Joe Tessitore got off to a good start this past Monday on WWE Raw. Tessitore said his work “wasn’t great” on Monday but he’s passionate about what he’s doing. Fans on social media generally praised him for doing a good job on his first night at the announce table.
On the latest Grilling JR podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross gave his thoughts on Tessitore becoming the lead announcer on Raw.
“Tessitore is a solid hand,” Ross said. “He’s a solid announcer. My only question would be how much product knowledge can he acquire in the short length of time. Wrestling fans are picky in their announcing. They know what they like, what they don’t like, when you mispronounce somebody’s name or you say the wrong name, whatever. We act like it’s a federal crime and it isn’t. It’s human error. This game is done by humans last time I looked. Tessitore has great experience. He’ll do a good job. Again, the one thing that I’m waiting on is to see how much product knowledge that he has acquired since he made his deal with WWE. He is a good addition, no doubt. He’s a good addition to their team.”
“All he has to do is listen to his partner. It sounds overly simplistic to some, but all he’s got to do is connect the dots between him and his partner and let it roll and have some fun and don’t overthink it. We’ll know soon enough when we hear him work more than just an intro to a piece or video or something like that, but actually call a match bell to bell. How does he sound? What kind of story is he telling? Are you keeping me up to date with what I’m seeing? It’s a challenging job. I can tell you from experience it’s a challenging job, but I think it was a good hire. He’s got a good look and he’s young. He’s got a lot of years left, so hopefully it will be a great hire for them at the end of the day and maybe somewhere along the way, people will start listening closer to the announcers because I think we do have a key role in what’s going on and telling that story.”
“Good for Joe. Congratulations to him. I wish him nothing but the best of luck. I had a great run there for over 20 years and I don’t regret any of it. It was a great experience and I’m sure he’ll have a great experience as well if he applies himself and doesn’t feel like he’s quote/unquote, lowering the bar on his assignment. I’m being rational now. No, you’re a sports entertainment announcer and you’re a storyteller and you’re going to keep me informed and keep me excited about what I’m seeing.”
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