which makes me wonder how he never reall got that  persona over. His promos were never good in the WWF in my opinion.

[Guest]

But the WWF doesn't own the ECW footage do they?

[Guest MixxMaster]

It took me awhile to warm up to Coach/Raven, not because of Coach, because I've always thought he was better than blow-boy-Cole, but because of Raven.  His voice didn't really sound right, he didn't project his voice enough.

Now that I've had some time to listen, and get used to it, I find Raven to be very knowledgeable, and he takes things from the heel standpoint, the King could learn some things from him, instead of doing the dumb pervert shtick.

Still, I would LOVE to see Joey Styles return.  His voice and incredible knowledge of the sport is sorely missed, and is one of the main reasons I got hooked on ECW. Definately the best play-by-play man since Monsoon, IMHO...

Throw some (a decent amount this time) money to Styles, WWF...

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

The only problem that Coach has is drama.  With his voice it's hard to be passionate about something he is saying...

 

Joey Styles did not add drama to a match.  You can call all the pescados and hilos and asai moonsaults you want, but if you cannot make fans emotionally invested into the matches, then what use are you?  OH MY GOD is about as deep as Joey got.  

 

With that said, I have always enjoyed the cyrus/styles team

 

Akira Fukuzawa...Best announcer ever.  He added drama, he added importance.

[Guest Jericholic82]

He comes on after the first or second verse and after the last verse as well. He says stuff like, "one word describes the Tazzmission - effective," and "Tazz hates everyone, even himself." They have an ECW clip of Tazz cutting a promo on somebody too. He sounded pretty damn intense, which makes me wonder how he never reall got that  persona over. His promos were never good in the WWF in my opinion.

yep I agree that that is styles.  I have listened to the song a bunch of times and know that is him.  the first time he talks, he sounded a little like cole so I wasnt sure, but the end where he yells "the tazmission, he tapped ,he tapped" thats definately styles.  and its odd that the song ends with an ecw taz promo.  I guess that is cuz his best moments were in ECW.