You are here /wrestling
/guests
/Klein
Guest Columns

Greg Klein

Main

BLAH

Lately a number of folks have been knocking themselves out praising the job that Mark Madden has done in the color commentary position on Nitro. This surprises me to no end because of the number of people that can't stand his writing. It is possible that he has found his calling as an announcer. Personally, I think that his work has been mediocre at best. He is just a much larger Bobby Heenan without the background. I think it's important to realize that even if Madden is a great commentator, it wouldn't make much of a difference in the overall product. The announcers are one of the four primary components of quality wrestling on television (the other three being talent, booking, and overall production). WCW's weakest spot is not the color position, but rather the play by play. That's where the change needs to be made.

People turn into wrestling for a number of reasons. Some love the athletics, some love the stories, and others just love gratuitous T&A. I think for the television to be effective that the commentators have to properly sell the action. That's why Jim Ross is effective. I don't care whether he is the biggest back-stabbing bastard in the history of wrestling or not. He is unparalleled as an actor behind the microphone. He never fails to sell the importance (or lack thereof) behind events in the ring. He picks his spots to sound concerned (Terri through the table, anything with HHH) and doesn't use the same tone in other instances (Mae Young, Mean Street Posse). More importantly, he picks his adjectives carefully. Not every leap is "death defying." Not every Raw is the "best ever."

On the other hand, Tony is the King of All Hyperbole. If every happening is of supreme importance, then by definition no one event or individual is more important than the other. Therefore, it's difficult to build interest in the main event each week if it's always "the greatest in the history of our sport", especially when the fans know that it's not. Several apologists for Tony have indicated that he may be playing a character as dictated by upper management. That is truly irrelevant. He is not doing a good job of selling the viewer on the relative importance of events within the programming.

Mark Madden might end up being a great color commentator. I can't predict the future. What I can say with strong conviction is any positive impact he could have will be negated by Tony's incompetence. Of course, Madden's large "fanbase" might cause a change in the ratings downslide. I wouldn't bet on it.

Greg Klein
freelance

Mail the Author

BLAH

Main

Design copyright (C) 1999, 2000 Christopher Robin Zimmerman & KZiM Communications
Guest column text copyright (C) 2000 by the individual author and used with permission