By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

Todd Grisham just isn't convincing. I was a defender of his when he first started rising from mic holder backstage to play-by-play man, but he hasn't improved and may have gotten worse.

I'm not sure if it's working with Matt Striker that has revealed his weaknesses compared to working with Jim Ross, who could cover for them, but he's become insincere and robotic sounding at the most important moments of the show.

Instincts are important for an announcer. You need to be invested emotionally enough in what you're calling to connect with the emotions the viewers should be feeling, and enhance those emotions to a point that the viewer wants to buy a ticket or a PPV more because of what you add to the show, not less. I'd say Grisham takes the wind out of the sails of some of Smackdown's most compelling moments.

Grisham might be better if he could just loosen up and do his job. As Taz and Mick Foley (among others) have said, it's tough to be at your best with Vince McMahon micromanaging you and demeaning you through your headsets or in post-show critiques. At a certain point you just check out and try to get through the show doing what he wants, avoiding mistakes that could get you trouble, and collect your check. Grisham's heart might just not be in it.

He sounds like he's announcing defensively, trying to sound the right way and avoid saying the wrong thing. When he described Matt Hardy tonight with a string of superlatives, it sounded contrived and scripted.

Tonight's show was the first since Rey Mysterio accused Kane of attacking his own brother while falsely accusing others. Kane and Rey have been pitch-perfect in most of the execution of this storyline, which has called for a wide range of emotions from both - especially Kane. Last week's breakdown by Kane called for the hosts of the show - whom viewers spent two hours a week with - to react to the shocking accusation and communicate to the viewer similar emotions as the viewer - WWE hopes - felt all week since that newsworthy moment.

Instead, not much of anything. Grisham and Striker went about their business, doing what they do, but you never got the sense from them that they had any emotional reaction to Rey's accusation of Kane or Kane's response. There were a few futile robotic half-hearted attempts, but nothing that really enhanced the......

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KELLER BIO: PWTorch editor Wade Keller has been a leading wrestling reporter and analyst since launching the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter in 1987. He has covered pro wrestling full time via the newsletter, a pro wrestling radio show on KFAN in the 1990s, a successful 900 wrestling news hotline in the 1990s, the PWTorch.com website, and the PWTorch iPhone App in the 2000s.

He has interviewed dozens of pro wrestling's biggest names in their longest insider interviews, most often ranging from 2 to 7 hours in length. He has interviewed for the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter top wrestlers ("Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Bill Goldberg, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, among many others), top promoters and executives (Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, Eric Bischoff, Jerry Jarrett, Jim Cornette, Paul Heyman, Bill Watts, Jerry Lawler, several WCW vice presidents, and others), legends (Lou Thesz, Roy Shires, Nick Bockwinkel, Verne Gagne, and others), and dozens of other wrestlers in long-form historical interviews.

He hosted the "Ultimate Insiders DVD" series in the mid-2000s which was nationally distributed at major chain stores including expansive interviews with Matt & Jeff Hardy and Vince Russo & Ed Ferrara.

He has been quoted as an expert wrestling analyst by dozens of major newspapers, national cable channels, radio stations, and magazines over the last 23 years including MPR, Fox News, the Washington Post, ESPN Magazine, and many others.

PWTorch VIP members currently hear his analysis on a daily basis with the daily Wade Keller Hotline, featuring a 10-20 minute overview of the news, breaking news, and analysis of TV shows (and more-than-occasional rants).

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