On Friday evening, JBL announced that he would be “stepping back” from his position as a commentator for the SmackDown Live brand in order to focus his efforts more on Beyond Rugby Bermuda and similar philanthropic endeavors.
For the IWC, this meant a brief moment of “aww, nice” followed by instant speculation of “what does this mean!?”
The biggest thing to get around, of course, is finding a replacement for him, as WWE’s current model is to have a three-man booth for all shows.
Raw has Michael Cole, Corey Graves and Booker T. NXT has Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness and Percy Watson. SmackDown now just has Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton. 205 Live is the only show with a two-man operation (Corey Graves and Vic Joseph) and there are definitely some alterations that will need to be made going forward.
There’s a multitude of possible options available to WWE and no news has come out as to how things will change, which means its up to us to fill our brains with speculation and wishful thinking of how this will go down.
Keep in mind that my list of choices is purely my own likes and dislikes mixed with some calculated guessing, as opposed to any kind of news report on any of these options being true.
With that being said, what do I think WWE needs to do in order to replace JBL?
David NOtunga
Absolutely not, under any circumstances, is it the right move to just shove David Otunga into this role and wipe your hands of it like it’s an easy call.
Otunga was part of the commentary team in WWE for years in various capacity and was never any good, whether he was playing the part of the heel, the babyface, color commentary, play-by-play or anything else.
Even as a pre-show panel analyst, he still struggles to have any kind of enthusiasm in his voice worth listening to, which is the entire purpose of the commentary booth.
Yes, he’s still employed by the company, and they may be looking for a different role in how to utilize him going forward, but this is not the spot he’s best suited for.
His boring demeanor wouldn’t work alongside Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton, who are also on the tamer side, and the blue brand would have no passion behind it.
A Heel Color Commentator is Necessary
For that matter, WWE needs to make sure whoever they slide into this role knows how to not just have passion, but can provide a different point of view from Phillips and Saxton, who are ear-to-ear smile babyfaces.
Like him or hate him, you have to admit that JBL served a purpose as being a red hot branding iron at times, injecting a conversation with some ferocity by being belligerent and disagreeing with the other people on the panel.
This is the type of person WWE needs to replace JBL with—someone who can tap into that same anger and make an argumentative case for why the heels are as great as they say they are, instead of merely copying and pasting the same chastising tone Phillips and Saxton will have already voiced, but for a third time.
As much as I liked Jerry Lawler back in the day, he isn’t his former self anymore. The King has been a babyface for so many years that I don’t think he could do the job justice like he used to, nor do I think he would even be interested in working that kind of schedule.
The same goes for Jim Ross, but even more so, since he’s essentially never been anything but a champion for the good guys and was a play-by-play man anyway, rather than a color commentator. Obviously, you can say the same thing about Mauro Ranallo, who likely wouldn’t be up for this anyway since his current deal has much less dates and allows more flexibility.
I like Phillips and I’ve grown to tolerate Saxton, but what I can’t deny is that they lack personality, which is what someone needs in this kind of role, more so than pure technical expertise.
Triple Duty for Corey Graves?
One option I can see happening is WWE taking Corey Graves and just adding one more responsibility to his work order, as he is already traveling to SmackDown events as part of the 205 Live commentary team.
If it’s necessary to cut one of those three and there isn’t a viable enough candidate for the replacement, SmackDown takes priority over 205 Live, so Vic Joseph would need to find a new partner at the table, and as that’s such a lower level of importance, nobody would probably care who that would be.
The danger with this, though, is it illustrates WWE’s lack of resources for this type of position and it leads to Graves oversaturation by spreading him too thin.
A Women’s Opinion
It would be such a refreshing change of pace if WWE could find a woman to fit into JBL’s spot, just for something different.
Of course, this is given the assumption that said woman would be qualified for the position as opposed to getting the job just because she happens to be a woman, as the idea of being progressive should never outweigh the conditions of the job’s performance to begin with.
Ideally, though, if a woman could be brought on board to play the heel color commentator role and pull it off in a pleasing way, that could be an amazing way to differentiate Raw and SmackDown.
Most people might have a gut reaction of saying they want Lana in this position, but I would disagree. Her voice is not suited for that type of speaking role as opposed to being a manager/valet/wrestler.
Renee Young comes to mind, but while she dabbled in commentary in NXT, her heart seems to be deeply and firmly rooted in the interview style of broadcast work, which is also what she’s best at.
I’m under the impression that the rest of the women currently on WWE’s payroll would also be in a similar situation, like Charly Caruso, Kayla Braxton and Cathy Kelley. All those women and the rest don’t strike me as heel color commentators able to pick up the slack Phillips and Saxton will leave as far as the personality department of analysis goes.
Maybe this is where Summer Rae could find a new place for herself in WWE, since they don’t seem to want to put her back between the ropes? I have no idea if that would be a horrible idea or not, but without knowing, I’ll at least entertain the notion.
From the Reserves
Quite often when WWE is in this conundrum, the company turns to former wrestlers to fill in the gaps.
At times, this can work for the better like JBL to begin with, but at other times, we get someone trying out something they just aren’t suited for.
Having not watched an episode of Main Event in years, I have no idea if R-Truth is good enough for the position, but he may be a go-to prospect since he’s more familiar with the job than many others would be.
Mark Henry hasn’t been doing too much as of late, so I would be very interested to see what he had to offer as a color commentator for the blue brand.
If Dolph Ziggler isn’t going to wrestle because his current character is frustrated with the lack of support from the crowd, his style could work very well as a bitter heel who runs people down and can bring a lot of passion to the position.
Assuming he isn’t busy, Christian could be a potentially great choice, since we know he can talk and he can play up the heel role really well, too.
I can’t imagine Tyson Kidd being an ace in the hole, nor any of the other producers save for Road Dogg, since at least he has the charisma and a knack for promos.
Perhaps there’s a legend out there just waiting for the phone call…
A Rotating Panelist
What if there’s no right answer to this right now, so WWE can have the best of both worlds by taking time to find the right person while also playing around with many different options?
One interesting idea could be to have this third headset dedicated to a guest commentator which is different every week.
Sometimes, you can bring in an old legend if he or she lives around the area. Other times, you can have an injured superstar so you can get them on TV. Maybe you can test out the broadcast team members like Renee Young or even Peter Rosenberg.
This is a good opportunity to test out all sorts of possibilities without needing to commit to anything that will potentially pan out to be a mistake, and it could last for weeks or even months on end while giving people the impression that it’s new and exciting rather than a mercy ploy to hire new talent.
My Choices
In my mind, I’d love to see someone new and exciting, preferably a woman, take on the heel color commentary spot, but I don’t know anybody who can fit that bill.
Since that’s the case, my go-to favorite pick would be Christian, followed by the rotating panel idea and then Mark Henry to round out the top three prospects.
WWE has had some pretty terrible commentators over the years and I just hope that we get another Paul Heyman as opposed to another Todd Grisham.
What do you think will happen with this situation and what are you hoping for above the rest? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
