Renee Young And Michael Cole On Doing Commentary At WWE Crown Jewel, How Much They Know About Matches Beforehand

WWE’s Renee Young and Michael Cole were guests on BBC Radio today (h/t to John Pollock) with Rachel Burden and Nicky Campbell. The two talked about working Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia this past week, progression of having women in more featured roles in WWE and more. You can read a few transcribed highlights and listen to clips from the show below:

Cole: We are rapidly moving in the direction of—over the past five years—Renee’s a perfect example. Never before have we had a woman in the broadcast booth on a weekly basis.

Host (Campbell) – Saudi Arabia — what happened there with the women wrestling? They weren’t allowed, were they?

Cole: So Renee Young was the commentator in Saudi Arabia for [WWE] Crown Jewel. As we continue to make progress there, our hope one day is that we will have women Superstars battling it out as part of our events in Saudi Arabia.

Renee: One thing I will say that was very cool about that—as well is being a woman welcomed into Saudi Arabia, to step into the announce booth and be part of the broadcast—is how many men, women, children coming up to me, knowing that this was a big moment of change and that there is a demand and need for women to be performing in Saudi Arabia. So, [the Saudi people] are asking for it, certainly.

Seth Rollins On Crown Jewel Audience: This Is Why We Do What We Do

Cole and Renee are also asked about the scripted nature of WWE

Cole. We do in ways. We are a scripted entertainment event; it’s a soap opera. That’s why people tune into us. They tune into us because our characters are what drive the product, the emotional attachment that you have to them, whether you like them or don’t like them, whether you’re a good guy or a bad guy. That’s why people watch our product. As commentators we sometimes have an idea of what’s going to happen, but most of the match—about 20 minutes—we don’t know about it. You’re actually calling it like it’s a sporting event. To us, that’s what makes it fun.

Renee: I prefer to keep in the dark about most of the stuff so I can just react and call things as I see it. I keep my blinders on.

(Transcription credit to Bill Pritchard for Wrestlezone.com) 

Cole and Renee are also asked about developing catchphrases, including Cole explaining how he came up with the ‘vintage’ catchphrase. Check out clips from the episode below: