It's fairly common knowledge that WWE were looking for way to replace Jim Ross as the lead announcer long before he retired. As far back as the 1990's, the promotion were interested in hiring a younger, fresher face who could present programming. There was just problem, Jim Ross was the best commentator in the organisation, and replacing him was no easy task. In 2008, WWE hired Mike Adamle. Internally, he was viewed by the McMahon family as the kind of guy who could eventually become their lead presenter. Unfortunately for them, Adamle didn't have any product knowledge to speak of, even mispronouncing wrestler names (Jeff 'Harvey', instead of Hardy) with alarming regularity. Debuting at the Royal Rumble, he was then installed as ECW's main announcer in April. There was unintentional hilarity any time Adamle appeared on screen. He seemingly made no effort to learn about the WWE product, or basic wrestling terminology. Infamously, he couldn't even remember what the ring ropes were called, and Tazz had to quickly cover for him. A short stint as Raw General Manager didn't help, and Adamle was gone from WWE by the end of the year. He was definitely a failed experiment.