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| He's not the next Heenan — he's the first Graves — but he's certainly carrying on Heenan's legacy Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Bobby Heenan changed the game when it came to color commentary. While it's unknown if he was the first ever partisan commentator who sided with heels, antagonists, and villains, he felt like he was treading new ground when he assumed the chair. As part of the greater blanket of kayfabe, television and closed circuit commentary featured two men who were analytic and objective, hallmarks of greater sports commentary, like with the classic Bob Caudle/Gordon Solie booth down South. Whether or not Heenan was first feels irrelevant, as he was so great that all others are benchmarked against him, for better or worse.
Nearly everyone who followed him, not including his contemporary Jesse Ventura, whose work could be considered another cornerstone in the modern heel color commentator, felt like they were trying to imitate him. Jerry Lawler took the sarcasm without the wit or warmth, but with sexual perversion turned up to 11. Paul Heyman saw the antagonism Heenan had without the rapport with the play-by-play guy. Tazz didn't display the sharpness or intelligence that Heenan had. Mark Madden was just some blowhard, and JBL was the same except he was a cruel bully to boot. Heenan set such a high bar that no one knew really how to reach it, because they were all trying to be him in some way. Sure, some were more successful than others; I'd be lying if I said that Lawler or Tazz weren't entertaining in their roles at times. But no one has really stood out until Corey Graves retired from in-ring competition thanks to concussions and went into the broadcast booth.
It's unfair to Graves to say that he's another Heenan, because really, no one can replicate The Brain, no matter how hard they try. However, he brings a lot of what Heenan brought to the table to RAW and now Smackdown without seeming like a pale imitation. Graves has the same core tenets that made Heenan great. Graves' wit is sharp, the sharpest WWE has had since Heenan left to pursue opportunities in World Championship Wrestling. He's quick with a comeback, and he knows how to cut the situation with the right amount of humor and vitriol without making it seem too silly on one end or too cruel or acerbic on the other. For all his rabblerousing, many times in the opposite direction of his colleagues, he, like Heenan with Gorilla Monsoon, always had and still has a great rapport with them. Specifically, Graves and his former NXT and current Smackdown Live partner Tom Phillips (and a lesser extent Byron Saxton too) have amazing chemistry that translates into deep respect and admiration for each other.
Where Graves most resembles Heenan is in his propensity to get behind causes that are against traditional grain. It isn't so much rooting for heels; Graves is partisan for traditional villainy to a degree, but he has his other bugaboos that fall out of traditional alignment. One might say Heenan was a straight partisan for bad guys, at least until he got to WCW and became staunchly anti-nWo, but again, Heenan was possibly the first of his kind. The nature of commentary before he blew up big was to call objectively, and in the days of the territories, promotions presented their action with a solid sense of morality. Faces were faces, heels were heels, and objectivity demanded not that you heard both sides, but that one side had right over the other.
Heenan came along and he started to give an alternate point of view. It was very much a way to help get the heels more heat, obviously. You had the guy who was human hot sauce; anyone he accompanied to the ring instantly got over because of him. It was a brilliant idea to put him on commentary to stump for all the heels because if he was pulling for them from commentary, then the people who went to the live shows after listening to Heenan on Saturday morning would know to boo those guys at the house shows or pay-per-views. The unintended circumstance, however, was that now the bad guys had a means to get motivational depth. No longer were they just bad because they went up against Bruno Sammartino or Pedro Morales or Hulk flippin' Hogan; Heenan (and to be fair, Ventura too) gave them their own Bond villain monologues. It was the most intellectually honest thing Vince McMahon ever did as a wrestling promoter.
Of course, Graves' commentary reflects a different time. WWE still goes by alignment most of the time, but in some of its storytelling, especially at the main and über-main1 event scenes, abandons traditional heel/face alignments and goes for more "clash of personality" storytelling. It is catered to a more nuanced fan (although to say WWE goes all in on this ethic is dishonest and giving the company way more credit than it deserves). Graves reflects that change in that he's always honest with his contrarianism, with his analysis. In that way, he fully keeps the spirit of Heenan alive, even decades after he called his final match.
People in wrestling are so laser focused on the forest that they can't see it for the trees. Something is popular or beloved or *tone gets extremely hushed and reverent* ｄｒａｗｓ ｍｏｎｅｙ, and promoters don't dissect why it does before rushing out with a carbon copy or ten. They don't get the spirit of what that thing or person is critically acclaimed or a financial boon, and so you get the clones of diminishing returns. What makes someone like Graves both supremely effective as a comparison to Heenan isn't that he's a Heenan cosplay act, but that he hits the spirit of why Heenan was so beloved without coming off as a pale imitation. It's how Heenan's legacy will live on, not with a parade of ham-n-eggers doing their cheapest cosplay.
1 - Talking part-timers and the regular roster members that occupy them, of course.
Nearly everyone who followed him, not including his contemporary Jesse Ventura, whose work could be considered another cornerstone in the modern heel color commentator, felt like they were trying to imitate him. Jerry Lawler took the sarcasm without the wit or warmth, but with sexual perversion turned up to 11. Paul Heyman saw the antagonism Heenan had without the rapport with the play-by-play guy. Tazz didn't display the sharpness or intelligence that Heenan had. Mark Madden was just some blowhard, and JBL was the same except he was a cruel bully to boot. Heenan set such a high bar that no one knew really how to reach it, because they were all trying to be him in some way. Sure, some were more successful than others; I'd be lying if I said that Lawler or Tazz weren't entertaining in their roles at times. But no one has really stood out until Corey Graves retired from in-ring competition thanks to concussions and went into the broadcast booth.
It's unfair to Graves to say that he's another Heenan, because really, no one can replicate The Brain, no matter how hard they try. However, he brings a lot of what Heenan brought to the table to RAW and now Smackdown without seeming like a pale imitation. Graves has the same core tenets that made Heenan great. Graves' wit is sharp, the sharpest WWE has had since Heenan left to pursue opportunities in World Championship Wrestling. He's quick with a comeback, and he knows how to cut the situation with the right amount of humor and vitriol without making it seem too silly on one end or too cruel or acerbic on the other. For all his rabblerousing, many times in the opposite direction of his colleagues, he, like Heenan with Gorilla Monsoon, always had and still has a great rapport with them. Specifically, Graves and his former NXT and current Smackdown Live partner Tom Phillips (and a lesser extent Byron Saxton too) have amazing chemistry that translates into deep respect and admiration for each other.
Where Graves most resembles Heenan is in his propensity to get behind causes that are against traditional grain. It isn't so much rooting for heels; Graves is partisan for traditional villainy to a degree, but he has his other bugaboos that fall out of traditional alignment. One might say Heenan was a straight partisan for bad guys, at least until he got to WCW and became staunchly anti-nWo, but again, Heenan was possibly the first of his kind. The nature of commentary before he blew up big was to call objectively, and in the days of the territories, promotions presented their action with a solid sense of morality. Faces were faces, heels were heels, and objectivity demanded not that you heard both sides, but that one side had right over the other.
Heenan came along and he started to give an alternate point of view. It was very much a way to help get the heels more heat, obviously. You had the guy who was human hot sauce; anyone he accompanied to the ring instantly got over because of him. It was a brilliant idea to put him on commentary to stump for all the heels because if he was pulling for them from commentary, then the people who went to the live shows after listening to Heenan on Saturday morning would know to boo those guys at the house shows or pay-per-views. The unintended circumstance, however, was that now the bad guys had a means to get motivational depth. No longer were they just bad because they went up against Bruno Sammartino or Pedro Morales or Hulk flippin' Hogan; Heenan (and to be fair, Ventura too) gave them their own Bond villain monologues. It was the most intellectually honest thing Vince McMahon ever did as a wrestling promoter.
Of course, Graves' commentary reflects a different time. WWE still goes by alignment most of the time, but in some of its storytelling, especially at the main and über-main1 event scenes, abandons traditional heel/face alignments and goes for more "clash of personality" storytelling. It is catered to a more nuanced fan (although to say WWE goes all in on this ethic is dishonest and giving the company way more credit than it deserves). Graves reflects that change in that he's always honest with his contrarianism, with his analysis. In that way, he fully keeps the spirit of Heenan alive, even decades after he called his final match.
People in wrestling are so laser focused on the forest that they can't see it for the trees. Something is popular or beloved or *tone gets extremely hushed and reverent* ｄｒａｗｓ ｍｏｎｅｙ, and promoters don't dissect why it does before rushing out with a carbon copy or ten. They don't get the spirit of what that thing or person is critically acclaimed or a financial boon, and so you get the clones of diminishing returns. What makes someone like Graves both supremely effective as a comparison to Heenan isn't that he's a Heenan cosplay act, but that he hits the spirit of why Heenan was so beloved without coming off as a pale imitation. It's how Heenan's legacy will live on, not with a parade of ham-n-eggers doing their cheapest cosplay.
1 - Talking part-timers and the regular roster members that occupy them, of course.
