Jonathan Coachman discusses a potential return to WWE.
In 2008, Jonathan Coachman left WWE after starting with the company back in 2000. In 2018, Coachman made his full-time return to the company, as he joined the Raw commentary team. Just a few months later, Coachman was replaced on commentary by Renee Paquette (Renee Young).
In the past, Coachman has stated that there is nothing that could make him return to the world of professional wrestling. It appears that his stance on the matter has changed, as he spoke about his short run in 2018 and a potential return to WWE while chatting with The Angle Podcast for a new interview.
“When I went back, and I’m not gonna name names, but I was not treated very well. Whether it was the fact that I’ve already been there and they were a little bit jealous that I was put back in the commentary world, but I played into the ESPN guy. I shouldn’t have done that, that was a mistake on my part because the best version of myself is heel coach. I’m great when I talk trash, I’m great when I tear you down and then get physical towards the end. There’s no reason why in 2024 I can’t do that and still have credibility to host a sports betting show, to host a sports wrestling show, to work at NBC. Everything has changed now, so if I went back again, because I would be open to going back now, but I’d never go back and sit in the commentary chair and be a straight forward announcer. That’s not who I am, that’s not the best version of myself. So that’s kind of why I said I’m done because certain people didn’t want me there. They didn’t want to work me and when you have a three person announce booth, it’s like a three man weave in basketball. If you don’t work together, it can come off as awful. When I was there, it was, I’m in business for myself. That’s what it was. They didn’t want to work with me and so I basically got shut out.”
Coachman continued on and gave some more insight on why his return in 2018 didn't work out.
“The other part was, during my first ten years there, I missed one Monday Night. So I was there for 519 had a golf contract with the golf channel. I had to miss five Mondays. I didn’t miss that many in the firstout of 520 Monday nights. Think about that for a second. 519 out of 520. So when I got back in 2018, I ten years, but I missed that in the first six months [when I returned]. So other people capitalized on that and Vince got pissed off and was like, ‘Hey, if he doesn’t wanna be here.’ Well, that’s not the case. You called me and I already had this deal in place, so why would I give that money away. Plus, to stay in the sports realm and the golf realm to cross promote, I thought would’ve been a great opportunity. Vince didn’t see it as that so they took me off commentary, they made me do the pay-per-view preview shows, so I only had to travel once a year, so I was the easiest guy to get rid of when COVID cut everybody at the knees."
Coachmen finished off the question by briefly speaking about how he felt it was best to let his negativity towards the business go.
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