Jim Ross Describes Hearing Vince McMahon Yell At Jonathan Coachman On Commentary

Vince McMahon has long been hands on with how WWE commentary is done and his approach to getting what he wants from the likes of Mick Foley, JBL, and Michael Cole, among others, has been well documented. Often, his presence in an announcer's ear during a broadcast is unrelenting, as evidenced by a recent story from Jim Ross on his "Grilling JR" on Jonathan Coachman's experience in the booth. 

"Well I wasn't there all the time, but it was pretty aggressive," Ross explained. "Very distracting. I don't know how Coach could've done what he did being yelled at by the most powerful man in the business. It was intimidating."

Ross thought McMahon was trying to take Coachman to another level, and giving him that edge was part of the process. However, JR didn't think "The Coach" was ready. "He [McMahon] liked the controversy," Ross continued. "He liked the pressure he could put on people."

Recently, Renee Paquette discussed her frustrations with WWE's approach to commentary. More specifically, she believes that the company doesn't set new commentators up for success. And whether or not Ross feels similarly, he does think Coachman's talents were ultimately wasted as a play-by-play guy. It just wasn't the role for him. "Coach was not prepared for that," he added. "I thought he was really good at backstage things ... But he was never trained to be a play-by-play guy, which comes with a whole different set of house rules."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Grilling JR" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.