source: wrestlezone
10. Mike Tenay
Sure many people credit "The Professor's" work in TNA as largely a failure, but prior to being paired up with the abysmal Don West, Mike Tenay was one of the best commentators in the business during WCW's heyday against WWE. His knowledge of the business as well as wrestler/promotion statistics is unparalleled, and he used it to his advantage calling some classic bouts in WCW.
9. Jerry "The King" Lawler
Back in the day, Jerry "The King" Lawler was the perfect heel announcer to Jim Ross' steady, by-the-book, play-by-play guy. Although Lawler has lost some momentum recently as WWE decided to split the incomparable pairing of him and JR, his wit is still intact and his knowledge of the job still reasonably sharp. His one-liners alone, through the years, have earned him a spot on this list.
8. Vince McMahon
Long before he was the "evil chairman Mr. McMahon," Vince was a consistently great announcer for the then WWF and worked very well with a variety of partners, most notably Jesse Ventura. McMahon had a great voice for wrestling announcing, and I think to this day that behind the announcer's booth is still the best on-air place for Vince.
7. Joey Styles
Anytime a wrestler pulls off a particularly violent move, the phrase "Oh My God" still pops into my head. Joey Styles provided the voice for the underground rebel promotion that was ECW and made his mark on the commentary business with his garage style, gritty approach to announcing. He was also very well-versed in technical wrestling lingo and could call a detailed match.
6. Bobby Heenan
Was there anything this guy couldn't do? He was of course an established and already legendary manager in the business by the time he dawned the headset, but once "The Brain" assumed the role of announcer, he knocked it out of the park with dynamite performances on a weekly basis. Heenan is arguably one of the funniest men to ever work in the wrestling business, and his wit along with his ability to sell, with 100% believability, whatever he was calling, made him one of the greats.
5. Jesse "The Body" Ventura
My favorite heel announcer of all-time, Jesse Ventura turned color commentary into an art form with the way he was able to interpret and askew wrestling angles so that it fit his heel persona. Ventura had great success behind the booth with both Vince McMahon and Gorilla Monsoon, and listening to him heckle McMahon created memories throughout the years that I will never forget.
4. Lord Alfred Hayes
Lord Alfred Hayes had a regal quality to him that really put wrestling over as a "true sport," similar to boxing. Hayes brought a subtle elegance to announcing that worked well in contrast to the loud, brash style that most announcers brought to the game at the time. When you listened to Hayes announce, you forgot that you were watching what a lot of people deemed to be a "low brow" form of entertainment, and you really believed you were watching a noble, competitive sport.
3. Gorilla Monsoon
Monsoon created some legendary memories in the business of wrestling, and who could ever forget his classic "immovable object" line from WrestleMania 3 in Michigan which helped birth the mega stars of Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant. In addition to being the first commentator to ever refer to The Undertaker's finisher as "The Tombstone," the Gorilla Position, which is the area right behind the curtain where wrestlers enter from during live events, was named in his honor.
2. Jim Ross
Commonly referred to as the best play-by-play commentator of modern pro wrestling, and certainly the best announcer working today, Good Ole' JR has to be considered one of the best of all-time. He is the current "voice you think of" when WWE is mentioned, and his style of commentary is well received, I think, because he is able to blend an old-school approach to calling matches with a fun, more modern sense of humor.
1. Gordon Solie
Referred to by Jim Ross as the best ring announcer of all-time, and the man who coined the phrase "Crimson Mask," Gordon Solie is my favorite commentator of all-time. He is referred to by many as The "Dean" of Wrestling, and is to the business as Walter Cronkite is to news reporting. What made Solie the best, in my opinion, was that his primary focus was putting over talent and not himself. He was not concerned with being the wittiest or smartest on the headset (cough, Matt Striker) but rather was most interested in keeping himself in the background and reverting all the attention to the wrestlers. He knew the audience was paying to see them, not him, and that was his key asset.
