Scott Stanford, a familiar face to WWE fans as a host for Kickoff shows and This Week in WWE, recently joined Francine’s “Eyes Up Here” podcast. The seven-time Emmy-winning New York news and sports anchor shared stories about his career path, his unlikely journey to WWE, and his lifelong wrestling fandom.
The conversation began playfully, with Stanford immediately joking that he came on the show solely to play “America’s favorite game show, porn star or baseball player”. After a few rounds of the game, Stanford offered an explanation for his knowledge of obscure adult film titles and names.
“I don’t want you to think I’m a degenerate,” Stanford prefaced. “The only reason I know these names is because one WrestleMania back in New York, I was part of Dolph Ziggler’s Comedy Night. I roasted Dolph a little bit, saying how he looks like the pizza delivery guy in a porn movie. And I started throwing out these titles and names, and that’s the only reason why I know”. He then jokingly added, “Because I only watch once a day, so I wouldn’t really get to know all of the porn stars”.
After the game, the discussion turned to his extensive broadcasting career. Stanford displayed one of his seven Emmy awards, joking about his wife’s reaction: “Every time I walk into my bedroom, I say, ‘Hey, baby, you ever sleep with a seven time Emmy winner?’ and she goes, ‘No?’ She says, ‘No, and I’m still not'”. He explained the awards came from his long tenure as a news and sports anchor in New York since 2003, winning one for a morning show and six for best sports anchor/on-camera performance.
Despite his success in sports, Stanford revealed his childhood dream wasn’t sports broadcasting. “I always wanted to be a game show host or Mean Gene Okerlund,” he admitted. “The whole sports thing just kind of fell into my lap”. He recalled pretending to be the legendary WWE interviewer as a child: “When my brother… got his first like camcorder… the first thing we did was put me in front of like a one of those old wrestling advertisement posters… And I was literally ‘All right, ladies and gentlemen, this Monday night Hulk…'”.
His path into broadcasting involved some luck. “I just happened to, you know, I had a friend call me about doing sports one day, and I ended up doing sports on the radio here in New York, which led to me doing sports on TV for the fox station and the UPN nine station,” Stanford explained. This television work ultimately led him to WWE.
“SmackDown, Friday night, Smackdown, came to the UPN network,” Stanford recalled. “They wanted a guy who can go out and do feature pieces for all the news programs that would come on at 10 o’clock after Smackdown… So how do you keep that audience that’s watching Friday night Smackdown? You put a little tease into the show”.
“I was the guy who worked with WWE on all those feature pieces,” he continued. “So I would go to the garden. We would set up like 10 interviews… they would come into a room with me, and I would literally sit and do like a five minute interview with each superstar… So it was almost like I worked for them already”.
This existing relationship and footage proved crucial when WWE needed a new studio host. “I got a call from the PR guy said, ‘Hey, we’re looking for a new studio host. Vince saw they narrowed it down from 300 tapes. Vince narrowed it down to three. He hated the three that we showed him… Put together a quick [demo] and we’ll show it to Vince.’ They showed my demo to Vince. He said, ‘Get this guy up, get this guy up here.’ And that was that”.
Stanford then auditioned with former ECW announcer Joey Styles. “I went up. I auditioned with Joey Styles… We called a few matches together and did a few things, and I did a couple pretend interviews, and here I am, 11 years later,” he said.
He spoke about his longevity with the company, hosting various shows including Kickoff panels and This Week in WWE. “It’s funny, because once in a while, on Twitter, when I do a kickoff show for a pay per view, people are like, ‘I didn’t even know this guy was still at the company’,” he laughed.
Stanford detailed juggling his WWE duties with his demanding news anchor schedule in New York. “There were times where I was doing a Monday Night Raw pre show and a Tuesday night Smackdown pre show… I would do my five and six o’clock newscast. I jump on the train… up to Connecticut for a seven o’clock show… We would do the pre show. Hang out after… I jump into a car. They take me back down for the 10 O’Clock News… it’s like working for me… It’s so much fun”.
His passion stems from being a fan since childhood, attending shows at the Westchester County Center. “My dad used to take us here in New York… when I was a little kid, we used to see like Andre the Giant and Ivan Putski would be there… I had the shirt that said, ‘Polish power’ for Ivan Putski”.
Reflecting on his idol, Mean Gene Okerlund, Stanford noted how interviewers were once integral characters. “The great thing about him back when is that he was still the announcers, the interviewers were part of the shtick back then and part of the show… he made half of those segments… today it would have just been, you know, my guest at this time… Back then it was just he was such a part of the stick that you just… Mean Gene was a character”.
Stanford concluded by sharing his broadcasting philosophy, emphasizing practice and presence. “You want to look comfortable in front of that camera… When I’m on television, that’s like, my high… when you’re doing a live show… you’re not thinking of the bills you have to pay or any troubles in your life, it all goes away for that time being. And it’s just, you know, it’s great”.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Francine’s Eyes Up Here podcast with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. You can find Eyes Up Here wherever you get your podcasts.
