Jackie Redmond is not simply showing up on WWE countdown shows and repeating whatever is handed to her. She is going directly to Superstars like CM Punk to add real comments and perspective to her reports.
While speaking to Awful Announcing, Redmond discussed whether WWE reporting allows her to get caught up in a storyline or present something that was not actually said. The subject came up during a discussion about the controversy surrounding Charissa Thompson’s previous comments about making up sideline reports during her NFL broadcasting career.
Redmond made it clear that she takes accuracy seriously. She explained that while covering hockey, she records conversations with coaches and players so she can accurately use their comments during broadcasts. That same approach has started carrying over into her WWE work.
Redmond said that when she first began reporting on WWE Premium Live Events, she pitched the idea of treating those assignments more like traditional sports reporting. That led to her speaking directly with CM Punk before one of his matches and using his actual comments in her report.
“But I will say like I’m a bit of a psycho when it comes to this. So in hockey, and I’ve carried it over to wrestling a little bit as well. In hockey we have coach meetings. I interview players off camera at morning skates and then I use that information for my in-game reports. Yeah. And I record every single one of them. Like Lindy Ruff and Martin St. Louis, who I just covered in the last series, like I have my phone out. I’m voice noting like whatever they’re saying or voice recording whatever they’re saying because I never want to be in a spot where someone comes to me and be like, ‘Can’t believe you said that. I didn’t say that,’ and I could be like, ‘You did. I have it. It’s right here.’ I just never want to be caught. And I don’t because I don’t think anyone—well, I personally wouldn’t do it intentionally.”
“But when you don’t record, so I’ve had moments where I thought a coach said something a certain way and then I listened back and I went, ‘Oh, that wasn’t as good as I thought it was.’ Or, ‘Oh wow, that’s actually way better. I didn’t even realize in the moment that they said this amazing thing and now I’m going to use that.’ So I always record and then I try to memorize the exact phrasing.”
“This is what Rosenberg asked me. He’s like, ‘Do you really mean—’ I’m like, ‘Yes, I do.’ And the reason he asked me is because when I started doing reporting on PLEs for WWE, I had pitched to my boss like, ‘Hey, like can I do this the way that we do it in sports? I know that there’s a narrative and there’s a way that we’re going and it’s a little bit—you have to be a little bit more careful—but like can I go talk to CM Punk ahead of this match and actually get some sort of quote from him?’”
“And so I started doing that and I would memorize whatever he told me, or the part that I wanted to, and I would use it in the report. I mean, Punk’s the best because he always references hockey. So I can’t remember the PLE, but it was in the last like four months and he did a whole like Game 7 thing and I obviously loved it. So that was my report.”
“But to answer your question, yes, I do sort of apply those tactics and those strategies to wrestling. I’m still navigating how to do more of that outside of just like quoting someone. But it’s been fun to kind of mesh the two worlds, and I learned the other way as well. Like there’s things in WWE that I attempt to apply when I’m covering a hockey game, too. So they go hand in hand.”
Redmond’s comments offer a look at how WWE countdown coverage comes together, with her reports being built around assigned storylines while still including information she personally gathers from talent. In Punk’s case, his hockey references gave her a natural way to connect his match story to her background in sports broadcasting.
It also shows that Redmond is trying to bring a more authentic sports-reporting feel to WWE programming, using actual conversations with Superstars rather than simply delivering a prewritten recap.
What do you think of Jackie Redmond speaking directly with WWE talent like CM Punk to build her countdown show reports? Let us know in the comments.
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