Rich Brennan Talks WWE Producing Him On Commentary, Who Was Producing Him Over The Headphones?, More

This WrestleZone Radio exclusive features Nick Hausman interviewing former WWE Smackdown & NXT commentator Rich Boccini (aka Rich Brennan).

You can find more info about the interview as well as some transcribed quotes below.

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On whether or not it made his commentary job difficult being produced through his headphones:

RB: Yeah. You have a director who is giving you time cues. It’s like any TV job. You have an earpiece in. You have a director telling you what’s coming up next or, “Hey, don’t go to this, go to this instead.” Then as far as the announcers actually being produced, yes, you are being fed things. I don’t know that it’s always as bad as some people make it out to be. In a lot of ways you are being produced to guide you to make sure you are getting to the right things. Can it be distracting at times? Can it be a little difficult to deal with at times? No doubt about it. Being produced isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

On who was producing him in his headphones:

RB: Usually I heard from Cole. Vince was there. Vince was in my ear a handful of times. For me, it was mostly Cole.

On whether the producers would ever try to make him crack while he was on camera:

RB: Oh yeah. No doubt about it. There’s definitely things that they will try to get you with. Usually they give the color guy something to try to get you with. Or they may tip off one of the wrestlers to come and do something.

In the rest of the interview Rich also discusses:

What led to his WWE release and whether he was surprised
Mauro Ranallo transitioning in to his role as WWE Smackdown commentator
What it’s like to be produced via headphones while trying to commentate matches
Who was producing him?
WWE producers trying to get him to break on camera
Not being allowed to use certain words and terms on WWE TV
Having more freedom to call the action in NXT as opposed to Smackdown
WWE NXT no longer be considered a developmental territory
Whether the NXT Championship or the Intercontinental Championship is more important
All of the NXT talent that has been called up to the main WWE roster
Who he thinks he gelled with best on commentary
Helping to get Corey Graves in to a commentary role
Why the WWE is so mean to Byron Saxton on camera
Some calls he made that riled up people on Twitter
His plans for the future
More…