Jack Korpela: He….I mean Jack Korpela (trying to practice getting rid of the pronouns)…..has been for the last several years the man trying to convince you to dish out 40 bucks within the last half hour before the PPV’s as he…..Jack Korpela…. hosts the PPV countdown show from the studios in Stamford. Recently, Korpela has begun doing the play by play for the Smackdown matches on WWE Superstars. If you are one of the 500,000 watching Superstars, you probably don’t notice him much and that is a good thing.
If you are the play by play guy for RAW or Smackdown, you have more narration and cues that need to be done. You are dealing with the major stories being told and many of your sound bites are collected to be used and help tell the story of a particular feud in the recap videos that are ran for the PPV countdown show.
If you are commentating for WWE Superstars, there isn’t a major story involving JTG or Curt Hawkins that needs to be told. You tell the story in the match of what is going on, but its not nearly as drawn out, historic and prominent as what you deal with in a John Cena/Nexus feud. So Korpela needs to call the match but not go overboard. As I said, you don’t need to notice him much. He has an interesting mix of telling the story but has some old school tendencies of calling the moves as well. He manages to do it without letting one overshadow the other. My opinion, he makes the most sense to be bumped up as doing play by play for Friday nights whenever they are ready to pull Michael Cole off of the double duty.
Scott Stanford: Joined Jack Korpela in doing the countdown show to the PPV’s and also began calling the RAW matches on WWE Superstars. My problem with Stanford is I do notice him. I listen to him and he is pulling out random trivial facts. Now obviously you want to prepare and have background on the characters and guys you are dealing with, but I feel he overcompensates. He overcompensates because he knows he doesn’t feel as comfortable out at ringside. He just doesn’t make me buy into that he loves the product as much as I need to and my wallet needs to. On a smaller note, youth movement, I feel he is a bit past that mark. Gotta set up for the future. If your gonna put an age veto on wrestlers in development, do it for commentators as well. Make sure they are in touch with what product you have. Keep Scott on the countdown show where trivial facts can be put in the teleprompter all day long.
Todd Grisham: The guy who is the reason for Michael Cole doing both brands. Grisham appeared to be the next in line as far as play by play guys go ranking wise for the company, and the live Smackdown and other instances seem to show that his headset just doesn’t fit. What he was saying for his commentary for the stories never seemed bad, it was the way he would say it. If you happen to have to still have access to the live Smackdown on SyFy from a few months ago, go back and listen to the lack of energy he has and the ribbing he got on-air from his colleagues. Now I am not basing this one show on my assessment of him, but think it sums it up. Just doesn’t get into the show or deep down doesn’t have that little boy in him that is a fan! I feel he is above doing the PPV countdown show for the rest of his life but not the guy to be the voice of either of the brands.
The color commentary position is a different criteria.
The booms and busts when it comes to color commentators on page 3
