Adamle could have been good.

[The Doctor]

OK, you'll probably all shoot me down for this, but I have to say it.
I witnessed Adamle show up as the commentator for ECW, and watched him get promoted to GM for RAW. We all know him as a bit of a joke, and a terrible announcer.

But it didn't need to be that way. I've been thinking about it recently, and rewatching some of the old stuff he was in. This man hosted American Gladiators, and even did commentary for the Olympics.
His main problem was lack of product knowledge. There were times when I was watching him as GM that I really liked the character. If he actually knew what the hell he was talking about, he'd have been pretty good.

I don't think he deserves to get all these "awards" for Worst Gimmick/Character, and doesn't deserve to get so much derision. Sure, his mistakes were occasionally hilarious, but, in my opinion, he could have been great.

Comments? Could Adaamle been good if he was a wrestling nerd?

I'm not trying to say he was good during his time. I'm just saying the potential was there.

 

[ExtremeSwagga93]

As a commentator I just plain hated the guy, I mean he messed up every week, his most infamous mess-ups (in my opinion of course) were saying that Nunzio was a former 3-time ECW champion. Of course he was probably trying to make reference to Nunzio being a former 2-time ECW tag team champ, and when he called CM Punk CW Punk. Of course there were other but those are the ones that stick with me.

Anyway when he was made GM, I was mad, but toward the end of his run, I was just warming up to him. His "Adamle originals" all sucked, but nonetheless he atleast looked liked an authority figure.

Adamle could have been good if they took some time to train him, get him familiar with the wrestling world, maybe had him do commentary or something in FCW to develope him. I mean the guy does have commentating experience, but he wasn't familiar with wrestling, it was pretty much all about educating him, and he would have been a decent wrestling character.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Both posters correctly make note of Adamle's lack of product knowledge, but I don't think it was the company's job to "educate" him. If he was going to make his living in professional wrestling, it was up to Mike to familiarize himself with the product. It was obvious that he had never heard of most of the wrestlers of whom he spoke..... but what was preventing him from learning? There were tapes to watch, articles to read and people to talk to. Instead, Mike showed up at the studio each week and read from a script.

I had the same objections to George Foreman as a boxing analyst for HBO. Yes, people would cite his "fabulous" personality, but it was plain that he did no preparation for his job and that he had never heard of most of the boxers on whose fights he was commentating.

Let's not let Mike Adamle off too easily. He had the ability to do better and the information at his fingertips that would have enabled it. He chose not to use them.

 

[The Doctor]

That is also very true. It's the fault of many, in this case.
If he had taken the time to educate himself, I think he would have been a good character. I enjoyed the character at times, and saw some potential which, unfortunately, didn't happen.

 

[Blade]

It took me a while to realise that Adamle wasn't just there to make people laugh during ECW, he was actually supposed to be taken seriously as a commentator... Cause I didn't the the WWE would actually put that guy on announcing duties... Although if they're goal was to just use him to make people laugh, I give a resounding thumbs up. Remember when he was commentating that Tommy Dreamer extreme rules match last year and he called a table a picnic table?
Seriously, you cannot write stuff like that.

But saying he could've been good is like saying Kizarny could've been good. Cause it's fairly silly. If you start out bad, chances are you will always be bad *cough* Don West *cough*. In commentating, you either got it or you don't. Excuse the cliche.
Sometimes it takes a while for commentators to get good, for instance Cole isn't as mind numbingly bad as he used to be. But Adamle was never going to be good. He couldn't even remember wrestler's names for a whole match. It was pathetic.

 

[mont3818]

Me and my friends actually enjoyed listening to him screw up. I thought they really could have pushed this to the limit, you know, make it okay to screw up and have it all be part of the plan. Adamle could have become the most hated commentator ever. I miss the guy, haha. Putting him as GM was a bit too extreme, plus most of what he said as GM was scripted to we got less screw ups out of it. But I liked him being WWEs black sheep.

 

[MikeKillam]

I'm not quite sure. Even if he did know the product, he was always reading directly off the paper, and failing at that. You would think that some one with so much experience would be able to pull of a decent job doing a commentary position. Even if he didn't know the WWE that well, you would think he could memorize his lines just like everybody else in the business.
He seemed way too nervous and way too lost all the time.

I do think that WWE should not have buried him like they did. When Stephanie said "Oops, looks like I pulled an Adamle" I didn't laugh. I actually thought it was a completely bitch move by her. It's WWE's fault they brought in an announcer they paid more than any of the others, without trying him out first. It's their fault that they didn't properly examine his ability to do his job.

But, this is classic WWE. They care WAY too much about the "it" factor, the star power, and not enough about the actual talent. WWE could be giving Cena some more wrestling lessons, so he would be fantastic in the ring AND on the mic. THe could have given Matt and Jeff some more time on the mic earlier in their careers and given them some speech lessons as well. But they don't. The see something that will make them a lot of money, and they milk it for all it's worth. When it dries up completely, the take it away for awhile, and bring it back to the same thing until it is completely dead.
How many times have we seen the John Cena cheer/boo cycle. We're currently cheering for him since his return (granted he did get a lot better, and has been really intense), but how long until he wins the title and gets booed again?

Oh yeah, the actual question. No, I don't think Adamle could have done that good of a job in WWE, but I do think he could have been at least a little better if Vince made the decision to train him first.

 

[Dale B]

Everybody before me who has posted seems to want to blame Mike Adamle for screwing up the way he did. What you don't realize is that WWE was telling him what to say through his Headphones. Remember, It's All Scripted !

 

[MikeKillam]

@Dale B- Yes, it is all scripted. And you're posting that on a forum for a spoiler site. Realize that we know this... but did you know that Adamle was reading those scripted lines right off that clipboard he carried around every week. Did you know that him messing up all those lines was NOT a WWE angle. It was not WWE that told him to mess up the lines they gave him. Every other performer is able to read their lines just fine (in most cases). So know, it's not WWE's fault that Adamle couldnt READ.

 

[OIL]

Everyone has potential. However, Adamle's lack of the product just screwed him over. I mean, if you're going to go into a job where you're not familiar with it then surely you'd do some research before starting the job. That, or learn to read names properly. Sure, he could have been good; if he knew the product that is. With that, I could have been him being good. Maybe if he learns about wrestling more, then he could come back. What a return that would be.

 

[latinoheat8979]

Well I see the guy everynight here in Chicago. He's the sports anchor for NBC 5. I notice sometimes how he will stutter and stumble his words on occasion. I remember him on American Gladiators and he never did that. I agree with some on here about lack of product knowlegde but I was warming up to the guy and had they not let him go who knows, maybe he would've gotten better guess we'll never know.

 

[smalltownfan]

No doubt Mike Adamle was and is a good announcer but I agree with many of the previous postings that lack of product knowledge did him in. And unfortunately, in a company like WWE, there wasn't anyone with a lot of time to train him on the product. The only ones who receive real training are the wrestlers and the rest of them have to improve on their own. What should have happened is that Adamle should have joined either the RAW or Smackdown announce team as a 3rd man to learn the gift of gab from JR or Michael Cole. Then he could have gone out on his own. OR he simply should not have been given the play-by-play gig at all and been a backstage interviewer which he would have been much better at anyway. Kudos to Adamle for trying but it wasn't meant to be.

 

[DJ-LyRiX]

I think the key element to this has already been hit on. Adamle sucked because his preparation skills were abysmal. I think he made a few screw-ups early on in his commentating career, then got edgy and made bigger ones when nervous. Nonetheless, a man on TV every week for many years should not feel nervous about being on TV.

As for the "whoops I pulled an Adamle" thing, have to say I ROLF'd. Funniest thing Steph has said in years.

 

[Hillmania]

I'm gonna go in a different direction on this one.

I think Mike Adamle could have been the greatest authority figure on wrestling TV since Vince McMahon.

Now hear me out. Adamle had this thing about him where he was just so goofy and awkward that it got to be hilarious to watch him. You never knew what he was thinking and he never aligned himself to either face or heel. He just tried to do the best he could, but he was so obviously bad that it was funny. There were so many story line possibilities with it. Orton or Jericho could have pretended to be his friend to get title shots out of him like Edge does with Vickie. A new character could have been his even dumber lackey that would probably get over just for his stupidity. He could have had that lovable vibe that would give heels heat every time they were rude to him. In essence, what I am saying is that Mike Adamle should have been used like Michael from the Office. The idea would be that he is just an awkward guy who is in way over his head and has hilarious screwups all the time. It would be a whole new type of authority character, instead of the done to death heel authority figure who abuses his power.

I truly think it could have been revolutionary.

 

[supergav67]

if I HaVe to say anything nice about Adamle is,having read your opinion,what he didnt have is what most recent EX WWE employees didnt have ,,,time.
With short rosters getting shorter,every new member of the WWE Universe has got to hit the floor running.Wrestlers who coulda gone into stables or played Heat matches while their character gets over the crowd .B shows which Adamle coulda introduced or been backstage announcer on,as he got to know exactly what he was talking about (Cole & Coach got that LuXuRY.) .,not so long ago.But no,Matt Strikers gotta be instant J.R.,or J.R.-lite.NTI & FCWs have to make a Cena type first impression or get Kizarneyed.As soon as WMs finally over,the next Raw theyll start SellinG the next PPV.sod whose won,start plugging it now!.
His short reign suggests they wanted effortless polished knowledgable Gladiators type announcing,as they didnt get it ImmediatlY,I guess he had to go.

 

[MrLee]

No matter how scripted WWE is, he still screwed up.
Miscalled moves and names all the time, I just think that he simply didn't get it. I'm quite sure, that there were people backstage trying to help him and teach him, having a clueless man on your main show makes no sense, EVEN in WWE!

THAT SAID, with the right gimmick, he could've worked.
They should've promoted him as some really arrogant guy, who hated his job at WWE and couldn't be bothered to learn about the sport. He could state that wrestling isn't "real", so why should he care etc etc.
Think that could've been cool.

 

[The Doctor]

MrLee and Hillmania both have brilliant ideas. He could have been so much more.
I liked Adamle's current character. He had the look, and I actually liked his voice. He looked like an authority figure, and gave off the vibe of a professional. It's ust a shame that he kept messing up.

 

[suleman09]

yea i actually do think Adamlee could have been great as GM of Raw, weather the matches he made were his or the creative teams desicion's, he announced some pretty good matches, John Cena vs Batista, 5 Man Scramble Match...along with many more...i think was doing fine

 

[4horseman fan]

I can't but help to agree with everyone so I don't think that I'm going to add anything new but anyway product knowledge did screw Adamle up but when he accepted the job I'm sure he had some time to learn about the business. I'm sure before the event, he also had time to learn so with that being said Adamle not knowing about the business is his own fault. You know millions of people are going to be listening to you and you would think that a person would do everything they could to sound educated (if that's what you are supposed to be). Do I think Vince rushed him in too fast, well of course I do but then again Vince doesn't care about anyone's feelings but his own. I think if he had more time or bothered to "study" more then he would have lasted longer in the business. Just like suleman 09 said whether the matches were his or not, Adamle did announce some creative stuff. I really enjoyed that championship scramble. I don't think we're going to see any more creative matches for a long time.