The Commentator Issue

[Toxxic 0]

Yes.

[muzz 0]

I'm all for having Ted Polak commentate the matches he created, or just some whacky stip matches.

[Longdogger_Pete 0]

Crusen was Axis.

 

Ted Polak would be awesome as an occasional guest announcer, but we wouldn't want to overdo it.

 

God, I'd forgotten that Annie did commentary for the JL.

[Ace309 0]

Um? Guys? I think you're forgetting the joy that would be Ash Ketchum.

[Angel_Grace_Blue 0]

Tom, just because Ash makes the water come out of your penis doesn't mean that anyone else has similar sentiments. Or genitals.

[Angel_Grace_Blue 0]

I'd also like to say this: Okay, we pick Pete's replacement, however, why not allow the guest booker to pick a guest commentator(s) for his/her show? More wacky fun.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

I think we should let some wrestlers get in on the commentating booth, like in ROH with Punk or...uhhh...Punk.

[Sly 0]

Or, in other words, Spike nominates Spike.

 

Um... I always like writing Comet. Ash could be fun, but that would rule out the absolute joygasm of a possible return. Ted would be funny, but that would need explanations as well.

 

What's to stop us from going to a three person team? Or maybe different teams for each show, as we'd discussed before? Maybe keep King on all three shows, and then give someone else the run on Storm or something.

 

I know Judge is fired kayfabe wise, but would it be possible to explain his return as a member of the announcing team? I've never read any of the J&R stuff... but people seem to be fond of the character.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

I like how you think!

 

 

 

But really, Spike, Landon, hell, Skull, Jimmy, An Octopus. You can use actual characters with charisma or comedy characters with charisma.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

Genius. Take one of ROH's flaws, and borrow it.

[5_moves_of_doom 0]

Axis and Suicide King were a great commentating combo in the JL back in like 2002ish... Axis is an excellent face straight-man.

 

However, my vote goes out to Annie, I think.

 

EDIT: Michael Craven would be a solid idea at the start, but he might get disgustingly redundant after a few weeks. Unless he constantly plugs the fact that he beat Tom for the SJL World Title. That would keep him fresh.

[Cuban Linx 0]

I always liked writing Axis, though that was with the Edwin/King/Axis commentary team, having two supreme characters to have him play off probably covered up any blandness for me that others experienced.

[The Ill One 0]

Edwin/Axis/King was my favorite commentary team to write and Ejiro/Judge/Annie would be second.

 

I like the idea of two different announcing teams, though someone should post a rough guide to writing each character.

[Justice 0]

Okay, my personal opinions on the listed ones:

 

Cyclone Comet - Comet is great, though I think his gimmick (At least, while I was around) was overall way too restrictive to writing him. He was cool for a while (And he'd be much cooler as a backstage interviewer), but personally I think people will be tired of him soon.

 

Axis - Axis is a good choice. He was the original sort of 'honest play-by-play' guy for me, and he was always easy to write. Maybe a bit too vanilla, though.

 

Edwin MacPhisto - Even if Edwin doesn't mind, I always felt that, outside a few comedy appearances, the continuity of Edwin's entire end run, all the way up to his final Genesis appearance was the best way to put a character to rest. I'm not completely against him, but I always thought that Edwin's end was too perfect to really bring him back.

 

Frost - You know, this is an interesting maybe. I wonder about his interactions with King.

 

Annie Eclectic - Annie's a good choice, but she worked a lot better when it was interaction between Ejiro and Judge because of the shit-ton of history she had with them and the dichotomy of style.

 

Ted Polak - I'm not really sure on this. I need to be sold on the concept a little more.

 

Madrac - Uh... yeah. About that...

 

Bobby Riley - Good God no.

 

Ben Hardy - Stand-in only, personally.

 

Matt "Marv Albert" Myers - His contract forbids it.

 

Okay, my pitch on CIA:

 

CIA is basically the same as Edwin, except he never got a send-off. He's witty, fun, and frankly I think that he's an easier fit than anyone else. King and Edwin doesn't work as well as a team because they need someone like Axis in between them, otherwise it'd be all witty banter between them about Daquiris and who beat Thugg better. CIA's never been done, and I think there's just more to the character that can be done that's new.

[Toxxic 0]

Judge, you can stop posting now

 

I still reckon Mak might work, if he was face Mak. Charismatic, a little bit of an ego, and knows a lot about wrestling.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Genius. Take one of ROH's flaws, and borrow it.

 

Bah. ROH isn't the same without Punk on commentary.

 

"Crotch hold and lift.", anyone? Didn't think so.

[Bruce Blank 0]

Here is a novel idea

 

someone new? make up an announcer from scratch with a personality and profile that people can work from and take it from there?

 

That way everyone starts out with not having used the guy before - instead of some remembering how they used to be and then bitching when someone who's joined the fed decades after they joined doesn't write them 100% the way they were once written in that one promo where he called Jimmy Reb an eggsucking dog.

 

Just throwing out an alternative.

[Toxxic 0]

Quiet. What better way to humiliate n00bs than repeatedly remind them how inadequate they are at knowing the fed's history?

[Bruce Blank 0]

Oh don't sell you and the others short - you know plenty of ways

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

CIA! Blissful nostalgia.

[Kaertos 0]

If I may throw in my $.02...

 

The commentary I always enjoyed writing best was a classic face / heel combo that had very little personality of their own. Back in the day (IGNJL, that is) we had Ben Hardy (classic face play-by-play, oversells everything, roots for the good guy pretty openly, knows his moves but is ocassionally baffled by the extremely rare or innovative) and Nervous Sheep (classic heel color, hates everything face, makes excuses for why the heels are heelish).

 

These worked because you didn't have to know anything about them to make them work.

 

Am I advocating going back to that? No, not really. But maybe using two commentators with less individual style than, say, Comet or Edwin, might not be a bad idea.

 

I remember when Grand Slam was a commentator, people were constantly worried that they might get hiom off-character or have him know something he shouldn;t or like a face that used to be a heel against him. I kept saying that it wasn't a big deal, but the fact they were worried about it shows that it was almost a burden to their writing.

 

Just some random thoughts on the matter from an old guy.

[The Ill One 0]

That's not a bad thought to have some simple characters that'd fit the basic face and heel commentary team. Plus the suggestion of Mak is an idea that has definitely grown on me. A bit cocky, knows just about everything there is to know, and is charismatic while being simple to write.

 

There's always Chris Wilson, evil mastermind extraordinaire with knowledge of pyrotechnics. (Read: Don't use Wilson)

[Guest The Satanic Angel]

My belief on commentators is that each guy (or girl) has to have at least one, maybe three at most, identifying qualities that can carry them no matter the situation. There was PepsiMAX for one guy and no pants for another. Aside from the face loving the faces for the sake of loving the faces, and the heels loving the heels for the sake of loving heels, one other pertinant trait that lets them stand out from the crowd. That way, the rest of their character can seem vanilla and be easily molded to whatever the match may call for.

 

Two people at the table is standard. Three can be a crowd, but it would make more conversation.

 

An off the wall suggestion ... NOTJ. Imagine him trying to keep from cussing ... the misplaced (bleep)s ... heckling from the other commentator ...

 

Yeah, maybe not.

[Above Average 0]

Firstly, IMO the three man booth concept is tough. It makes commentary less seemless and you have to find lines for people instead of letting it flow.

 

Respectfully Mark, I disagree. I loved writing GSMS because he had that fed backstory. You don't need to know it all, but his reactions were REAL cause he'd been involved and him trying to remain impartial (most times failing) while standing up for the faces could be written very dramatically. His character just FIT with the straight man play-by-play position and seemed like a logical progression. Honestly, I would suggest bringing him back now if it didn't go against the whole idea of his last feud.

 

I wouldn't mind if you used face Mak. I'd think he would work better as a color man like Tazz though. Him and King would be interesting, cause I think Mak could play the straight man, so if you guys could write him as a PBP then go for it.

 

But what about... Frost/King! Solely on interaction this would own the booth, but who do you make play-by-play. It'd have to be Frost and thats the problem. I don't see anybody listed as that play-by-play guy that Mark seemed to fill. CIA's a little too wacky to play the straight man. Axis rocks as the straight man, but is a little too bland.

 

I'd suggest Frost or CIA, but Axis may be your best choice to appease everyone. Hell pick Mak, if I write again I'll need all the advantage I can get!

 

Edit: somebody should find a list of all the old faces.

[Ace309 0]

You know, I think Charlie Matthews would really be a great straight-up play-by-play man.

[Toxxic 0]

But boring.

[Angel_Grace_Blue 0]

See, I was going to say what about that Mork Stofans guy.

 

However, I've got another idea: Axis the Spirit Medium (Or something). He's Axis, but each show (Hell, each match), another soul takes control of his body. Give Einstein's view of the match. Or Harry Carey!

[muzz 0]

I'd like to know the Marquis de Sade's thoughts on the SWF.

[Angel_Grace_Blue 0]

He'd probably say not enough ass sex.

 

Also, you could write a match with Axis-Rommel, Muzz. Huzzah!

[muzz 0]

That's perfect!