The Evil History Of Pro Wrestling | WWE’s Treatment Of Howard Finkel
In later years, after being phased offscreen, the Fink organised travel arrangements for the touring talents. In a wonderful anecdote often shared online, Luke Gallows told the story of Finkel explaining his itinerary. Finkel said that Gallows would be wrestling Kane on the next loop, signing off the call with “Watch out for that chokeslam!” Finkel was a mega-fan until the end.
Finkel wasn’t just beloved by fans; at Survivor Series 2011, at the behest of the man himself, CM Punk brought out the long-retired Finkel as his personal ring announcer. Finkel, in Madison Square Garden, his happy place, the arena that made him famous, was visibly overwhelmed by the huge ovation he received. He was so moved and teary-eyed that he couldn’t get the words out. Punk was nice; he mimicked pointing at an imaginary watch with an understanding “come on, man” expression on his face. On commentary, Michael Cole was toxic. It should be mentioned that Cole, inexplicably, was doing a heel play-by-play gimmick at the time, rendering every second of every broadcast insufferable - but this was especially unpleasant. At one point, Fink motioned to speak, but couldn’t do it. His mouth opened, but no words followed, and he froze. Cole pissed himself laughing. He wasn’t working; he was genuinely amused by Fink showing an emotion, and Cole took the opportunity to kick the cat. This happened to Finkel a lot; sometimes you saw it, sometimes you didn’t.
To underscore how well-regarded Howard Finkel was within the wrestling business, Lance Storm’s social media obituary, often a strangely detached source of black comedy, was actually incredibly touching. In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s obit, Dave Meltzer somewhat played down the stories of institutional bullying, writing that “[Vince McMahon’s jokes] were never as personal or as cruel [as those endured by Jim Ross]. Meltzer cited an occasion in which McMahon arranged for Finkel’s car to get destroyed, just to see his reaction, but “would, of course, pay for all the damages”.
This is actually bad enough on its own, and using the treatment of JR as the extreme end of an abuse scale doesn’t make it less awful. What Ross endured was despicable; the institutional bullying of Howard Finkel isn’t somehow okay just because it was less severe.
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