My Favorite Professional Wrestling Announcers

One of the most important elements to a professional wrestling company's success, yet also one of the least recognized and often least appreciated, is the commentary. A good broadcast journalist, accompanied by an excellent play by play color commentator often enhances the action that is taking place in the ring. And they talk about intriguing, interesting topics when the wrestling in the ring, isn't as spectacular. They make sense of what is happening, feeding us knowledge. They often make agreeable or disagreeable comments based on their biases for certain wrestlers and they often make us laugh. There have been many commentators throughout the history of professional wrestling, that I have enjoyed listening to.  Some I've enjoyed so much that I've listened to, without watching, various wrestling cards on my smartphone while traveling down the road. We all have our opinions on who was the best and here is mine.




#7 - Jim Ross

Good ole J.R. is in the minds of many, including his own, the greatest commentator of all time. In my opinion he isn't the greatest, but he is without question one of the greatest of all time. I enjoyed him most during his WCW years and then his early WWE years. He was so full of information and facts during that time. I loved how he would comment on the wrestler's histories, saying where they went to college, what they studied and if they excelled at a sport. It was fun knowing that some of my favorite professional wrestlers played football in college, or maybe the wrestled or played basketball. It humanized them to a degree, to where they were still real life superheroes and super villains, but ones that liked to play cards or ones that liked to read.  He never completely demystified a wrestler's character, but instead added little fun facts that made it easier to like and cheer for them. In 1996, with encouragement from upper management he went from being the man with all the facts, to being the guy that shouted, "He broke him in half!!!!" and "It's a damn shame!" along with other what soon became tiresome clichés. I didn't enjoy this Jim Ross as much. I don't think he did either. Today Ross has his own podcast, where he tells his own wrestling stories and has guest on to tell theirs. I listen to his podcast quite often. I enjoy it quite a bit.




#6 - Vince McMahon

Long before he became "Mr. McMahon" the evil owner of the World Wrestling Entertainment, he was simply a commentator on his own show. He seemed so insignificant and unimportant amongst the wrestlers and even the other commentators that I remember being extremely shocked back in 1992, when I found out that he was the owner and operator of the company. Unlike today, with the internet leaking out information left and right, back then things were much more kayfabe. McMahon had the persona that he was simply a worker for the company doing play by play on the matches and he played the character flawlessly. I enjoyed him as the commentator.  I sometimes wish now that his "Mr. McMahon" character has died out and faded away, with Triple H and Stephanie taking the position that he would come back and do commentary.  Of all things I've seen him do on screen, I feel he was best at that.




#5-Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig

Do you know why they called this guy perfect? He was! That's why. There wasn't anything this guy couldn't do. He could wrestle, he could manage and he could commentate. I enjoyed everything that he ever did and I miss the man immensely. I have no doubt that while his wrestling days would most likely be over, he'd be involved in professional wrestling in one way or the other today. What I loved about his commentary was how quick he was on his feet. He never allowed anyone to get the best of him or any situation to alter him up. Simply put, he was exactly what he said he was, "absolutely perfect."








#4 -Rowdy Roddy Piper

I thought a lot about Roddy Piper the other night and asked myself, "What made him so special?"  Why was he so beloved by so many people, including myself? Why do so many of us miss him so dearly? The answer is simple. It was his realism. He was a very sincere and genuine person, full of a lot of emotion. Sometimes that emotion was raw and sometimes it was crazy, even downright "Rowdy" but that's what made him so interesting. He was never disengaged and he was always intense and in the moment. He made what was happening on the screen real to me, because I think he made it real to himself. He had a magic about him that encompassed everyone he came in contact with, filling the atmosphere with energy. I sometimes find myself getting really into the moment, as I hear ole "Hot Rod" on the commentary and other times I find myself laughing at how insanely intense the man would get. Like Mr. Perfect, the guy could do it all and he did.  Commentating was simply one of his many gifts.





#3 - Jesse "The Body" Ventura

To this day, I've only seen a handful of Ventura's matches and to be quite honest none of them have impressed me all that much. It's funny to me that so many people refer to him as, "former professional wrestler" and remember him as a wrestler, because while he was a good wrestler, his wrestling was nothing much above average. What he should be remembered for instead, is how good of a professional wrestling announcer he was, because frankly he is one of the best of all time. Even though he was a heel commentator, I appreciated him because I felt that he did a great job of exposing the fact that the good guy wrestlers didn't always play by the rules either. That sometimes the bad guy wrestlers, even though they were jerks, had more integrity and class than the good guy wrestlers did. People talk a lot about how the Attitude Era of professional wrestling broke boundaries with the idea of wrestling not being so black and white and having more shades of gray, but I think Ventura was illustrating that a good 10 years prior with his superior commentating skills. Like many successful people, Ventura has a variety of useful skills, his voice being perhaps his best.



#2 - Bobby "the Brain" Heenan

If I find out one day there is a God, and I'm allowed to ask questions, one of the questions I will ask  is why he took away (or allowed it to be taken away) a man's greatest asset in life?  If I think about all of my favorite things about professional wrestling and what made me fall in love with professional wrestling, listening to Bobby Heenan talk might be the number one reason. Today, if you are unaware, Bobby is no longer able to speak. A vicious battle with throat cancer has lead to his lower jaw being removed. If I could, I'd give him the ability to speak again and I think a lot of wrestling fans would. Professional wrestling is all about entertainment and few if any could entertain as well as Heenan did. He was intelligent, he was witty and above all else he was funny. I've laughed more listening to him ramble on and "weasel" his way out of predicaments he put himself into, than I have watching comedies or comedians on T.V.   A great wrestling personality and also a great person, I wish things were different for Heenan. I wish that he could still speak and continue to share his gift with the world. A great wrestling personality and a great person, Bobby is truly one of the best.





#1 - Gorilla Monsoon

I loved everything about the Gorilla, and all these years later, I miss him as much today as I did the day he passed away. Whether it was with Jesse Ventura or Bobby Heenan, his commentary for me is second to no one. He knew how to play off his broadcasting partners and make what was going on in the booth just as entertaining and sometimes even more entertaining than what was going on in the ring. I loved how he was his own person and said what he felt. He never seemed to be controlled or saying something because someone else wanted him to say it. He had a thought, he shared it and I loved that about him. Although he didn't live to see it, he also worked hard to bridge the gap between amateur and professional wrestling and I think he'd be happy to see how far it has come since his passing. I guess all things, good and bad have their place and their time.  I'm sad that his time and his time doing commentary for professional wrestling has passed.  I feel very lucky and honored to have been alive during his time though.  Through youtube, movies and television his memory will live on forever.