6 Ups & 3 Downs From NXT Great American Bash 2023

2. Need Developmental For Announcers

Booker T Commentary
WWE.com

Remember how NXT was originally a developmental territory for everyone, not just the wrestlers but the referees, crew and even the announcers? They tried out different combinations of play-by-play men and analysists over the first several years, breaking in several current mainstays.

But the current duo of Vic Joseph and Booker T might be beyond help as a pairing. They’re perversely entertaining – if you enjoy trainwrecks. Booker not knowing the rules of a mixed tag match was bad enough, but having a submission match where the announcers don’t call the actual submission holds by their names (Fujiwara armbar, Mexican surfboard, bow and arrow, body vice) was unforgivable.

WWE doesn’t like calling moves that aren’t signature spots, but it was ridiculous watching Thea Hail and Tiffany Stratton run through a bunch of submission holds and Vic and Booker spent more time squabbling with each other than putting over the severity of the moves. It would have given gravity to the match while educating casual fans a bit more.

Try picturing Excalibur giving a rundown of the pain inflicted by each hold and you can already see the difference. Instead, someone must think Booker babbling incoherently and Vic losing his mind while yelling is what the fans really want.

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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.