10 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (July 25)

5. Can We Have A Byron Brand?

Byron_Saxton_bio

There are times you wish you could have a scrapheap draft, where you choose the flotsam and jettison it to some wasteland.

Of course, we’re talking about Byron Saxton here.

Saxton has (rightly) been derided as not bringing anything good to the commentary booth, and that was on full display Monday night, as he was immediately overshadowed, exposed and marginalized by newcomer Corey Graves. Saxton and Graves shared the NXT commentary table, so they have history (and some chemistry), but that didn’t make Byron more watchable.

Maybe Vince McMahon thinks Byron brings something good to the table (and hopefully that “something good” isn’t solely diversity, because talent should be the first consideration). Saxton’s goofy persona isn’t endearing; it isn’t funny; it isn’t entertaining; it isn’t even heelish enough to make Byron a heel commentator. It’s just plain annoying. Saxton oozes a “mute the television” feeling, which is exactly what you don’t want.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.