At this point, complaining about the Raw announcing team is akin to beating a dead horse, but while things have come a long way since Michael Cole's unbearable heel run of a few years ago, the current setup still warrants plenty of criticism. Cole is a good lead announcer, but he'll always be in Jim Ross's shadow. JBL has his amusing moments, but his shouting and constant disagreements with his colleagues come off as largely annoying - he's far from the iconoclastic, but hilarious, heel commentator Bobby Heenan was in his day. Byron Saxton gets less time to talk than his co-hosts, despite the fact that he's ostensibly being readied for a lead announcer role on the day Vince McMahon decides Michael Cole is too old or ugly. Still, the lion's share of the blame for the announcing falls on McMahon, who spends shows telling the announcers what they ought to say over their earpieces. He's responsible for the points they stress and the logic they ignore, and so he's ultimately at fault for any problems with commentary. Still, the current setup leaves a lot to be desired.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
