JBL On Vince McMahon's Approach To Commentary, How He Is Backstage

JBL was recently a guest on the Universal Wrestling podcast, where he revealed some of the advice Vince McMahon would relay to him through the headset while he's doing commentary.

“‘John, it’s not radio. You don’t have to tell them it’s a dropkick. You don’t have to tell them it’s a Saito suplex and show off that you know what it was.’ People can see that. They need to know who this character is and why they should care about them. Once you realize that, you understand Vince’s mind for commentary.”

On flying with Vince McMahon:

“I used to fly with Vince every week back to New York. When I first retired from getting hurt I was doing commentary and working on Wall Street. I’d fly back every Monday night with Vince and I’d fly out with him a lot of times as well. A lot of times it would just be us on the plane, and it was unbelievable to listen to the guy. Vince is the guy in a meeting that always asks the question that you wish you had asked. It’s the great engineer compared to the good engineer. The good engineer designs something and people go, ‘How does that work?’ The great engineer designs it and you go, ‘I could have done that.’ That’s the simplicity of intelligence, and Vince was always that guy.”

On Vince being a good listener:

“I tell people when they talk to Vince you got to understand that he’s going to listen to every word you say. He’s not going to interrupt you. When you get done, he’s going to think for a second. It’s going to be uncomfortably long, but when he comes back he’s going to have an answer for you. It’s a remarkable trait.”