AEW Vs. NXT: Who Won The First Battle?

3. Commentary

Cody Montez Ford
AEW

How important is commentary, really?

The standards are so low now as to inspire fierce debate - Michael Cole's robotic work, in part, is blamed anecdotally for RAW's decline in viewership - but he was worse in 1999, the year in which WWE drew its highest ever ratings. His whiny shrieking and complete lack of insight and gravitas didn't sell nor detract from the action. The star power and fascination rendered him an inconvenience at worst.

Mauro Ranallo is passionate, polished, and has the perfect voice and cadence to put over combat sports action. He is also too distracting: should a commentator really be as equal parts over and maligned as he is? His schtick about Matt Riddle not wanting to be a "fall guy" - get it, the season we are in is called "fall" - was dreadful, but he was more disciplined than he can be. It's all a bit much, but the commentary lends itself perfectly to NXT's aim to overwhelm the viewer with action.

AEW's new commentary delivered at the crucial time: Jim Ross barely buried the product, restoring his old professionalism if not his old genius, but Tony Schiavone was a revelation: witty, authoritative, and happy to be there, the objective worst element of AEW's presentation improved by orders of magnitude.

WINNER: DRAW

(AEW 3 - 3 NXT)

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!