“Well, I am the Bad Bunny of sports broadcasting. So that’s how I feel. I grew up watching SportsCenter. So Stu Scott, Rich Eisen, Dan Patrick, these are my guys. To be able to be behind a desk with the NFL Network, ESPN, Good Morning Football all the time, I’m sure there are ex-players and broadcasters who are out there going, what is this dope doing? You know, the same way sometimes fans look at our guys and are like, what is Speed doing in there?
But these are just fans of what we do. They just love it…you don’t understand how big it is that Bad Bunny is wrestling in WWE. Bad Bunny is this generation’s Michael Jackson. He sells out concerts and stadiums globally. We’re talking nearly hundreds of thousands of people at these shows, and he’s coming to wrestle for WWE? And is psyched about it!
He’s willing to put in the work. He doesn’t just show up game day and [say] I can do this. He’s like, okay, give me a ring. I’ve got to train. Send somebody down here. We have producers and talent that go down and work with him to teach him how to do these things so that he can put together a performance. Same with Speed. I was on a plane the other day from LA to somewhere…Speed and his crew were on this red-eye with me. Speed was right there next to me, and we were going to wherever, because he had to get ready to do this match at WrestleMania that he was a part of.
So, I don’t mind it. I think there’s a balance in our industry. You don’t want me doing too much. You don’t want me in the booth doing too much. Like, I can’t be Kevin Harlan. I’m not like that. I’m not Tom Brady. I don’t have that expertise, but a little bit here and there [is good], and I think that’s the same for wrestling.
There was a big pushback against Pat McAfee when he came in, and it’s like, yeah he’s inserted into this WrestleMania main event storyline that already had 20 years of history with Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. Our audience is like, eh, maybe not. But when Pat was on commentary for us, he did a great job. And he did a couple of matches here and there. He did one in NXT that was awesome. He worked with GUNTHER, they had a great match. It’s just, in small doses.
So Speed, Bad Bunny, small doses, great for our industry. And it allows us to kind of branch out for different people, and different audiences, to see what we do.”