Is JBL a heel or face or what?

[mrbananagrabber]

When it comes to commentary, it's usually pretty obvious when a heel is commenting. Compare heel Lawler to today's Lawler and its obvious Lawler is a face (and has been bored and unmotivated for years). Compare Michael Cole now to NXT 3 era Cole and its obvious Cole is a face when then he was a heel.

JBL says heelish things; praising Del Rio for attacking Ricardo, being on Sandow's side with MiTB, but then he switches, calling Ryback "pathetic" for walking out of his match with Henry, and he sits and cracks jokes with Cole and Lawler and generally plays the smiley face commentator, praising Cena and Sheamus and Bryan, but also rooting for the Wyatt family and Lesnar.

So what gives? Does he have a side?

[Deleted]

I get the sense JBL's supposed to be a loveable asshole.

[hargh]

He's in Kane territory.

[The Ichi]

He's an honourable heel.

[Bang Bang Bart]

He's a "heel" in the sense that he'll cheer for the bad guys, but give credit when credit is due whenever a face does something awesome (praising Daniel Bryan for his tenacity). He also likely doesn't want things to escalate too far, as seen with him warning faces to get out while they still can whenever The Shield appear.

[g1megatronfan]

He comes off as sort of in between to me. A HUGE difference from his in ring persona. I remember when Jerry Lawler was a heel commentator/wrestler in the mid 90's his personality remained constant no matter what he was doing. JBL is more of a kinder version of 90's Lawler in many ways. He still cheers heels, but he doesn't go out of his way to diss babyfaces like Lawler did. He often called the crowd and face wrestlers like Luger or Razor Ramon idiots or morons on a weekly basis while JBL doesn't.

The closest example is when he would bash The Miz on Smackdown a few years back but even now he seems to have a different opinion on him.

[AdamAFL was sooooo wrong]

Aug 7, 2013 16:24:05 GMT -5 Bang Bang Bart said:

He's a "heel" in the sense that he'll cheer for the bad guys, but give credit when credit is due whenever a face does something awesome (praising Daniel Bryan for his tenacity). He also likely doesn't want things to escalate too far, as seen with him warning faces to get out while they still can whenever The Shield appear.

Not to mention he doesn't refrain from criticising heels if they do something cowardly like Ryback did this week. He doesn't mind people taking shortcuts and he generally prefers the heels but as you sid he is not adverse to praising faces and criticising heels. I like his commentary style. He doesn't quite call things down the middle as he tends to slightly favour the heels but he's as close as we can get in the world of pro wrestling.

[wallabylikeyou]

He just likes fighting.

[nate5054]

He tells the truth, which is nice.

Even from a kayfaybe sense Sandow is in the right here.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Aug 7, 2013 15:56:46 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I get the sense JBL's supposed to be a loveable asshole.

I think JBL would rather do the asshole loving than be a lovable asshole.

[The Baltimore Staircase]

He's started to play the Ventura role, especially Raw this past week. Basically sitting there and standing up for the heels when the heels need standing up for. So Cody Rhodes he lambasts for stealing a mans briefcase and beating him up when he tries to get it back, which I guess is fair enough. And then when Ryback acts like a douche, he calls him a douche.

Kind of refreshing if that keeps up. Basically if he just sits there and if it doesn't make sense or if the face isn't justified, he'll say it how it is. You need that voice to be heard on TV because there'll be a large portion of the audience shouting the exact same things at home.

[Bang Bang Bart]

He's the kind of heel announcer I like, not so over-the-top in appreciating the bad guys, and willing to call bullshit when he sees it (like calling out Ryback on his cowardice).

[JTH]

He's just calling it like he sees it; fair or unfair, like you know...announcers are supposed to do.

[Djm Doesn't Find You Funny]

He's a rich Texan.

His alignment is essentially based on your perception of a rich Texan.

[MrBRulzOK]

JBL is JBL: he's the middle ground between the bland babyface announcer and the jerk heel commentators of the world.

[Deleted]

JBL is a heel but only for 2 minutes an episode.

[Chip]

He likes the guys that fight to win, regardless of what they need to do to achieve that. Even if you lose, he's appreciative of those that genuinely dig deep down to get the pinfall.

[Brickstone Kid]

All I know is that THESE GUYS ARE FUN TO WATCH!

[celticjobber]

He's alot like Jesse Ventura was as an announcer (though not as good). Calling it as he sees it.

[sunnytaker]

he's a wrestling...god!

and you can play as him in the new WWE video game coming out real soon!