In the early 90s, for example, when there was a blood test for an athletic commission that Hulk Hogan had to take to be licensed, for whatever reason, and you can speculate yourself, they decided against sending Hogan’s blood. Whether it was Hogan refusing or them not wanting to risk it given Hogan’s name value, it was ordered for Finkel to donate blood that was then listed to be Hogan’s. Obviously they all knew that there would be nothing in Finkel’s blood that could lead to problems. Somehow this got out and was quite an embarrassing news story at the time, although it had no ramifications past that.
“There are certain people in the industry who are special,” wrote Lance Storm in a social media post. “They are so unique and stand out in their specific role that they become iconic, almost a right of passage to the rest of us when we get to work with them. I would assume with each generation, these people change, for me and anyone even remotely close to my generation, Howard Finkel was one of these people. You often hear about Jim Ross in this role and he absolutely is. Everyone wanted, still wants Jim Ross to call one of their matches. It’s like a bucket list event, because he to them is the voice of wrestling and just always made your matches better. Howard Finkel is another, such a special human being. He is the greatest ring announcer of all-time, and his voice brings back all the great moments in my life as a wrestling fan. And being introduced by him was every bit as much a bucket list moment in my career as having Jim Ross calling my matches. It was like a sign that you’ve made it, that you’ve really done it.
“On top of his unparalleled iconic voice, he was also the nicest, sweetest man you could ever meet. He just loved wrestling, announcing wrestling, and being around everyone in wrestling. There was a special kindness to Howard Finkel, almost the naivete of an enthusiastic child. When he was at a show, he was the proverbial kid in a candy store. Hew was in his happy place. His face lit up no matter who he ran into. When you shook hands with Howard Finkel you were always greeted with a smile.
“My favorite memory of Howard was spending time with him at the Raw 10th anniversary show that we did at the WWE Restaurant in New York,” Storm continued. “We were packed into the place and I remember being there absurdly early and having a lot of time to kill. I’m not one for crowds so when I spotted Howard by himself, I immediately headed in his direction and spent the better part of a couple of hours talking with him. He told me the story of how he got in with WWE and how he was the first official employee at WWE (then WWF). His employee number was one. At the time there were a lot of wrestling autobiographies being done and he asked me what I thought about him doing a book. I could tell he was hoping WWE might ask him to do one.; My first thought was with all of the big names in WWE, I can’t imagine them asking Howard. But then I thought about the time he’d been on the job, and all of the things he’d witnessed. We talked about how I thought to sell the book. It might have to be marketed as a bit of a fly on the wall type book, `The history of WWE a seen through the eyes of Howard Finkel. I have no idea if it would have sold, but I have no doubt it would have been an amazing tale.”
Indeed, few know that Finkel, who only did the role a few times as a fill-in, was actually the best actual play-by-play announcer WWF had in the company in the mid-80s. Finkel was a legitimate major fan, had a great memory, and was a natural at calling matches and understood getting people over, the moves, had the voice and understood how to use it for maximum affect.
Deep down, I believe he wished he would have been given that opportunity. Once, when he did a show, he got praised for his work by Larry Matysik, who considered Finkel maybe his best friend in the company, and who himself was one of the best television announcers of the 70s and early 80s. When Matysik went to work for WWF in 1984, he was never given an opportunity at that job. Instead they wanted a guy like Jack Reynolds, who was terrible at announcing wrestling, but had the right look and better voice. There was a brief period in the late 80s when local ratings in St. Louis on KPLR had dropped so much the station was upset, and to pacify management, McMahon had Matysik do localized voiceovers of Superstars for that market alone. But that was obviously just a short-term thing and didn’t fit into McMahon’s longtime plans.
After Matysik praised Finkel’s work, Finkel responded and told him, “People like you and me, it doesn’t matter how good we are at this. We’re just not what they want.”
Finkel was the most loyal WWE employee there was, always talking about the company in a positive way, and always putting on the loyal face at the ribs. I never heard of him complaining even to people who knew, past maybe disagreeing with a decision here or there. He was always loyal to Vince McMahon. Even when replaced as ring announcer when he was the best in the business, he’d just say how the business changes and what they want changes and he didn’t fit what they want, without ever appearing bitter.
He was extremely well liked by almost everyone, universally respected as generally, the best to do ever do it, by both the fans of the era as well as the talent. The outpouring of emotion for him at his death was almost universal.
The only exception would have been Bill Moody (Paul Bearer) in a taped interview with Jim Cornette.
Moody said, “I have memories, I have some bad memories. I’ve seen him crying when they treated him so bad. He sat down and cried. If they treated me like that, I’d probably cry too. They treated him like shyt.”
Another former wrestler noted the saddest part was how shytty he was treated, noting what a nice man he was, and in that environment, many there saw his kindness as weakness.
Yet, no matter what he could have done, or the next generation of memories as the best ever to yet another generation, he always seemed thankful for what he had.
“Even as Howard’s health declined, he was more concerned about me and my fight to be healthy,” noted Roman Reigns on twitter. “We lost one of he greatest ever. He was the greatest ring announcer ever and that couldn’t even compare to the human being that he was.”
For the next generation of talent that grew up as fans, having Finkel introduce you to many was like having a Ross or a Jesse Ventura (who was considered WWF’s coolest announcer of the late 80s) call their matches.
“At WrestleMania 2000, after E&C won our first tag titles, I found myself alone in the locker room w/Howard Finkel after the show,” said Jay “Christian” Reso on Twitter. “I said, `Howard, I’ve waited my whole life to hear you say those words, `Aaand newww.’ He hugged me. He was genuine. He was the best.”
Many of the wrestlers of the current generation had similar thoughts growing up. They still had the moments where the ring announcer said it, copying Finkel’s call, but it could never be 100 percent the same as if it was Finkel doing it himself.
The first time Finkel was replaced from announcing the major shows was in 1995, when they used the younger and better looking Manny Garcia. Finkel still toured as a house show ring announcer. But that experiment failed in McMahon’s eyes and Finkel was brought back years later. But unlike Ross, who was replaced and brought back repeatedly, Finkel returned to television and PPV in early 1996, but only lasted a short time in the position until being replaced by Lilian Garcia.
After that move, the position was generally reserved for younger and better looking men and women, even if none could do it at the level of Finkel. He still did some PPVs, and on occasion, would be brought back for a special occasion, but as far as actual television, aside from a few angles, he was rarely used.
If not for this, I’d say Finkel would have been an automatic Hall of Famer, but in other sports, when you had a legitimate Hall of Famer, particularly in a ring announcer or p.a. announcer or play-by-play announcer, they become so iconic they wouldn’t be replaced until they were very old and could no longer do the job, and in the cases for the most iconic, often past that point because fans would be upset at it. But McMahon, pulled Finkel at the age of 45, and again at 47, because he was always about putting young people on television, even though he would make exceptions on the announcing side. But he got the idea that the ring announcing job should go to good looking people, and not the most competent, and as far as that went, nobody was better than Finkel, or even the voice the fans accepted as the authentic voice.
He was put in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009 and elected into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame in 2018. He and Lennon are the only two ring announcers in the Observer Hall of Fame.
He did PPVs after being taken off Raw, and house shows for years after, but was being phased out. He still worked house shows for years, and was the best at doing it. He still was a key figure every year at WrestleMania when his role would be to introduce the Hall of Fame inductees or their family members in front of the big crowd through 2016, prior to his health issues.
Once, in 2011, he was brought back at the insistence of C.M. Punk, at the time one of the company’s biggest stars, who wanted Finkel to introduce his title match with Alberto Del Rio.
Throughout the years he did a number of angles, again largely for the amusement of the chairman. He did a 1992 feud with wimpy manager Dr. Harvey Wippleman, who tore off Finkel’s tux. This led to a January 9, 1995 tuxedo match on Raw, which was more to entertain McMahon as the two guys were out there with the object of starting out in tuxedo’s, and having their clothes torn off until they were left in their underwear. Finkel, as the babyface, had to win, but he also had most of his clothes torn off, enough that he was in the ring in just saggy underwear marching around the ring with The Bushwhackers doing their walk in celebration.
In 1998, Jeff Jarrett shaved what little hair Finkel had left. This was to build to a SummerSlam match where Finkel was in X-Pac’s corner for a hair vs. hair match with Jarrett. Finkel got his revenge by helping cut Jarrett’s hair, although Jarrett, in spite of what the stipulation said, was not shaved bald and simply went to a shorter haired look.
In 1999, he played a deranged former ring announcer who attacked Tony Chimel on Smackdown in attempt to take his job back. WWF did the same angle a few years later on Raw with Jim Ross, as the deluded former announcer who thought he was still the voice of Raw after Michael Cole took his place.
Chris Jericho did a angle with him where Finkel played the masked heel ref, El Dopo, who gave Mr. Hughes an unfair win over Ken Shamrock.
In 2002, Finkel did a similar angle to what he and Ross did, as a heel feuding with Garcia over the Raw ring announcing spot. This led to a Garcia vs. Finkel clothes tearing match, Garcia in an evening gown and Finkel in a tux. Finkel had insulted other WWE women at the time. While the draw was the idea that Finkel would strip Garcia on television, it ended up with Garcia, Trish Stratus and Stacy Keibler all tearing his clothes off, again leaving him in his underwear.
He was brought back in 2012 to be the guest ring announcer on the 1,000th episode of Raw. He was also used as a cast member in an attempt by WWE to sell a reality show concept, Legends House. The series ended up getting no television takers, and was repackaged years later for the WWE Network. He appeared in a WWE web series the JBL & Cole show through 2015.
While he was not there due to health reasons, his voice was last used on the January 22, 2018, 25th anniversary of Raw where a tape of him introducing The Undertaker was used.
For people who grew up from the late 70s through the late 90s, the voice of Finkel will always be remembered as more than just a ring announcer, but as the ring announcer. Whether it be Bruce Buffer in UFC, or pretty much every English speaking ring announcer for any pro wrestling promotion who has any longtime fandom, they will, either consciously, or subconsciously, copy his mannerisms, voice modulation changes and dramatic pauses. Unlike with Lennon, who had a unique style of his own that wouldn’t work for others, with Finkel, his style is the textbook on what a ring announcer does, in every way. Partially because of time, aside from his son, there really isn’t a Jimmy Lennon Sr. in almost anyone. There will be some Michael Buffer in many future boxing ring announcers. There will be a lot of Howard Finkel in every ring announcer who grew up watching him, and later, from people who watched a next generation of announcers who themselves saw Finkel as their role model of how to do the job.
And whenever you see a title change, and hear the words, “AND NEW,” remember where it came from, as that, for generations, will be his everlasting legacy.
Never made a difference to his stardom
V Trigger isn't even a fukking finish
Always remember in the Savage obit (I think), he went from Wrestlemania to high school baseball to being born 
