Jimmy Smith Found Vince McMahon Helpful In His Ear On WWE Raw Commentary

Jimmy Smtih made his commentary debut on Monday’s WWE Raw, less than a week after finding out he would be taking over for Adnan Virk.

Smith is a former UFC and Bellator announcer but didn’t have experience as a play-by-play announcer in wrestling.

The big question everyone asks when someone new steps behind the commentary desk in WWE is, what was it like with Vince McMahon in your ear?

“I had Bjorn Rebney yelling at me in Bellator. It happens. Dana [White] didn’t really do it in UFC, but I’ve dealt with multiple people yelling at me or multiple people talking to me. It wasn’t new at all. When Vince hoped on, it was about things that were specific to WWE that I need to learn that I found helpful. Whenever we’d say, ‘WWE fans’ it’s ‘our fans.’ There’s verbiage specific to the WWE. Every time Vince jumped on, it was, ‘In WWE, we say this.’ Got it. It was all helpful. Three people were never talking at the same time. Even though it was three different voices, they all jumped on at different times. I had [Michael] Cole in my ear because he was producing and I had Kevin [Dunn] and occasionally Vince. Vince, not that much, and Kevin and Cole were good at not stepping on each other. The on-air traffic was great and Kevin gave me plenty of time. The countdowns were shorter, I have to get used to that. It’s the nature of the way wrestling works,” said Smith on Busted Open Radio.

Smith was immediately criticized by fans when he was announced as the new lead play-by-play announcer due to his lack of experience and watching of the product. Smith said he’s been preparing since January while working with WWE and really studied this past week after learning he would get the gig. Smith received positive feedback from fans after the show, but the only feedback that matters are from those within WWE.

“Triple H texted me this morning and said, ‘Great job.’ That’s what matters. Keeping your gig depends on four or five key people. If they are all happy this morning, that’s what matters,” he said.

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