8. Can The Raw Announce Team Improve?
From @TheFifthDoctor on Twitter The WWE Raw announce team is simply dreadful. How would you sort it out? They don't even seem to call the matches any more.
While I agree with your point, it's also a case of these men being told what to do by their bosses. Vince McMahon still has a major role on WWE commentary in terms of coaching them on what he wants to say while Executive Producer Kevin Dunn has been running WWE programming since 1993. You think people are going to change after they've been in a job for over 20 years? It's not happening. I think Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and especially John Bradshaw Layfield are very good at what they are produced to do for the most part. In the case of Michael Cole, his commentary is similar to Vince McMahon in the 1980s and 1990s. Vince wasn't very good at calling moves. He didn't care about calling them. It was about getting the characters over. Cole is the same way. He'll let out an "ooohhh" when there's a big move just as often as he might call it a suplex. Jerry Lawler should probably retire within the next year or two, but he's also somebody that has been calling WWE action for the majority of 20 years and likely has the trust of Vince McMahon as much as anybody. From his perspective, why stop? He works a handful of days per month. It's a great job if you can get it and keep it. I think JBL is the best of the three. He's a traditional heel announcer. It would be nice if Jim Ross was there to call the action with him because JR thrived with over the top heel announcers like Jerry Lawler in the 1990s and Paul Heyman. JBL tries to make banter with the others, but they're not as sharp as him. Having a heel announcer is refreshing because it was too boring with just Cole and Lawler there. Unfortunately if you're frustrated with the announcers now it's probably not going to change any time soon. McMahon and Dunn are set in their ways.