Grading All Elite Wrestling's first year as a promotion

AEW joined the world after an announcement on January 1st, 2019.
AEW joined the world after an announcement on January 1st, 2019.

Commentary: C+

The AEW Dynamite announce team
The AEW Dynamite announce team

Jim Ross is a legend in the business and should be calling action in any promotion. His voice is still synonymous with pro wrestling whether calling action for WWE, NJPW, WCW or AEW. The legend still has name value and can call the action, but a lot of today's matches are faster and contain many new moves that he may be unaware of.

Alex Marvez just seemed over-matched and unnatural with his delivery when he was calling pre-TV events like Fight For the Fallen and DON. Being a sports announcer and being a pro wrestling announcer are two different things, although another member of the broadcast team does both extremely well (Tony Schiavone).

In contrast to Marvez and to a lesser degree Jim Ross, both Excalibur and Schiavone have been the bright spots of the commentary thus far. Excalibur knows all of the moves and the stars and is great a play-by-play with a natural delivery. Having him on the announce team was a good call.

Schiavone is also a legend in the business, but not on the level or Ross. He is, however, still great at calling the action, reacting and interviewing stars when applicable. His voice is also familiar to people who watched WCW or MLW.

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