Did JBL have Vince in his ear?

[mrbananagrabber]

One of the most common complaints about commentary in WWE is that the colour commentators have Vince barking in their ear telling them what to say. Corey Graves hasn’t been the same since Vince started telling him what to say. Mick Foley was terrible on commentary because he couldn’t follow what Vince was telling him to say. Etc etc etc.

But do we think JBL had Vince in his ear? For all his faults on commentary, JBL seemed like his own man out there, and I don’t remember him ever putting out an opinion that seemed forced or out of character, except for maybe “if you built a sports entertainer up from the waist..” which seemed too pre-meditated a comment to make about someone.

So what do we think? Was JBL just calling it as he liked, or was he just better at parroting back Vince’s directions?

[Deleted]

AHAHAHAH DAMMIT HES TWERKING PAL

[Perd]

There was that one crazy night in Des Moines.

[GuyOfOwnage]

Early JBL, no. As time went on though, you could definitely hear a Vince influence in his work as he became far less edgy (a word I never thought I'd use to describe JBL, but alas, here we are) and more of the corporate shill that Vince seems to prefer.

[Limity (BLM)]

When he first became a commentator on Smackdown, definitely not. He was absolutely awesome in that role, and that initial chemistry with Cole was terrific.

"Booker T got the keys to the city from the mayor! You can't even get keys to your house, from your wife!"

[Susan "Poison" Candy]

JBL telling Michael Cole to SHUT UP was funny as hell though

[Cyno]

JBL's early run on Smackdown, not so much since it seems Vince in general was a lot less of a control freak over SD than he was over Raw. Then JBL's second run as commentary had him on Raw and you could definitely hear the Vince influence there as he acted like literally every other obnoxious heel commentator ever.

[Bub (BLM)]

I wouldn't think he'd need to. JBL has a very similar toxic personality.

[nickcave]

The only person I'm aware that got away with ignoring Vince after Vince started yelling in commentators ears was Jerry Lawler but he was terrible in his role towards the end so a lot of good that freedom did.

[Allie Kitsune]

Sept 7, 2019 21:11:06 GMT -5 Cyno said:

JBL's early run on Smackdown, not so much since it seems Vince in general was a lot less of a control freak over SD than he was over Raw. Then JBL's second run as commentary had him on Raw and you could definitely hear the Vince influence there as he acted like literally every other obnoxious heel commentator ever.

I tend not to think that Vince was _completely_ in JBL's ear if only because all the times and ways that JBL constantly threatened to murder Saxton seems like they had to come from him himself.

[Deleted]

I'm not entirely sure how to feel about Vince being in the announcers' ears. Obviously I'm sure it usually does more harm than good, but I remember Tom Phillips filling in for Cole on Raw once and doing a really good job with Vince probably in his ear.

[fw91]

idk. JBL's second run wasn't nearly as good as his 2006-2007 run at the table.

[Cyno]

One day I'm going to have to hear Graves' NXT commentary because I find him insufferable on the main roster. But I remember him getting a ton of hype as the next great color guy from his NXT days.

[Hypnosis]

Sept 8, 2019 17:47:09 GMT -5 Cyno said:

One day I'm going to have to hear Graves' NXT commentary because I find him insufferable on the main roster. But I remember him getting a ton of hype as the next great color guy from his NXT days.

His commentary on Becky and Elias back then was gold.

[Jacy Jayne Atomic Dog AMV]

He absolutely was. It's no coincidence that Corey Graves sounds almost exactly like him.

[Celexa Bliss 54]

When did Vince start producing the announcers during the show? I ask, because JBL's early run sounded fresh and organic, while around the same time, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler sounded like they were reading the back of a cereal box. And by the same token, Joey Styles and Tazz sounded like robots while calling ECW at that time, with the fake laughter and bad jokes. Was it to do with the live TV aspect and Vince wanting it to be perfect, whereas Smackdown could fix things in post-production?

Because Smackdown 2006 JBL was hilarious. Between his repeating "All Hail King Booker!" and it sounding like "Aw Hell, King Booker!", the time Hornswoggle tossed him a beer from under the ring, him joining Booker in referring to Teddy Long as "Thaddeus" Long, and just so many other hilarious moments that wouldn't have worked if Vince was producing him.

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Sept 8, 2019 18:49:06 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss 54 said:

When did Vince start producing the announcers during the show?

In the strictest sense Vince has been producing the announcers since day one, any time he wasn't in the booth himself, or performing.

The real question is when did Vince go from producing the announcers during the show to practically being the ventriloquist to their puppets?

[Ryushinku]

100%, yes. Including from the start.

The amount of him gabbing and interfering likely waxes and wanes, but I can't imagine Vince not always listening in and making comments. Too much of a control freak to just let people go unedited.

[Nr1Humanoid]

Zod, what happened to the Vince that encouraged Jesse Ventura to say whatever he wants?

[Deleted]

I was under the impression that early on (2007-2008), which is the JBL commentator that was quite well regarded by the fans, he did not; but his later return after Lawler's heart attack was the JBL with Vince in is ear, as the fans seem to overwhelmingly hate that..