During an appearance on the The Universal Wrestling Podcast, WWE Hall of Famer JBL talked about commentary advice that was given to him by Vince McMahon:
“‘John, it’s not radio,’ ‘You don’t have to tell them it’s a dropkick. You don’t have to tell them it’s a Saito suplex and show off that you know what it was.’ People can see that. They need to know who this character is and why they should care about them. Once you realize that, you understand Vince’s mind for commentary.”
JBL went into more detail about doing WWE commentary:
“It’s completely different from sports. In sports, you want to be a step ahead. You want to say that a free safety is walked up and that frees up the linebacker to blitz. That opens up the audience into what potentially could happen. In wrestling, you don’t want to say, ‘Hey, I think that’s The Undertaker coming.’ You want to be a step behind. You want to let the audience realize what’s going on because it’ll mean so much more to them. That’s why announcers will say what seems to be really stupid stuff. ‘Who is that?!’ You know exactly who it is. It’s a guy who’s been on TV for the last 52 weeks. You’re letting the audience gather it in their mind so they become more engaged.”
