WWE commentary isn’t the same as it used to be.
During the latest installment of the “Something to Wrestle” podcast, former WWE color-commentator and WWE Hall of Fame legend JBL reflected on how it used to be at the desk in the world-leader for sports entertainment.
JBL spoke about the “announcers bible” that his longtime on-air broadcast partner Michael Cole wrote.
“Michael [Cole], at one point, wrote the announcers bible, trying to help people,” he said. “I believe in there, I don’t I ever read it, don’t tell Michael. ‘I ain’t reading that shit.’ He knows I didn’t. A little different level than a young guy coming in than the old guy who knew what was supposed to happen, wasn’t supposed to happen. I believe the list of banned words, I believe was in that announcers bible. I don’t know that for sure, but there was an announcers bible. I believe, at one point, Michael had written it.”
The pro wrestling legend also recalled the infamous list of “banned words” in WWE.
On titles: “I absolutely hate it. These idiots out there, ‘We gotta say belt. We gotta say strap.’ Say something that denigrates the product. I agree completely. A belt keeps up your pants. It’s stupid. You want to do an insider term to get over with your 40 people that respond on Twitter? It’s one of the dumbest things I’ve heard. Call it a title. Call it something prestigious. I hate when the UFC guys, ‘I won this belt.’ Say it’s a title. Say it’s a championship. I completely agree with Vince McMahon on belt as compared to championship or title.”
On business, industry and locker room: “I think I said that before, so I don’t remember that. I try to stay away from stuff like that because it was too inside baseball. I knew things were inside baseball. You don’t want to say ‘business’ because it makes it feel like it’s too small. I always had a problem with the locker room. Vince, I don’t think did, I don’t know that for sure because I never talked to him about that. Nobody gives a shit about the locker room. These big stars are making millions of dollars now, and they should, I’m happy for them, but you think they are in a community locker room back there? They may be, but that’s not what you want to put over to the fans that it is. You want them to think they’re in a private locker room. I always got mad at anybody, heels or babyfaces, that carried their own bags into the arena. I told guys forever, ‘You’re supposed to be a star.’ Do you see Michael Jordan walking in with his bad with him? No. Somebody carried it for him. There were a lot of things like that, that were simple and Vince wanted to make it appear bigger than a little thing that was an old carny event. You want it to be something like NFL or MLB, it’s perceived differently.”
On pro wrestler and pro wrestling: “Guys wanted to die on this hill and I thought it was stupid. Guys wanted to get in ‘pro wrestler.’ ‘Oh, he said pro wrestler. Good for you. That’s going to get you a hell of a push.’ I never understood why people wanted to die on this hill. Vince wanted ‘sports entertainer.’ He wanted ‘superstar.’ He wanted to create something different than pro wrestler. You want to differentiate yourself from the days of the BFW halls or high school gyms. I get that. Today, people don’t associate it with anything like that. It’s different now. Now, if you say ‘pro wrestling,’ it has a different connotation than what it had 20 years ago, but 20 years ago when I was there, it was a negative connotation. I know people in the know liked that because it was part of their inner circle and it made them feel like part of something that nobody else knew, but that’s not where you make money. You don’t make money by catering to your hardcore fans. You make money by Stone Cold bringing in a family of four. By the Rock bringing in this family that wants to come in on a Thanksgiving weekend or Christmas. That’s where you make it. You want to differentiate yourself between the old BWF halls and superstars. Nowadays, that’s not the case because people assume pro wrestling, ‘you’re the guys who sell out big arenas.’ It’s different now. Back then, I agreed with it. It was important to characterize your guys differently than what the insiders would say.”
(H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.)
