During training, many wrestlers often work as part of the ring crew, learning to set up the ring and other parts of the set. Once a trainee elevates to a certain level, they're typically set in their roles as wrestlers.
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However, sometimes, a wrestler can be called into action outside the squared circle. The most commonplace for wrestlers to help out is on commentary. Over the years, some of the greatest announcers have been former wrestlers. However, not every wrestler who tries their hand at commentary makes it a career. Some performers' time as announcers have even been forgotten by some fans.
10 David Otunga
David Otunga made his WWE main roster debut as part of the invading Nexus stable in 2010. For about a year, Otunga was heavily featured on WWE programming as an important character. After the Nexus storyline concluded though, Otunga, like many other Nexus alumni, found himself sliding down the card in WWE.
Luckily for Otunga, he found a nice landing spot on the commentary team. In 2016, Otunga officially became a color commentator for SmackDown. Otunga was a solid announcer and showed potential, but his full-time announcing career ended in 2017 when he was traded to Monday Night Raw and replaced by Booker T on commentary.
9 Ernie Ladd
Ernie Ladd is one of the most overlooked and underappreciated talents in wrestling history. Ladd started wrestling in the early 60s during the AFL off-season, and eventually became a full-time wrestler by the late 60s after retiring from football. He would go on to be a big star in every promotion he was in, including WWE.
After wrapping up his full-time wrestling career, Ladd received an opportunity to be a color commentator. He famously called the 20-man Battle Royal at WrestleMania 2 which featured NFL players in it, as well as wrestlers. From there, Ladd would do some commentary work for some of WWE's syndicated programs until leaving the company.
8 Larry Zbyszko
In the 90s, WWE and WCW were engaged in a bitter war for ratings supremacy. For many fans, the announcers were the soundtrack to such a historic era. In WWE, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler were commonly the voices fans heard. Over in WCW though, there was a bit more of a revolving door of announcers.
Tony Schiavone was usually the play-by-play announcer and he was often joined by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Although, Larry Zbyszko was also a regular on commentary. Zbyszko, a true wrestling legend, worked as a color commentator for the majority of The Monday Night War. After WCW went out of business in 2001, Zbyszko never announced regularly again. If you weren't a fan during the late 90s, you probably don't remember Zbyszko on commentary.
7 Roddy Piper
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper is one of the greatest characters in all of wrestling history. Like many of the greats from his era, Piper was blessed with the gift of gab. If Piper had a microphone in his hand, odds are people were listening. During the early part of his career outside of WWE, Piper spent some time as a color commentator and gained experience.
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In WWE, Piper was a legitimate megastar. However, after WrestleMania III, he left WWE. Upon returning, Piper worked fewer matches and even tried his hand at color commentating again. Piper wasn't the worst announcer ever, but he certainly wasn't the best. After his announcing stint in the early 90s, Piper stayed off the headset going forward.
6 Ted DiBiase
When Ted DiBiase burst onto the WWE scene in the 80s, he rode his "Million Dollar Man" character all the way to the Wrestlemania IV main event. From there, DiBiase remained one of WWE's top heels for the remainder of his in-ring career. In 1993 however, DiBiase suffered a back injury while working in Japan. That injury would be serious enough to force him to retire.
When DiBiase returned to WWE it was in a non-wrestling role. At Royal Rumble 1994, DiBiase would assume the role of color commentator alongside Vince McMahon. DiBiase wasn't terrible but color commentator wasn't the role he was made for. Eventually, he'd begin managing his own stable, The Million Dollar Corporation.
5 Dusty Rhodes
Not surprisingly, having wrestling skills is extremely important in the wrestling business. However, being able to talk and captivate an audience is arguably just as important as the in-ring part. When it came to "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, entertaining fans came naturally to him. In an era filled with some of the best talkers in wrestling history, Rhodes stuck out as perhaps the best.
After his in-ring career was over, Rhodes tried his hand at color commentating for WCW. Rhodes provided a much-needed flavor at the time to the WCW commentary team. Although, nobody would confuse Rhodes with the likes of Bobby Heenan or Jerry Lawler as a color commentator.
4 Mick Foley
Mick Foley is one of the best overall performers ever. Yet, most fans mostly remember him as being "The Hardcore Legend." That's high praise, but it's also a bit of a backhanded compliment. In reality, Foley was so much more than just a hardcore wrestler. Foley is one of the most underrated stickmen in the history of wrestling, and his best promos match up with some of the best promos the business has ever seen.
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For that reason, many fans were excited by the prospect of having Foley as a full-time announcer in 2008. Surprisingly though, Foley didn't succeed in that role, even when paired with the legendary Jim Ross. Luckily, the failed experiment did little to hurt Foley's legacy.
3 Austin Aires
Throughout the 2010s, Austin Aires was one of the top independent wrestlers on the planet. However, many fans saw him as a long shot to make it to WWE due to his lack of size. Despite his stature, Aires would defy his skeptics and sign with WWE in 2016, joining the NXT brand. After moderate success in NXT, Aires was moved to WWE's main roster in December of 2016.
Initially, though, Aires wasn't a wrestler on WWE's main roster, rather an announcer. Aires would primarily call Cruiserweight division matches. This was a result of an orbital injury Aires had suffered in NXT. After buying some time announcing, Aires would be ready to step back in the ring. Sadly, his WWE run wouldn't be a fruitful one as he was released from the promotion later in 2017.
2 Curt Hennig
When Curt Hennig arrived in WWE, he adopted a once-in-a-lifetime character, "Mr. Perfect." As Mr. Perfect, Hennig dominated WWE's mid-card, going down as one of the greatest WWE Intercontinental Champions ever. Unfortunately though, by the early 90s, Hennig's body was beginning to fail him. He was forced to retire due to injury after SummerSlam 1991.
Hennig wouldn't leave WWE though. Instead, he'd join the announce team as a color commentator. Hennig worked mostly with Vince McMahon and the two showed pretty good chemistry. Despite that, Hennig wasn't long for the announcer's desk as he would eventually unretire and step back into the ring, ending his announcing career.
1 Daniel Bryan
Today, Bryan Danielson is once again able to do what he loves, wrestle. In 2016, however, "Daniel Bryan" had been forced into retirement by WWE due to his presumably failing health. Bryan wasn't happy about the situation, but he cooperated with WWE and tried looking for other ways to contribute to the product.
One of the most surprisingly excellent ways Bryan contributed to WWE was as a color commentator. Bryan, and Mauro Ranallo, were the commentary team for WWE's 2016 Cruiserweight Classic. Bryan and Ranallo impressed fans with their chemistry, and Bryan particularly impressed with his product knowledge and passion. Not one fan is complaining about Bryan being back in the ring, but if he were to become an announcer in the future, nobody would complain either.
