First off let me start off by saying that I officially hate Jerry 'The King' Lawler. I am sick of his lousy commentary. A color commentator is suppossed to help add to what is going on in the ring NOT take away from it. If I wanted to hear a play by play and a bunch of dumb jokes about the blonde at ringside I'd have my friends over for RAW more often. I don't even care who you bring in. Bring in Taz, Henning, Heyman, Cyrus, Disco Inferno, 'Fruity Booty' Stevie Ray. It really doesn't matter who you bring in. Just please, PLEASE let it be someone who will call the action in front of them and play the role of the heel. I'm sure there are a million old wrestlers out there that can still talk, plunk one of them down by J.R.. Anything, until then I will continue to hate Jerry 'The King' Lawler. Thank You.
So why not have a three man commentary table? JR on Play-by-Play, The King as the tweener, and someone for true heel color. That way we'd have two guys to keep Lawler in line and stop trying to burst our eardrums with the "puppies!" stuff.
I was afraid that as the net goes through one of its periodic "blind marking is good, so Lawler roolz" waves that I was alone in my utter annoyance with Lawler. He has never added anything to a match for me. I can make more than enough perverted comments by myself to get my fill of that. His style just seems out of place in the modern WWF, just like Okerlund or Heenan's would (and did at WMX7) I can't say that I have enjoyed him on commentary at all since he returned, and I definitely pine for Heyman's return.
I don't like Lawler all that much, but I thought Heyman was horrible--his voice, everything.
The only thing I do like about Lawler is that I find it amusing is when Stephanie shows up and you can tell he comes close to his usual "Puppies" routine but he really can't because, hey, it's the boss's daughter!
"Worship the Hardys, but you know--eat a salad once in a while."--Stevie Richards.
i like lawler. the man is fifty something years old and he STILL loves breasts just as much as when he was thirteen. he's got that old catskills type humor to him: "i'd like to go to florida and tampa with her!" plus, some of the cracks he's been making about marriage and unemployment lately have been hysterical.
he only needs to be on one show though. and they should have a gay version too: "STRUDLE!!!"
I grew up watching Lawler every Saturday morning so you won't hear me say anything bad about him. However, a 3-man commentary team with JR, King and Heyman would be great in my opinion. It would really liven things up.
Of course, the real issue to me is, what will happen when JR is finally done? Are they really going to stick with Cole. He is just too damn annoying on his play-by-play for my tastes. Honestly, I don't know if there is anyone out there they could get (except maybe Styles). Much like Summerall, sooner or later, Good 'Ol JR is going to have to hang it up, and who will be waiting in the wings when that day comes?
I'd like to add another vote for the three man commentary team. Having said that though, the only time I think Lawler really detracts from the product is during the women's matches. I mean they've actually managed to put together a decent feud involving Trish and Jazz that the fans actually care about, and Lawler talking about Trish's tits just totally lowers the tone. Fine if he wants to drool over Stacy or whoever, because we're not supposed to take those types as serious competitors (not that Trish and Jazz are "serious competitors" but you know what I mean). They've got Trish and Jazz to a place where they don't need gravy and wet t-shirts to make us care, so why cheapen it? I mean, if the angle is Jazz slamming a lid down to break Trish's hand, I could do without Lawler pointing out that you can see Trish's boobs better at that angle.
You'd never get:
"Oh my, the Undertaker is gonna crush Rock's larynx!!!" "Yeah, J.R., and you can really see the strudle while he's got him like that!"
now would you?
(Thank God).
So why not have Lawler tone down a bit, just during the title matches?
"Nobody enjoys a good time more than I do, but this business of yours is as legitimate as a three-legged donkey...which of course is illegitimate because as we all know donkeys have four legs."
I just don't like the King because he adds nothing to the broadcast. I think a commentator's main role is to to an angle or a wrestler over. He doesn't do either. He gets breasts over, that is about it. Heyman was alot better at getting things over. I am sure he could sit in that chair and tell us why we should fear the NWO. But King is too busy jacking off under the desk to even care.
January 4th 1999 - The day WCW injected itself with 10 gallons of Liquid Anthrax...AKA...The day Hogan "Defeated" Nash to win the WCW title in front of 40,000.
Originally posted by dskillzI am sure he could sit in that chair and tell us why we should fear the NWO.
Heyman sitting there saying the invasion failed because the nWo had weakened WCW too much in his trademark bitter tirade style would be the proverbial best thing ever.
Plus, even the King himself admitted that Heyman was better than him at certain things so I still reckon the three man Heyman-Lawler-J.R. team would be the way to go. The J.R.-Heyman combo on it's own was a bit too serious sometimes, so I still reckon the King does have a role to fill, albeit a toned down one.
Just as long as Michael "Shill" Cole isn't involved I'll probably see any commentary team as having virtues. Now there's a guy who sucks.
"Nobody enjoys a good time more than I do, but this business of yours is as legitimate as a three-legged donkey...which of course is illegitimate because as we all know donkeys have four legs."
Lawler is just fine when he's talking about the match and the wrestlers, and particularly when he adds a little insight. Yes, it happens once in a while.
The libido factor is an extreme irritant. Every time a pair of breast implants comes within fifty feet, his voice goes up three octaves, and it gets old VERY fast. The super-soaker bit from a few weeks ago was stupid enough that I changed the channel until it was over.
Heyman's just as capable of providing insight. Both men are just as good as the scripts they're told to read and characters they're asked to play, of course, and Lawler probably does a slightly better job of handling the bad moments. (Heyman's a gem when he's spewing worked-shoot invective, but when given "talk about the dumb angle of the moment" duty, he seems like he's going through the motions sometimes.)
There will never be a women's match taken seriously with Lawler doing commentary, but this IS the WWF, after all -- the last WWF women's match that impressed me very much had the Jumping Bomb Angels in it. (No slight intended to Molly, Jazz and Ivory, who probably deserve better.)
HELLO KITTY gang terrorizes city, family STICKERED to death!
I 'd have to agree, Lawler has ALWAYS annoyed me. The crowning moment was last night's RAW when he mentioned Trip's quadracep "angle" or something along those lines. I was flabbergasted (and that's pretty painful). Lawler is an immature nympho who needs to go hang around high schools and not the commentary table.
Lawler's schtick is soooo old. And I can't hate him for having an old schtick. Well, I can, but it's a "wish you got a new schtick so until you do, I can do without you" hate.
Heyman's just as capable of providing insight. Both men are just as good as the scripts they're told to read and characters they're asked to play, of course, and Lawler probably does a slightly better job of handling the bad moments.
1) Lawler has said in numerous interviews he likes to stay uninformed so a more natural reaction comes out of him. Which definitely explains a lot.
2) How does Jerry handle the bad moments better? With his serious voice? Or the straight face?
3) Paul Heyman was unbelievable during his time. He stressed feuds and put over wrestlers. Hell, Rhyno owes his popularity to him bc of the GOAR GOAR GOAR call. The best part was when him and JR would get into a loud argument ending with JR telling him to kiss his ass. The personal comments added to it too. If only Paul hit Jim with a cell phone that last night! Sigh, I miss Paul E.
Lawler has said in numerous interviews he likes to stay uninformed so a more natural reaction comes out of him. Which definitely explains a lot.
I think it'd be interesting for Lawler sit in on one of those production meetings he's always ditching so he knows what's going to happen and has time to prepare himself for how he's going to respond. I bet he'd be a lot better then.
Any time I think about how annoying Lawler is two words come to mind and I don't mind him so much anymore...
Those two words? MARK MADDEN.
For those of you who lived through that period of nitro, you know the pain.
They gotta bring these back!!!: "talk to the hand because the man don't understand." - "The Crippler" Chris Benoit "...and that is the LAST WORD." - "The Big Nasty" Paul Wight and of course: "Don't hate the playa...HATE THE GAME~!" - WCW World Champion Booker T
A couple of people said that the announcer's goal is to get the wrestlers and angle over. That may be true, but ultimately the WWF's goal is to make money. That means ratings, attendance, merchandising, and PPV buy rates. Now I don't know about the merchandise, but I do know that ratings haven't changed significantly one way or the other since Lawler has came back, and it doesn't look like attendance or PPV buy rates have either. So could it be that ultimately the announcer is not all that important to business? If they can survive Michael Cole, how big of a deal could it be?
Now add to that the fact (at least I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere) that Paul Heyman really didn't want to be the color commentator, and was looking for a way to be just a backstage writer (I didn't get much ECW around here, but he wasn't much of a on-air character there either, was he?). And Lawler does have experience at that role, and seems to actually want the job. And he is a known quantity for the WWF, unlike a Styles or Gertner. And he seems to be very loyal to the company (they fired his wife, which led to him quitting, which led to him losing his wife; but all the while he spent most of his time begging for his job back). So the WWF probably doesn't seem any great need to get rid of Lawler.
Also, Jerry works for Vince. If Vince wanted him to quit talking about puppies and acting like a 13 year old, all he would have to do is tell him. So his style must be company approved. I agree that since Trish and Jazz are actually putting on good matches, I wish that Lawler would recognize that and treat it more seriously (well, notice that Jazz doesn't get that treatment...maybe Jazz doesn't do it for him, or maybe he is afraid she will kick his ass). But like I said, the WWF doesn't seem to do anything about it, so it makes me wonder whether there is any real plan to ever have the WWF women's division taken seriously.
"A color commentator is suppossed to help add to what is going on in the ring NOT take away from it."
... I absolutely agree here. I'd love to see Heyman return to the announcers' table for this reason.
But I WILL say that Lawler had me LMAO, more than I have in a long time, during the Steph-HHH pregnancy interview. Lawler saying "She's pregnant!!" over and over again -- and each time conveying a new level of shock, bewilderment, emotional "support", and downright hysteria each time -- was just great. It was almost like Lawler couldn't decide if he wanted to mock it, or if he was about to shed sincere tears of joy for Stephanie.
After Steph's announcement, J.R. still wondered if the Game would reconsider and renew the wedding vows ... and Lawler summoned his "whimpering female" voice, saying "She's pregnant!! ... He has to!!". HILARIOUS.
"WHAT? You were gonna say somethin'. WHAT?" "WHAT? Son of a what?" "WHAT? It smells like crap out here! You're fulla what? He's fulla what? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? You're a jackass!"
They are trying this out on a UK channel before a full wrestling channel. It's quite good, programmes I've seen so far are: *Ring of Honor *NWA-TNA *UK Wrestling *Japanese Wrestling (I think Michinoku Pro but that could be wrong)