by david_baUtista » Sat Mar 20, 2010 10:13 pm
I guess I just wanted to toss the topic of ROH DVD's out there for anyone else who might agree/disagree with me.
Basically, I've been getting ROH DVD's regularly for a long time now, and it seems like lately they're just getting lazy on commentary. And quite frankly, it's ruining the whole ROH experience for me. I find this especially frustrating as a West Coast resident who's only been able to attend 1 ROH show ever and experience it for what it really is. (oh yeah, I also don't get HDNet either)
With that said, I feel that ROH has been dropping the ball on their most recent DVD's, I'd say maybe from mid-summer til now.
First off, the new commentary team of Lenny Leonard and Chris Hero is bland on a lot of levels. One, Hero is boring, plain and simple. He doesn't have the delivery of a commentary person, and I think his reactions to moves seem canned and fake. Two, both Leonard and Hero play heel. I found the team much more interesting when Dave Prazak played face and went at it with Leonard the heel. Finally, when Eric Santa Maria subs in during Hero's matches, he's really no better. I'm not sure what happened to Prazak but I hope he comes back.
Perhaps most disappointing out of all this though is that in addition, they've also turned the volume way up on the commentators. Therefore, you can't hear pops and chants as clearly. It's almost as if ROH has turned into an empty arena match federation. Sure, the argument can be made that someone should judge a match based on his/her own opinions and not jump on bandwagons, but I think something else can be said for the live crowd reactions putting a move or a wrestler over. The crowd can see and hear things that cameras can't capture, like the stiffness of a move, the angle of a landing, or even a wrestler's presence/charisma.
I think commentary is an essential part of wrestling, especially on the indy scene where someone watching a DVD might not know all the storylines and move sets of the wrestlers. But also, the volume of the commentary shouldn't overshadow the live atmosphere, i.e. pops and chants. That's just as essential to wrestling as anything else. Just as an example, I love watching PWG DVD's because, as someone who used to live in LA and go to PWG shows very regularly, I can still feel as if I'm there, yet hearing Excalibur mark out on commentary, i.e. "that was a DVD... Death Valley DEATH!!!" adds a new, enjoyable dimension to the experience as well.
So basically wrestling fans, I feel that boring and loud commentary doesn't do much for putting over your wrestling company. Agree/Disagree?