The Evil History Of Pro Wrestling | WWE’s Treatment Of Howard Finkel

To older WWE fans, Howard Finkel was one of the most warmly-remembered characters in the history of the promotion.

You don’t get a nickname if people don’t really like you, and people really liked ‘The Fink’. They loved him. He was a short, bald ring announcer who radiated a sweet, gentle charm, but he was also authoritative. He wasn’t just the voice behind several important announcements; he was the exclamation point. Finkel’s gravitas, the sense of importance he imbued, made a new champion feel official, worthy, in a way that none of his successors have quite managed. That might be a very subjective take warped by nostalgia. When you’re young, and more easily fooled, every new champion is going to feel credible - but his iconic, protracted “...and new!” proclamation did almost as much to elevate a new champion as their first opponent. Each of his successors stretched the announcement out for almost exactly as long as he did for a reason. None do it with the same phonoaesthetic beauty, nor the same sense of pacing. The Fink treated the art of crowd psychology like a wrestler would, saving his booming, most drawn-out announcements until the main event.

There was just something wonderful about The Fink’s manner. He was so dutiful about his responsibility; eyes fixed straight ahead, putting on a deeper, solemn voice, he played it like everything he was about to say was the most important collection of words imaginable. The WWF wasn’t a kid-friendly wrestling racket with barbers, roosters, and anthropomorphic marine vessels running around: to Fink, it was the the majestic height of sporting achievement, and he was visibly, fiercely proud of it.

When you were a kid, and this is a laugh, you thought the WWF was a great, upstanding institution. A not inconsiderable part of that was the Fink’s doing. He was mourned, profoundly, when he passed away on April 16, 2020. He was 69.

Finkel was not merely an on-air talent. He was in fact the first WWE employee, signed to that landmark deal in April 1980, though his association with what was then the WWWF stretched back to 1975. In addition to working in the talent relations department, Finkel, who was the first person in the office every single day, would also report to Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson about the various goings-on in the wider industry - compiling Wrestling Observer-informed dossiers that became known internally as The Finkel Report. As best exemplified by the fact that Finkel came up with the name ‘WrestleMania’ - quite obviously better than Vince McMahon’s ‘Colossal Tussle’ idea - Finkel was an invaluable thread in the WWE fabric.

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