Earlier in the week, the cross-promotional power of Jonathan Coachman led to the announcement that ESPN’s SportsCenter would air a weekly recap of WWE events on Tuesday nights at 9. WWE hopes the mainstream coverage will help improve falling ratings, or at least keep them steady until the IMDb and Weather.com hire wrestling writers.
That decision isn’t going over well with mainstream coverers, though, as evidenced in this clip from ABC World News Now’s THE MIX. “It’s not REAL!” The dismissive scoff at the beginning really makes it.
The best part is the anchor qualifying his opinion by saying he’s “old-school SportsCenter.” That’s such a funny way to describe one’s self. Maybe he’d feel more comfortable with WWE footage if Chris Berman was calling it? “BACK BACK BACK BACK BACK BACK BACK BACK BACKbreaker by Sheamus. Michael LUMP OF Cole IN YOUR CHRISTMAS STOCKING!” True SportsCenter purists only watch episodes anchored by George Grande.
For the record, I think it’s a great decision. Why sit through three hours of Raw if you can tune in to ESPN on Tuesday and catch the condensed, two-minute version? “Oh, Dolph Ziggler hit a dropkick? Cool. Ryback did a big clothesline? Got it. Saved me 65 Sonic commercials.”
