WWE NXT: Jimmy Smith an exciting addition to announce team

One of the biggest criticisms levied at WWE is how they produce their commentary and announce teams. Whether it’s the insistence on inserting catchphrases and/or nicknames, not knowing the names of moves, or everyone outside of Byron Saxton acting like a heel doing dastardly things is just fine and dandy, the critiques are valid.

However, at WWE NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, we saw an addition to the announce team that just may work wonders.

Former Bellator FC play-by-play man and UFC announcer Jimmy Smith made his debut, and his addition is cause for excitement.

If you’re not aware of Smith and his work, please, do yourself a favor and watch one of the best fights in mixed martial arts history with Smith on the call in Michael Chandler vs. Eddie Alvarez I (the video is age-restricted on YouTube so has to be watched there).

Check that, just watch both of their fights.

Now, it may be weird to you that I’m so high on an MMA announcer making the switch to professional wrestling, especially when I’m only showing his MMA calls.

Well, Smith might be my favorite MMA announcer.

Also, let’s not forget WWE had a (what I would consider) successful run from another former MMA announcer in recent years with Mauro Ranallo.

Ranallo and Smith are similar, yet the subtle differences are key. For a reminder, here’s a typical night of calls from Ranallo during his NXT tenure:

I was in the minority, it seems, in that I didn’t find annoyance with his enthusiasm and popular culture references. This may be due to the fact that as a long-time follower of MMA, I was more attuned to Ranallo’s style before his stint in WWE/NXT.

Smith is just as passionate and enthusiastic about his work. However, it’s a different kind of passion and enthusiasm.

Let me be clear in that I’m not trying to say one is better than the other; I’m merely pointing out the differences I’ve heard from listening to these two men for something close to 15 years with Ranallo and a dozen for Smith.

Back to Smith, as you can tell in the Chandler-Alvarez fights, his enthusiasm stays within the confines of the fight. He found his lane, and it wasn’t the same as Ranallo’s. He’s not going to be pulling out references like Ranallo, and that’s fine.

Smith is so adept at ensuring his passion about what he’s calling is delivered to viewers. He might be the best MMA announcer in terms of just simply breaking down the techniques, skills, and setups on display. For example. here is a post-fight video where he broke down the Brian Ortega vs. Jung Chan Sung card from October.

(Y’all know Jung as “The Korean Zombie,” but as a fellow Korean, I always refer to him by his actual name. Also, in Korea and some other Asian countries, the surname comes first.)

One thing that separates Smith from Ranallo (which may serve Smith well in NXT) is he seems more personable and approachable than Ranallo. Ranallo, with his boisterous enthusiasm and charisma, might not have come across as approachable as someone like Smith; Ranallo’s enthusiasm can sometimes seem intimidating. Again, that’s fine.

Smith’s commentary/analysis is also something that WWE/NXT generally lacks (except for Samoan Joseph, really): his ability to break down techniques and explain to viewers in a very understandable way why and how they are so effective (or not).

If he does eventually call matches, he should transition smoothly.

The other exciting possibility with Smith is how he could become the person to do those sit-down interviews we saw Joe conduct at Stand & Deliver. Again, with his knowledge and approachability, he should be able to draw the best out of wrestlers.

As you can see and hear in the video above, not only does Smith have an exquisite knowledge of MMA techniques, but also in drawing connections to previous bouts/cards. With WWE too often falling down the path of acting like the past doesn’t matter (until it does), Smith’s ability to make those connections will, to me, be a wonderful addition in tying together angles and stories.

I do have one concern, though: will WWE let Smith be more of who he is, or will they mold him into another generic announcer that can be replaced with a robot programmed with WWE lines and we wouldn’t know the difference?

I’m hoping the former and seeing that they let Ranallo still maintain who he was, I’m optimistic for Smith. I’m hoping that sooner rather than later, he takes over lead commentary duties.

Now, it’s going to be interesting to see exactly how they utilize Smith at first in NXT. He’s so much more talented than just doing the preshow for a TakeOver. Putting him in the interviewer role would be a great start, but eventually, I hope I get to hear Smith once again calling play-by-play, this time in NXT.