Vic Joseph opens up about his work at the NXT commentary table.
Joseph spoke on this topic during a recent interview on Insight With Van Vilet, where the veteran play-by-play man talks his career in WWE and how up-and-down the entire experience has been. He begins by discussing his chemistry with Booker T and how the two never plan anything that they say together beforehand.
Something you hit on earlier, not being the star. You know, knowing that you aren’t the focal point (Joseph responded when asked what makes a good commentator). Also having great teammates. You know, I want to give a huge shout out to Booker T. Booker is Booker, Booker and I do not talk about much, we hang out for hours before the show. When we go out there on Tuesdays, what you hear is-is just live, off the cuff, off the top of our heads.
Joseph admits that he lost some confidence after constantly being shifted around from brand to brand. However, he credits Wade Barrett and Beth Phoenix for helping to restore that confidence once he started working alongside them.
When I was coming back to NXT when we talk about Mauro (Ranallo), Wade Barrett came in, and having done Mixed Match Challenge, 205 Live, Monday Night Raw, NXT U.K. and all these different shows to finally have a little bit more of a permanent home. My confidence was hit a little bit, in all honesty, and Wade Barrett specifically helped me, he gave me my confidence back. And I’d be wrong not to include Beth Phoenix in there. And so you have to have confidence. And those two, brought it back to me.
Getting his confidence restored was important to Joseph, especially when Shawn Michaels, who is now in charge of NXT creative, gives him credit for his work.
Booker kind of lets me be me because I let him be him and it kind of goes, okay, I do know what I’m doing. And when Shawn Michaels is sitting back there and goes, nice job, kid, great job. It’s kind of like, okay, I do know. I don’t want to say self gratification. But you kind of have like, okay, I do know what I’m doing. So you have to have that confidence.
Elsewhere in the interview, Joseph spoke about his goal of calling a main event match at WrestleMania. You can read about that here.
(Special thanks to Chris Van Vilet for sending over quotes)