After reading all of the comments and e-mails I received on the best and worst wrestling announcers, I decided to offer my opinions on some of your favorites and least favorites. This list is comprised of announcers (in alphabetical order) that I have not previously commented on:

Bob Caudle: Steady as a play-by-play man and never over-the-top, Caudle was perfectly suited to be a regional announcer. When Jim Crockett Promotions went national, however, he just didn’t have enough pizzazz.

Jonathan Coachman: I have never heard his work as a football announcer for College Sports Television, but as a wrestling announcer, he just doesn’t have “it.”

Michael Cole: I think he gets a bad rap. I admit that I wasn’t a big fan of his when he started, but Cole has gotten a lot better over the years, and he and JBL work very well together.

Jim Cornette: He was a good color commentator, but I always liked him better as a manager because he was one of the best ever at promos.

Lord Alfred Hayes: Awful.

Paul Heyman: See Jim Cornette.

Jerry Lawler: “The King” is a polarizing figure – some love him and others hate him. I’ve always liked him, even when he’s being silly during a divas match. With another partner, Lawler probably isn’t as good, but he and Jim Ross are a great team.

John Bradshaw Layfield: The best color commentator in the business right now. JBL talks about himself a lot, but what else would you expect from his character, which is a self-absorbed heel? The important thing is that he does get the wrestlers and the angles over in addition to getting himself over.

Mark Madden: I got an e-mail from my former WCW colleague on Thursday thanking me for not putting him on my worst announcers list. I actually think he did a decent job as a heel commentator. The one thing I wasn’t wild about was his use of inside references during the broadcasts, because most of the audience had no clue what he was talking about.

Pat Patterson: He was good in a campy kind of way. It wasn’t what he said that was funny, but how he said it. Patterson was famous for never making any word plural, saying things like: “My God, Jimmy Snuka is going banana!”

Lance Russell: He’s an announcing legend in Memphis, but I never had the opportunity to listen to him on a regular basis in his heyday.

Tony Schiavone: A lot of fans don’t like him, but I think he was pretty good until the last couple years of WCW, when his declining performance matched the product. For the most part, he did a decent job calling the action and I thought his banter with Jesse Ventura and Bobby Heenan was entertaining.

Joey Styles: The voice of ECW has always been solid. His high-pitched “Oh my God!” spots in the old ECW were classic. The new ECW is less extreme, however, and Styles has toned down his act accordingly.

Tazz: I thought he was pretty bad when he first started, but I’d upgrade him to serviceable at this point.

Mike Tenay: A consummate professional, Tenay gets the angles over and knows how turn it up a notch when it’s warranted. He probably knows more about wrestling history and the international wrestling scene than anyone I’ve ever met.