During his recent interview with Ryan Satin on the Out of Character podcast NXT enforcer Samoa Joe spoke about his job on the Raw commentary team, and what his favorite part of the job was during his time on the red brand. Highlights from the interview are below.
How his job on the Raw commentary team came about:
“I had done a few spots on the pre-show that they enjoyed. While I was out injured, they asked me if I wanted to come in and do color on Raw. I said, ‘Sure, no problem.’ I wasn’t really asked, it was just, ‘What are you doing on Monday? Come on in, do some color’ and it evolved from there.”
Whether he would switch to commentary full-time after he stopped wrestling:
“No, never really thought about it in-depth. Was it something like, ‘That’d be kinda cool’? Yeah, but I never thought of it as something that I was gunning for and could see myself transitioning to after wrestling. I had a lot of fun and it was a good time. It was cool seeing a different aspect of the business after being in it for so long and being on the cans and hearing all the production mayhem and getting a handle of the tremendous effort that goes into producing. Even as wrestlers, we don’t get the full scope of everything going on behind the scenes and how much things fall into place at the right time. My experience in commentary definitely gave me a great appreciation of that.”
His favorite part of doing commentary:
“It sounds selfish, but just popping the boys. Guys would like calls that I did or I made something sound cool that they did. ‘That was cool man, I liked that.’ ‘No problem.’ It’s a high-stress job, it’s crazy. It’s live television and a lot of times changes and revisions are being made on the fly and you have to hit the mark when it comes to it. Make no mistake, the man who sits as the main commentator on Raw or SmackDown, that is a multi-tasker beyond belief. My respect for Michael Cole or Tom [Phillips] or anyone who sits in that chair and has to direct that traffic, you may think you have a stressful job, but it’s probably the most unique and high-pressure job in sports. It takes a special individual to do that job. I do not envy that task. Being part of the commentary team makes me appreciate the production process even more and the incredible amount of effort that goes into Raw and SmackDown.”
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)