While there has been a revolving door of Raw announcers lately, including Samoa Joe, Jerry "The King" Lawler and Tom Phillips, one of the most consistent faces has been former Smackdown and occasional NXT commentator Bryon Saxton -- and unfortunately for him, he has the misfortune of consistently being made to play the butt of the joke in skits and segments. After being ripped on commentary by his peers and recently getting destroyed by Stone Cold Steve Austin, WWE is either intentionally burying him, or Byron has simply become WWE's go-to guy for bad comedy sketches.
Of course, Byron isn't the first announcer to be subjected to hazing or horrible booking. WWE has a history of hazing its announcers for the sake of "comedy," and it's not a good look for the WWE -- or for Byron Saxton's career prospects.
At first, his move from Smackdown to Raw seemed like a positive step for him, since even for a heel commentator, Corey Graves' never-ending attacks on Byron on Smackdown had grown a little too malicious. Unlike the outlandish yet entertaining banter between legendary commentators Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon, Graves' attacks on Byron were mean-spirited and didn't help to create any chemistry between the two. In short, Byron was being bullied while on Smackdown commentary, and it wasn't a good look for Corey, the bully, or Byron, the victim. Unfortunately, Saxton's move to Raw didn't put an end to the bullying, but only spread it to other WWE commentators.
Since moving to Raw, the attacks from his fellow commentators have continued, with Jerry Lawler telling Bryon to "shut up" so often that now every commentator seems to be uttering it. Still, it's not just the other members of the announce table that have been crushing Byron's brand -- it's WWE's terrible comedy skits as well.
Byron Saxton was humiliated and beat down by Stone Cold Steve Austin during Monday Night Raw's 316Day. Of course, someone had to take The Stunner, but WWE went the extra mile to try to embarrass him by having him act like a complete goof and score parts of Stone Cold's speech like an Olympic judge. Then, to the delight of his fellow commentators, Byron took several Stunners, with WWE repeatedly replaying Austin breaking his foot against Byron's groin before Stunning him and dousing poor Byron with cold Steveweisers.
Although 316Day was the more egregious humiliation, becoming the host of NXT's bizarre game show segment "Newly-Bros Show" didn't help his credibility either. Wearing a ridiculous leisure suit and sporting a game show host persona, Saxton's appearance on NXT somehow made him look even more feeble. That segment, on top of everything else, might represent a blatant attempt to bury Byron, but could also be another example of WWE's terrible booking in general.
Sadly, WWE has a history of mixing spiteful humor with bad booking. This type of comedy, largely seen during the Attitude Era, affected many WWE announcers well before Byron Saxton joined the announce table. Good Ole J.R. suffered repeated embarrassments, with Vince McMahon himself openly mocking Jim Ross's Bell's Palsy and dedicating over seven painful minutes to an unfunny "Dr. Heiney" segment to mock J.R.'s health issues. Present WWE announcer Michael Cole was subjugated to embarrassment too, with painful wedgies by D-Generation X and t-shirts draped over his face courtesy of The Rock.
Fast forward to today and nothing has changed. Now, Byron is the whipping boy, but this hazing isn't simply the result of bad booking or an attempted burial, it's actually both factors working together. Yes, WWE is intentionally burying Byron, but it appears to be more like an initiation than a deliberate attempt to devalue him. Byron's recent skit on NXT's "Newly-Bros Show" is part outdated rite of passage, part run-of-the-mill cringeworthy unfunny segment. Even if WWE intends this kind of hazing to be "all in good fun," it doesn't paint WWE in a good light, and, at least at the moment, isn't doing Saxton any favors. With WWE still promoting its Be A Star campaign, the company may want to discontinue its bullying culture and work towards actually improving the credibility of its announcing team, rather than humiliating Byron Saxton for humorless skits.