Jonathan Coachman thinks he could walk into WWE or AEW today and immediately become one of the three best promos in either company. He doesn’t think it would take months to get comfortable either—Coach says he’d be there from the minute he walked through the door.
Speaking on Developmentally Speaking, Coachman was asked when WWE first realized he could be more than the guy standing backstage with a microphone. He believes working with The Rock early in his career helped people inside the company start seeing something more in him.
“I would say that when I started having a lot of really good interviews, like with The Rock early on, I think that helped. And then I was in really good shape at that time. I think that helped.”
Vince McMahon apparently saw something in Coachman too. Coach says Vince liked and trusted him enough to give him opportunities that went well beyond conducting backstage interviews.
“I think Vince always, for whatever reason, he always really, really liked me. He always really, really trusted me. There’s a reason I went to Afghanistan. There’s a reason that I was able to sit next to him on a plane where he’s talking really serious business. He just liked me.”
After a couple of years, Coachman says WWE figured out just how good he could be on the microphone. That’s where he dropped his biggest claim, saying the same ability would put him near the top of either major wrestling company today.
“And I think that they realized after a year or two, Coach is a really good talker. And I would say this today: if I went to WWE or I went to AEW, I’d be one of their top three promo givers, like, the minute I walked in the door. That’s how great I was.”
Coachman pointed to his heel run as proof. He was getting heavily booed without needing to wrestle much, but eventually talking that much trash meant somebody was going to have to beat him up.
“That’s why I became a heel that people booed their asses off, even though most of the time I wasn’t physical. Then I had to get physical. Why, Brian? Because you run your mouth enough, you got to be able and willing to get your ass handed to you.”
Vince made sure Coachman understood that part of the deal. If he was going to become physically involved in storylines, he needed to learn how to actually work.
“And that was one of the first things Vince said was, ‘If you do this, you have to learn how to work.’ That’s what we call wrestle. You got to be able to learn how to work.”
Coachman did exactly that, and the experience gave him a lot more confidence in what he could handle. All these years later, that confidence clearly hasn’t disappeared—especially when it comes to what he believes he can still do with a microphone.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
What do you make of Jonathan Coachman saying he’d immediately be a top-three promo in WWE or AEW? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
