IMO, Gordon Solie should be left out of this discussion...Maybe you should ask, "after Gordon Solie, who is the greatest announcer?"
 
Maybe Lance Russell?

What about Tony Schiavone?

Quote from kennedy on May 11^th, 2007, 11:28pm:

 
I dunno.  I have heard some indy guys WAY worse than Tony.

Mom told me never to talk bad about people...

Quote from kevdaman on May 12^th, 2007, 10:43am:

 
IMHO, Ross puts himself over way tooo much.

Every time I watch TNA, it still sounds like Don West is selling knives at 3am.

Lawler is right behind Ventura for best color man.

Joey Styles and Tony Schiavonne, Chris Cruise are my favs as far as the best for calling the action
Dusty Rhodes, Bobby Heenan, and larry zybysco are my favs for color commentary

Color Commentary is a toughy, I enjoyed Bobby Heenan most, though usually only when with Monsoon, so for that fact I eliminate him.
 
Scott Levy (Raven) in Portland, Global, & WWF was just phenomenal on the stick, even when he hosted the WWF's radio show he did an excellent job. I haven't been a big Raven fan in a long time but his commentary work was some of the best I have ever heard, though at times he seemed to lose site of selling the match or storyline and went into stand up comedy routines so I have to eliminate him as well.
 
Which brings me to Ventura, who did exactly what he was supposed to do and played the heel well. I'd have to say in all fairness Jesse was the best, though I liked Heenan more myself.
 
As far as play by play. I use to RAVE about Joey Styles during 96-97 but he is a lost soul it seems when working with a colleague. His work with Shane Douglas in ECW was okay, but the stuff with Callis and/or Gertner was bad. Styles also doesn't work well commentating under WWE's "way" of doing things.
 
Ross much like Ventura, does everythings he's supposed to and does it well. If we're not counting Gordon Solie I'd have to say Ross would be the best of the last 20 years anyway. But again much like Ventura, Ross isn't my personal favorite. I haven't really cared for Ross since he left WCW, though in no way am I bashing his ability to call the action. I am simply not as big of a fan for Jim Ross as I once was.
 
Gorilla Monsoon will be one of my all time favorites forever, but his commentary wasn't that great without Heenan or Ventura by his side.
 
Guys I thought that did good PBP work were actually Lance Russell for sure and Scott Hudson (GLobal & WCW). Hudson sometimes tried to make inside or sheet jokes for the smart marks though. So as far as play by play goes, I'd have to go with Solie, Russell & Ross...but Solie is the best simply because he sold the wrestlers best during interviews.
 
Now I know Vince was supposed to be PBP though he rarely called a hold, but I thought his last few years on commentary were very good.

Well I do agree that Vince was above par back in the 70's and very early 80's as compared to many other PBP guys, but when the kayfabe era began dying, Vince's commentary lacked IMO that special something. And then there was the period during the steroid & lawsuits and such where Vince was off tv a lot and when he was on he simply wasn't as into the matches as he once was.
 
But he really got on the ball in the mid 90's again especially when he had to up his game for monthly PPV's by 1995. Grant it, alot of stuff he did during 95 & 96 was BAD, but i very much enjoyed his commentary.

of all time...
 
1. rich landrum
2. les thatcher
 
tony schiavone was incredible BEFORE he went to the WWF. once he came back to WCW, he was not himself and his talent showed it.

I've gotta go with Jim Ross for play-by-play. Solie, much like Russell, played the ultimate straight guy (albeit in a completely different style) in contrast to all the crazy wrasslin' hi-jinx going on all around him....the problem is I always thought that Solie came across a bit like a drunk shill sometimes: it may work the first couple of times you hear it, but paying customers of the time that heard him week in and week out would probably start to see that he said the same things everytime, and would draw really hokey, unrealistic parallels in attempting to attribute 'legit sports psychology' to the action. Plus I thought that his play-by-play was actually pretty hard to listen to. Don't get me wrong - he had a great voice and great delivery, and as a wrestling fan I just love the sound of the mans voice, but with the exception of Starrcade '83 (his PXP peak, imo), I actually find his commentary makes matches difficult to watch, like he's just going through random generic stuff that doesn't really suit what's going on in the ring....
 
I have similar thoughts about Russell (although I prefer him greatly to Solie)....I LOVED the way he sold all those violent, bloody, hokey angles, like a sweet old science teacher trying to bring decorum to the class, but his PXP wasn't so good....he always seemed a few minutes behind the action, and never called any moves as such....
 
I personally think Ross is the greatest of all time....in fact I don't think anyone comes close. He just bought a super-fluid 'sports delivery' approach, and could sell you the situation & the emotion as being the most important things in the world, whilst never missing a perfect call for every move. Of course...he's gotten a little worse over the last 5 years or so, plus it took a few years for the WWF to have the brains to position him as the lead announcer....but I still think he's the best....
 
Joey Styles in '96 - '97 was just scarily good, promising for a time to over-shadow Ross. To prove he really is that good, his performance at the 2005 One Night Stand PPV is consider by many to be the best play-by-play of any PPV in history. But, of course, like so many people, the politics of WWE's bizarre 'style-hazing' (no pun intended) has kind've cut his legs off, in terms of just letting him do what he's good at....
 
In terms of colour, I like Ventura & Heenan as much as the next guy, but I think honorable mention should go out to Piper and Michael Hayes (I mean with JR in Mid South - NOT Dok Hendrix). Watch those 3 PPVs where Piper was the sole colour guy (Summerslam & SSeries '90, and Royal Rumble '91). That's some of the best colour work ever, IMO....
 
But the best colour man of all time? Easily, by a million miles Paul E....
 
I always thought Tony Schiavone sounded like a lesbian. And I mean one of the ones with a moustache....
 
Honorable mention should also go out to the Bob Caudle / Davey Crockett team, who for some reason I could just listen to all day....