No, the thread title is not related to how quiet this place has been lately.
I was watching the NXT show last night and was reminded of something that's really been bothering me in wrestling lately. It's got to do with the commentary. I should say first that I actually liked the commentary throughout the show for the most part. Corey Graves seems pretty good at it for someone who is only now doing it by chance. But there was one thing that was bothering me.
Whenever something huge was happening, the commentators would stop talking. Take the most memorable moments of last night show and run them together and you wouldn't hear any commentary at all. For Finn Balor's entrance, they were completely silent. When Zayn was considering using the belt on Neville the commentators were quiet. When Owens turned on the new champ at the end of the show, they had no opinion on that whatsoever.
I directed the title at the commentators, but that's not really fair. Every commentary team in WWE does this at the moment, and it's clearly because they've been told to do so. Probably to make a moment feel more special or something (and in fairness, the Raw commentators could ruin a lot of moments just by opening their mouths). I just don't like it at all. If something massive is happening, I want the commentators to sell me on it. If they're marking out, or nervous, or devastated or whatever, it helps me get there faster as a fan. And sometimes they can help fill in the dots (it was pretty obvious what was happening when Zayn considered using the belt on Neville, but the commentators really could have helped to put the moment in context).
When Mankind went through the Cell, that would have been a big moment either way. But how much better was it because of JR screaming "Somebody stop the damn match!"? Nowadays, that moment would be greeted by silence. "Stone Cold! Stone Cold!" would not be an iconic soundbite if WWE had the same commentary policy back then that they do today.
Anyway, rant over. Do any of you guys actually like this new approach?