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By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

Recently, when talking to people in TNA about Don West, I could sense his days may be numbered. As I talked him up as far and away "the smartest guy on Impact," I could sense he was unappreciated and unwanted in his color commentator roll.

West was the one person I could count on, be it in his old straight-man or his newer (and unnecessary) heel role to point out the ridiculous and nonsensical. He was such a "common man" that as commentator, while he had a strong loyalty to TNA, he also could sense what was wrong with some of the booking. He was not only smart enough to notice (a rare quality in TNA, sadly), but he was clever enough to try to clean up the mess with an explanation.

I wonder if the bookers who created some of the nonsense that West addressed and cleaned up were upset with him not just "going with the program." I don't think West ever pointed out the weaker aspects of the storylines to show anyone up, and he didn't do it often enough to be overbearing or nitpicky. I just think he watched the show closely, putting himself in the place of the viewer, and when something jumped out at him, he figured others saw it (and they did, Don, they did) and logically tried to cover it.

Now he's gone. Now another WWE star has pushed someone else potentially better out of his spot. No offense to Taz, because he was one of the underrated promos of the late 1990s (not just underrated, but very good and a huge part of ECW's success). But in WWE, he had been castrated and dumbed down so much by Vince McMahon's desire for announcers to just blend in that I don't know whether the average mainstream wrestling viewer sees him as an attraction or even an upgrade.

Taz has a chance to redeem himself, and he'll fully capable of it. He probably wants to prove he's better than he was on Smackdown and ECW the last few years. If he returns to what he's capable of and isn't a cliche of his former self or just phoning it in (known as Booker-Ting it now), then it's not a bad thing.

I'd rather have had Taz establish himself first, as the majority of TNA viewers have never seen him cut a promo as an active wrestler. He didn't get many chances in his first month in TNA to talk, and in the in the big picture he was totally undercut by the unfortunate storyline of him and Samoa Joe joining the Main Event Mafia.

Taz might be good, but he has bigger shoes to fill than most people in TNA probably appreciate. And I fear that Taz's mere history of being with WWE had a lot more to do with his being in the chair next to Mike Tenay than merit of his performances the last five years. I also believe TNA may be overestimating Taz's connection with viewers. TNA isn't ever going to get to the next level by looking like they acquire WWE castoffs and place them in similar roles. It just sends a message to viewers they're inferior in every other way and any WWE name can step in and be better.

Taz may end up being Announcer of the Year. He's capable of it. But I believe West was more of a contender for that than TNA management appreciated. And TNA's issues run deeper than who's sitting next to Tenay.

And finally, I think Taz would have been better used as a manager/coach exclusively. The role of color commentator needs to be redefined because now it's seen as a "corporate chair," not a place where a manager of a future World Champion whose single-minded focus is on making his man World Champion. Someone like that shouldn't have time to pay attention to or analyze The Beautiful People.

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