10 WWE Stars You Never Knew Were Announcers

by David Bixenspan

1. Mark Jennings In The Event Center

Where do you even start with this guy? In 1991, the WWF held a nationwide talent search for a new announcer. They picked a radio announcer of some sort (it's impossible to find biographical information about him, so who knows if he was a disc jockey or a newscaster or something else) named Murray Hodgson. After about two weeks of Event Center segments where he used the name Mark Jennings, he was fired.

He only made it to TV in a small handful of markets. The WWF said it was because he was absolutely terrible. Hodgson disagreed, and filed a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and wrongful termination, since he said he was immediately fired when he refused an unwanted advance. His claim was that at July 29, 1991 TV taping in Worcester, Massachusetts, Pat Patterson made a pass at him that led to his downfall when he refused.

He recounted the conversation going like this: Patterson: "So you're the new guy. What do you taste like?" Hodgson: "You've got the wrong guy." Patterson: "Not if you want to keep your job, you don't."


When Hodgson debated Vince McMahon on "Donahue," he got the better of the exchange, which convinced a lot of people that he was telling the truth. Well, he wasn't. When it turned out he filed a near-identical claim against a previous employer, his lawyer quit the case and apologized profusely to the WWF.

Contributor
Contributor

Formerly the site manager of Cageside Seats and the WWE Team Leader at Bleacher Report, David Bixenspan has been writing professionally about WWE, UFC, and other pop culture since 2009. He's currently WhatCulture's U.S. Editor and also serves as the lead writer of Figure Four Weekly and a monthly contributor to Fighting Spirit Magazine.