By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

TNA announcer Taz defended the announcing at the No Surrender PPV last Sunday by saying not every line in a three-hour show will be a "home run." Taz said he feels criticism of his announcing with Mike Tenay has been too harsh.

Taz posted on his Facebook page today: "Don't expect a homerun in every at bat folks! Some of u will take 1 sentence a wrestling announcer says, not like the comment and rip the guy! What about the other 100-200 sentences one of us said in the 3 hours?"

Caldwell's Analysis: It's not one or two sentences that are the problem, but the overall tone and feel of how the product is being called. It's live TV and mistakes are going to happen. Jim Ross is going to call one of Jeff Hardy's move a Swanton Bomb instead of the Twist of Fate. The surface-level response "Oh, I was entertained" is not a valid defense. It takes more critical thought than that. Taz laughing at a back drop into a dumpster took away the believability of the "fight" Suicide and Dinero were supposedly having. If it's funny, then it shouldn't be off the PPV or it should be presented as an obvious farce of a match like Hornswoggle vs. Chavo. That slowly, little by little, chips away at the believability of the product, which affects the entire product. It's why the only people buying the PPVs are the same 20,000-30,000 fans that are always going to buy the PPV and why TNA can't grow their TV rating past a 1.2.

TNA's audience level has peaked with their current product mix of sometimes-laughable wrestling storylines and gimmick matches. If Taz was moved to commentary to help grow the audience, he should help present the content with a more serious tone rather than cracking jokes for three hours or trying to get himself over to the point where he actually had to say during a match at the end of the PPV, "Hey, I'm not trying to get myself over with the following statement..." TNA seems to be content where they are with this TV and PPV product, which is not showing signs of growth and will not grow if the announcers create a sense they are laughing at the product rather than trying to enhance it.

It's fine to incorporate humor and good jokes during the course of the show. No one is asking for a dry, bland wrestling broadcast like it's 1979. Like all things in TNA, there has to be balance! You can't overload a PPV with five or six different types of gimmick matches, a ref bump for no reason in the semi-main event, and a PPV main event with three different storylines mixing together and taking the fans out of the action because they have no one to root for. Balance, balance, balance!

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