I don't know if Sid's a great promo but he was a awful announcer in USWA with Dave Brown.

Dusty & Tony were a very good team together on Saturday Night. Especially once Nitro took off and Saturday Night was very much a B-Show. Dusty kept that show entertaining even when you had no reason to care about the match that was taking place. No, he wasnt going to make you care about the match but he would at least keep you from totally tuning out. Would blame any 3 man booth problems on Heenan who never fit in WCW regardless of who he was paired with.

I could never figure out why Heenan had no chemistry with anyone in WCW. It wasn't as though his schtick only worked with Monsoon in the WWF. It was pretty effective with McMahon and Piper too. Different style of product?

I don't think Heenan's heart was in it without Gorilla with him in the booth

One thing that crossed my mind is that Heenan played a character in the WWF (former manager turned broadcast journalist) and had a lot of running jokes. In WCW, he was kind of a third wheel. He'd add a joke every now and again, but they weren't that funny and they didn't take up stretches of the commentary like they did in the WWF. Plus, he'd have to make serious comments about feuds or WCW and the NWO and they were never particularly convincing either. But in a two man situation on their taped shows, there was no one for him to play off. I think he would have even struggled with Jim Ross. In a way, Bobby arriving in the booth was almost as jolting and out of place as Hogan's arrival. A bit cartoony compared with the first half of '94.

I think he and Tony Schiavone had absolutely no chemistry together whatsoever. Despite spending something like six years working with each other, they never really learned how to work with one another at all. And yet despite their obvious lack of chemistry, they worked together for over six years - longer than Schiavone worked with any other announcer and almost as long as Heenan worked with Gorilla Monsoon. WCW probably should have made a change a lot sooner but for whatever reason, it never happened.

Heenan was also pretty open about only being there for the paycheck. Apparently the first time he tried to give Bischoff a suggestion, Bisch blew him off in a really condescending manner. So Bobby just shrugged and was all like "okay, if that's how it's gonna be..." and put forth no more effort than was needed to collect his big Turner money. Heenan was also audibly drunk on multiple shows; if he always had a few before the broadcast began (which often seemed like an epidemic with practically everyone on Nitro), then obviously that would hurt his performance too.

The thing I really dont understand about Heenan in WCW is why it took them so long to take him out of the booth. It seemed like even Bischoff wasnt a big fan of working with him when they were in the booth together.

Whether anyone in WCW thought highly of his work or not, I think WCW kept Heenan around for perception reasons. When you have Hogan and Savage on top, and Heenan and Okerlund as announcers, it adds to the perception that all of the old WWF stars have moved to WCW.

Yea but by 96 when they had already taken off and moved past the kiddy shit of late 94-95 Bobby just stuck out like a sore thumb. I can see that reasoning in 94-95 but by the middle of 1996 they didnt need Bobby for perception anymore, they had already taken over as the #1 promotion.

Did Jake Roberts ever have a go at commentating anywhere?

It's possible he did commentary on WCW Saturday Night during his brief run there. It may have been for just a match but I don't know.

The Clash DVD has a match with Heenan/Solie commentating. THAT'S a jarring combination.

One thing that crossed my mind is that Heenan played a character in the WWF (former manager turned broadcast journalist) and had a lot of running jokes. In WCW, he was kind of a third wheel. He'd add a joke every now and again, but they weren't that funny and they didn't take up stretches of the commentary like they did in the WWF. Plus, he'd have to make serious comments about feuds or WCW and the NWO and they were never particularly convincing either. But in a two man situation on their taped shows, there was no one for him to play off. I think he would have even struggled with Jim Ross. In a way, Bobby arriving in the booth was almost as jolting and out of place as Hogan's arrival. A bit cartoony compared with the first half of '94.

The thing that's more confusing for me is that they brought in Heenan when they already had the GOAT colour man in Ventura who'd done the impossible and made a pairing with Schiavone work pretty well by that stage. Why bring in Heenan?

 

Unless they KNEW that Ventura wouldn't stick around for a Hogan-dominated product, can't see any reason to change things at that stage. Heenan was always Ventura's number 2 in WWF, doesn't make sense to come bring him in while Jesse is still around.

 

As for why they didn't change Heenan for so long, who else was there by 99 who had name value and could do an effective colour job? Jesse was Governor of Minnesota by then.

 

Who were they going to bring in?

 

I guess Dusty or Piper, but that doesn't seem very satisfactory to me.

You have to remember that whether valid or not, WCW wasn't exactly happy with Jesse Ventura's work. The perception was that he coasted on his name, didn't follow angles closely, and that he was just there to collect a paycheck. I would call Heenan worse in every one of those categories, and I'd take WCW Jesse Ventura over him any day of the week. Sometimes decisions are made that just don't make sense, but I think it was booker Ric Flair that pushed for Heenan and Okerlund to be hired. And in retrospect, who wouldn't pick up Bobby Heenan during that time period if he became available?

Jesse would have been awesome during the NWO angle. I can just picture him hanging out with Hall and Nash promising to call it straight down the middle like he did with the Mega Bucks vs the Mega Powers.

 

I suppose they could have made a run at Lawler, Jerry.

Here's a thought: if WCW didn't hire Heenan in 1994 and Jesse hadn't have left, would he have gone on to his political career?

He'd already begun his political career. Jesse was actually serving as mayor of his home town during his entire WCW tenure. (I guess running the affairs of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota left him with considerable free time on his hands.)

Have to agree with the remarks about Heenan in WCW: He was a fish out of water there. In WWF, he worked well alongside Gorilla, Vince, Piper, Savage and even Jim Ross. During KOTR 93, Ross and Heenan were quickly able to work off each other.

 

I'd absolutely put Cornette at the top of my color commentator list. Cornette could get over the match, the participants and everything else while still dropping in enough one-liners to crack you up. Heck, he even worked well as a face commentator for the brief period he and the Midnights were faces in WCW.

 

Haven't seen Terry Funk mentioned -- I thought he was pretty solid with his run as a commentator during early 90s WCW. I can remember him being pretty effective calling alongside Chris Cruise on the syndicated WCW shows.

You wanna know how good Cornette was on commentary?

 

He carried Shane Mcmahon thru a two hour Raw broadcast. He did everything he could to make Shane sound good. Playing off whatever inane shit Shane was saying and using it to build the match.

What do people think about Ernie Ladd when he was on commentary for Mid-South and some of his brief stuff with the WWF? I liked his work quite a bit.

How about Nick Bockwinkel?

I LOVE Bock's WWF announcing. It's so different than anything else you get.

Ray Stevens was pretty fucking terrible in the AWA. He was a low point when he was doing a lot of color commentary in 1988.

You wanna know how good Cornette was on commentary?

 

He carried Shane Mcmahon thru a two hour Raw broadcast. He did everything he could to make Shane sound good. Playing off whatever inane shit Shane was saying and using it to build the match.

When did that happen?