Best Announcer                          

Award Description:

To be given to the commentator/announcer who makes the most insightful and
entertaining comments while pushing his product.  "Ring announcers" don't
qualify here.  As of 1992, the difference between this and colour commentator 
will be enforced. 

Previous Winners:

  1990: Jesse Ventura 
  1991: Jesse Ventura 
  1992: Jim Ross 
  1993: Jim Ross 
  1994: Jim Ross 
  1995: Jim Ross
  1996: Jim Ross
  1997: Jim Ross
  1998: Jim Ross
  1999: Jim Ross

**2000**: Jim Ross

536 first place votes
471 second place votes
411 third place votes

393  72  18 2217   Jim Ross
 63 170  77  979   Joey Styles
 22  83 108  575   Scott Hudson
  8  52  67  330   Michael Cole
 11  25  41  212   Crowbar
  5  26  48  199   Mike Tenay
  1   4   8   33   Alfonso Morales
  3   4   2   31   Tony Schiavone
  0   3   7   23   Kevin Kelly
  0   1   4   11   Jonathan Coachman
  2   0   0   10   Akira Fukuzawa
  1   1   0    8   Larry Rivera (XPW)
  0   2   0    6   Carlos Cabrera
  1   0   0    5   Tim Hudson
  1   0   0    5   Sir Owen
  1   0   0    5   Garoa TV announcer (?)
  0   1   0    3   Tim Noel
  0   0   1    2   Joey Maurala (Stampede)
  0   0   1    2   Insane Clown Posse
  0   0   1    2   Dave Brown

REJECTED - ineligible, colour or ring announcers

  6  10   1   62   Jerry Lawler
  9   1   1   50   Howard Finkel
  1   7   1   28   Lilian Garcia
  3   0   6   27   Tazz
  0   1   7   17   David Penzer
  1   1   4   16   Stevie Ray
  0   3   3   15   Duplicate votes
  1   0   1    7   Michael Buffer
  1   0   0    5   Mark Madden
  1   0   0    5   Cyrus
  1   0   0    5   "Tie" votes
  0   1   1    5   Gene Okerlund
  0   1   0    3   Tony Chimel
  0   1   0    3   Road Dogg
  0   1   0    3   Edge & Christian
  0   0   1    2   Pamela Paulshock
  0   0   1    2   Juventud Guerrera
  0   0   1    2   Joel Gertner

HIRO: IMO, there were no standout performances in this category so no
winners for me.

CHANCE BIDELMAN: My addition of Howard Finkle wasn't added, I know that
he's not mainstream anymore but he still does ppv's, He's always good.  
Also I loved the crowbar impression of solie.great stuff

SCOTT W.: Jim Ross will always be number 1.  Joey Styles is number 2, and
I don't know why everyone jumps on the bandwagon saying he is the best and
calls all the moves.  If you people actually watched ECW Television, you
would see different.  I like Joey though, and he will take #1 when JR
retires.  Scott Hudson is SO misused. Poor Guy.

MARCUS SPARKS: Joey's the best, hands down.  JR suffers from Schiavone
Hyperbole Syndrome at times, but is still solid.  Crowbar, when doing his
Solie impression, brought back memories of the grand master himself.

JOHN C.: Jim Ross wins this one easily as he once again put over the
wrestlers in a way that nobody has done before him. He is the greatest
announcer ever.  Joey Styles comes in second with Pamela Paulshock
rounding out my top three because she's hot.

JON WALTON: I picked Scott Hudson because he is the one of the few lights
in the tunnel of darkness that is WCW.  He almost never insults the fans
in a company that makes a living out of doing just that.

DEWEY: The WWF may finally have found someone to take over for Jerry
Lawler if anything happens to him in Tazz, although I still think that
Bobby Heenan would do well in that role.

JAMES HOWARD: Jim Ross is one of the best announcers of all *time* and he
only gets third on my list this year. *That* is the power of Scott Hudson.
:)

PETER HAZLETT: I refuse to pick anyone else....

JEREMY SORIA: Folks, come on. Joey Styles peaked in the mid-1990s. The WWF
announce talent has gotten pretty good, if you'd give them a chance to
listen to them. Michael Cole and Jonathan Coachman have been doing a great
job announcing for the WWF.

RICK SCAIA: It's been the same story since 1995:  Ross, Styles.  Styles,
Ross. Pick one and give 'em the "Best Announcer" award.  This year, I say
it's JR again.  He doesn't call out the names of the moves as religiously
as he used to, calls out a wrong name every now and again, and
occassionally over-sells the wrong developments, but I also still think
he's the best at weaving a story and creating a big show atmosphere with
his call of a match.  Joey Styles is #2 after another solid year of
relaying the latest ECW developments.  Scott Hudson, WCW's best announcer,
gets #3.

TROY OLSON: Am I the only one who's sick of Good Ol' JR?

NATHAN LONEY: Well, it's happened... somebody has taken JR's spot at #1!  
Yeah, he's the premier announcer in the game... he's also taken to making
a TON of mistakes while announcing.  Therefore, I give the first place
vote to Scott Hudson.  Second goes to Joey Styles, and JR drops to third,
in my view.

BILL LEHECKA: Hyperbole aside, Jim Ross is the perfect announcer.  He
doesn't shill too hard, and he can still call a good match.  I wish he'd
just stop screaming at me sometimes.

NATE PATRIN: Between Michael "NOW WHAT?" Cole, Jim "Stone Cold is Jesus"
Ross and Tony "Most Important Midcard Gimmick-On-a-Pole Match EVER!"
Schiavone, I don't think there's a scintillatin' announcer among 'em, and
I haven't really heard any of the rest.

MATT SPAULDING: JR's match-calling slipped in 2000, but he's still the
best in the business at getting angles and feuds over.  Still, I gave
Styles the nod for overall consistency.  Hudson is a distant third, as
being saddled with Schiavone and Madden really dragged him down.

BLAZEJ SZPAKOWICZ: Good Old JR gets it. (Again). He's nowhere near as good
as he was years ago, sure, but he's still the best in the business. Joey
Styles, is an easy second, though I still can't see him as being better
than Ross, and Scott Hudson is third pretty much by default. There really
aren't any great announcers left, though.

LAWRENCE BENEDETTO: J.R.'s got sauce!

TANVIR RAQUIB: First, A bald man drew much praise from the Net during a
small stint replacing the Brain. 2nd, sure, he's a scumbag, but his
dramatic tone during big-time matches gives him some props. 3rd, Joey
Styles is not annoying enough to hate yet.

RAVI MISRA:  I had no first place vote in this category.  While I think
that JR is clearly the best in the biz right now, he has most definitely
slipped a few notches.

JEFF "FRO" WAHLMAN: People are finally realizing now that there's more to
being a great announcer than calling moves.  It's putting over both
wrestlers in the matches and the product in general.  Nobody's even close
to Jim Ross, in those respects.  Joey Styles is still good and Hudson does
an admirable job trying to keep Fat Tony and The Mark on track on Nitro.

PHIL PRZYBYLO: Just name it the Jim Ross award and get it over with.  
He's been more off than on this year and he's still number one.  Ross and
the King are probably the greatest one-two punch in wrestling history when
they're on...  and maybe even when they're off.

JBELL55146: The fact that nobody can even hold a candle to JR in terms of
announcing is in both ways a credit to the man himself, and it shows that
there just isn't any good lead announcers out there anymore.