This past week on Monday Night Raw Booker T, Michael Cole, and John Bradshaw Layfield called the action. This was thought to be a temporary change due to Jerry ‘The King” Lawler being hospitalized due to a bout with Diverticulitis. Word broke this past Wednesday that starting the following week the Booker T would replace The King on Raw. The King is being moved to Smackdown to work with Michael Cole and Byron Saxton. It was noted that Lawler would still do commentary on PPV’s as well.
There hasn’t been a major change to either commentary team since Jim Ross was moved to Smackdown. That’s not to discount the addition of JBL or Tom Phillips, but Jim Ross and The King were universally known as the voices of WWE. The Nick Paglino of Wrestlezone.com has reported that WWE has been trying to find a way to transition The King off of Raw for some time now. WWE is using the Smackdown schedule change as an excuse, stating they want to make sure the commentary team is strong since Smackdown is on new night
It’s interesting to note that Triple H and Stephanie McMahon have heaped high praise on Renee Young and have seemingly been grooming her to take one of the main commentary spots. With the announcing teams being shifted, one would have thought now would be a good time to promote her to the main event so to speak. Byron Saxton has been providing commentary on Main Event and NXT, so his addition to Smackdown does make sense. He is seemingly farther along than Young; he has been doing commentary for much longer.
It will be interesting to see how the changes effect how the in ring product is being conveyed. One of the major points of contention has been how bad the commentary for both show has been. Will swapping The King for Booker T change that? Probably not. The commentary crew gets a bad rap because of all of the app pushing and the lack of focus on what is happening in the ring. The thing that fans tend not to realize is that the commentators are essentially being told what to say in their headset. This isn’t the attitude era, no one, not even the wrestlers are given costless reign to do or say anything.
In the end, change for the sake of change is never a good thing. Let’s wait and see if this “shake up” has any positive results on either shows otherwise lackluster announcing.