So I’ll be honest… I don’t know really how to go with this one… today’s topic is favourite commentary teams. Now for most people it’s the ones they grew up with, and well I kinda drifted in and out of being a fan over my more formative years… although I do go back and watch a lot of different stuff from different times… of course, with this series being WWE specific I am presented with a huge variety of commentary teams throughout the years and various shows.

So… as it’s a Sunday, as I did a blog already today, and I’m still feeling it a little bit both mentally and via alcohol my evening spent watching one of the worst PPVs I’ve ever seen… why don’t we try this… im just gonna talk about a commentary team I think for the time it was together was simple but effective. Gave you the good balance of entertainment but also enhanced the stories being told… you had a good guy play by play and a heel on colour, plain and simple…

It’s Jim Ross and Paul Heyman. Raw’s announce team for the large part of 2001. 

So the basic story of how this fantastic but all-too-short lasting commentary team began was that Jerry Lawler (previous colour commentator to the legendary Jim Ross) quit the company after a dispute… the dispute being that they fired his wife The Kat in February of 2001. And so in came Heyman, fresh off (if you can call it that) leaving behind ECW with it in bankruptcy and arrears of $7,000,000. So Heyman needed a new start and well and truly landed on his feet. 

Heyman came in right away casually championing ECW, and as the heel to the good of ‘Ol JR. And the two men of complete different backgrounds from completely different parts of America somehow had this chemistry that to me, made them a delight to listen to. And for me the best part of the famous WrestleMania 17 main event is the incredible job on commentary done by Heyman and Ross. It was your classic heel colour and face play-by-play duo team we have seen in Wrestling since almost the dawn of time… But it all took a new turn during the 2001 Invasion angle when Heyman became a key part of the story as his ECW crew was revived as the Invasion was taken ‘to the extreme’ as Paul Heyman and… (urgh) Stephanie McMahon’s ECW joined up with Shane McMahon’s WCW to form The Alliance to battle against Vince McMahon’s Team WWF. Heyman became much for biased towards the heels of the alliance and despite this still bounced well off Ross. Finally after The Invasion finished Heyman was publicly fired (on screen) by Vince and Jerry Lawler brought back, on the Raw after Survivor Series 2001 in what was actually a heck of a segment. Heyman was next seen on WWF TV the night after WrestleMania 18 acting as a manager to some rookie kid called ‘Brock Lesnar’… 

Since this both guys have done… well they’ve been busy… but with Heyman busy advocating for Beasts and also the small matter of him being essentially the lead writer of Monday Night Raw, I don’t think we will be hearing Heyman’s cocky and arrogant tones behind the commentary desk anytime soon. But whilst it lasted, it was fun, very fun indeed. 

Josh.