Monday, August 17, 2015

SportsCenter at SummerSlam?

Is Coach bringing SportsCenter with him to SummerSlam?
Photo Credit: WWE.com
Jonathan Coachman has made the most of his post-WWE career at ESPN for sure. He's been with the Worldwide Leader in Sports for over six years, anchoring SportsCenter and getting his own syndicated sports radio talk show in the process. Not bad for a guy who spent most of his time in WWE stooging to get his ass beat or playing an announcer to tepid results. He's also seen his former company mix with his current employer earlier this year, when Brock Lesnar made his big announcement to re-sign with WWE on ESPN. That interaction may not be the last one between the two media and entertainment giants.

Coachman has been cryptically tweeting about SummerSlam lately, and the ones below are of most interest:



So Coachman has pretty much said everything short of an official confirmation that he'll be anchoring SportsCenter from the Barclays Center on August 23. If two and two does indeed equal four here, then it will be the first time I can remember the mainstream sports media paying this much attention to a wrestling event for positive reasons in forever. Obviously, ESPN comes with its own baggage, given the platforms it presents to guys like Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith, but then again, WWE has Donald Trump in its Hall of Fame. These two companies are closer bedfellows than one might think.

I'm not sure how ESPN could cover wrestling, but with Coachman aboard, it's in good position to do so. Now the question remains how much of the four hour broadcast will Michael Cole and company spend shouting out ESPN and obsequiously pointing out how it's there covering a WWE event? My guess is that is the reason why an extra hour was added to the telecast. That's only a half-a-joke.
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