WWE has ruled the professional wrestling world for the last 20 years without serious competition until 2019 when AEW launched, and they’ve altered wrestling terminology to better suit their product.
Because of that, their list of banned words have regularly made the rounds on social media to the enjoyment of wrestling fans.
It’s got supporters and detractors, but terminology is key in constructing a chosen fabric to weave for one’s stories, and it theoretically helps commentators to only have select words to use.
In other ways, those restriction strangle the life out of the commentary and it can sound forced and robotic at times despite the commentator trying to sound enthused.
Unlearning the terminology
Since arriving in Impact Wrestling, Tom Hannifan has settled in and sounds like he’s having a great time calling the matches as he’s helped lift Impact’s announcing to another level.
He recently appeared on Busted Open Radio and talked about unlearning the WWE way.
“It’s been great (at Impact Wrestling). I think one of the first tapings I did, I kept saying the word superstar and you guys are like, ‘You don’t have to say that, man. You can say wrestler, you can say whatever you want.’
“Even Scott D’Amore being like, ‘You can say belt. You can say that for the title’ so it was just a lot of things that I’ve had to, you know, habits that — that’s the way that WWE likes to do things. I did that for nine years and I’m unlearning a lot of things and all of you at Impact Wrestling have been extremely patient with me, but you talk about getting excited about stuff, the ‘Styles Clash’ in the middle of Alexander and Moose, I jumped out of my freaking chair. I’m sure the spy cam, if they record it, still has that footage. I was on my feet when Josh won the title. It’s just you feel this stuff and it’s any commentator.”
For the longest time, commentators in WWE seemed content to remain seated and try to sound excited, and that influence gradually made its way into other promotions.
Much needed emotion
Pat McAfee’s brought back the excitement in many ways, and Hannifan talked about his contribution as well.
“I think the beauty of Pat McAfee is that he made it okay for commentators to jump up and down and literally get on the desk. I mean, Cole’s not doing anything like that, but we all feel that emotion so, if anything, it’s just kind of loosened everybody up in commentary in all of professional wrestling.”
Given how docile Jerry Lawler’s been on the mic when he’s covered in commentary in the WWE recently, it’s easy to tell how drastic the change has been since the Attitude Era where he sounded exciting.
Even Michael Cole had an enthusiasm that doesn’t come across anymore, but maybe it’s just us that are hearing that.
What do you think about Hannifan’s comments and on McAfee bringing back the energy in commentating? Let us know in the comments below.
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