Jonathan Coachman Discusses Vince McMahon's Directives During WWE Commentary

Jonathan Coachman reflected on his tenure as a WWE commentator during an interview with Chris Van Vilet. He shared insights into Vince McMahon’s expectations of the commentary team. McMahon would instruct them via headset, and Coachman emphasized the importance of immediate compliance, even if it meant interrupting his co-commentators.

"A lot, a lot. The more he trusts you, the more he’s going to lay out. But in the height of when I was doing it, because they moved me around. I did Sunday Night Heat then I did Monday Night Raw. And you know, and obviously, JR is the greatest. And he would still scream at JR and I got it so good. Because Vince would say something. And if you didn’t say it, because he wanted you to say it, then not wait for JR to get done not wait for King to get done. I want you to say now. So after a while, I was like I don’t care if JR and King are mad at me, I don’t want to get screamed at by Vince anymore. So he’d be he’d say something and I was so good at regurgitating it that I would say it within a second. Probably I could talk as he was talking in my ear. That’s how good we got together. But there’d be sometimes if you said you didn’t tell the story the way he wanted you to tell the story. Because this business is all about stories as we’ve talked about and you just ruined his character. You just killed him. You just ruined it. Like that’s the kind of stuff you’d scream at you if you told a story the wrong way, which is why it was so paramount. The show’s going on. It’s at a big spot in the match and he’s screaming at you and you’re trying to get back on track. And it was paramount to meet with the agents and the superstars who are wrestling We had to, you’d go round during the day and meet with all of them, because you had to know the story they were telling. And the really great ones can have a match and tell a great story. And if you’re just watching it like, Man, this is amazing. But the commentary adds to it."