Gary Michael Cappetta Explains Coming Up With His Unique Introduction for Sting in WCW and Creating His Own Announcing Style

– The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling recently interviewed former WCW ring announcer Gary Michael Cappetta. Below are some highlights.

Cappetta on how he came up with his introduction for Sting: “Sting is a difficult word to BOOM because it is a closed “ing” Flair is easy. “Ric Flair” is easy because your mouth opens and it just comes out. I “boom” when I announce so therefore I needed a running start to get to the word Sting so I thought well what can I say before Sting and with that I just created “this is”… “this is Sting”. It was out of fear (laughing).”

On his intro still being synonymous with Sting’s career: “Yeah it is and that applied to a few of the others. When you tune into a let’s just say a weekly show you like a lot and it doesn’t have to be wrestling anything there are certain things about that show that make you feel comfortable. Look at the late night talk shows. They have the same theme song every night, the host comes out the same way, he addresses the audience and thanks the audience the same way and than he is off on his monologue. Everything up to that is the same and there is a comfort in that and in repetition and I always knew that.”

Cappetta on coming up with his own style: “When I created or whenever it was that I created an introduction that was different or a little bit off beat like “the following contest” not is set for but to say “it” is set for was probably grammatically horrible but it is a little trademark. The carnation boutonniere is a trademark. When I started ring announcers didn’t where bow ties, when I started very few people in entertainment used their middle name or three names “Gary Michael Cappetta”. So they were little subtle things that set you apart and also these comfortable repetitions that people came to expect and identify with you.”