Greg Hamilton Reveals the Origin of the ‘Best in the World’ Intro, What the Original Plan Was

WWE ring announcer Greg Hamilton discussed the origin of his Shane McMahon “Best in the World” intro in a new interview with Chris Van Vliet. The intro, which would see Hamilton hold the final syllable of “Best in the World” for an extremely long time, became a major part of Shane’s most recent run in the company and would see Shane berate Hamilton and Raw ring announcer Mike Rome until they got it right.

Talking with Van Vliet, Hamilton revealed that the held note was not part of the original plan and how it came about. Highlights and the full video are below:

On the original plan for the introduction: “That again is a great story on its own. That was not the original plan for the whole ‘Best in the World’ thing. There was never this plan of ‘Hey, we’re going to have you hold this note as long as possible. It was just ‘Announce him as Best in the World.’ That was the original plan.”

On where his version of it came about: “MetLife Stadium, WrestleMania, we’re at rehearsals. And we’re, you know, we’re rehearsing the intros. And Shane goes in the corner, [I say] ‘Best in the World, Shane McMahon.’ Well, Road Dogg and Jeff Jarrett were helping with that segment and they were right behind me. And Road Dogg goes, ‘Hey, man.’ He goes, ‘Let me just hear you just let one rip. Let me see what you can do, man. Come on, brother, give it everything you got.’ I said, ‘Are you sure?’ He said, ‘yeah.’

“So, we rehearsed again and I just held this note. And I don’t — I mean, it was like time stopped. And I just kept going in this empty MetLife Stadium, it’s empty because it’s rehearsal. And I just let it rip, man. And thing must of, I don’t know, probably the longest one I’ve ever done in that rehearsal. And I was done and then Shane McMahon — he was conducting, just having fun. It wasn’t planned. So we did it and I stopped, turned around, and Road Dogg goes, ‘Damn, can you do that again tonight?’ Thus, ‘Best in the World’ was born.”

On Mike Rome doing the introduction on Raw: “I’ll say this, man. I’m glad it was Rome. And this is — I don’t know who would be a ring announcer there, I’m just saying, I’m glad it was Rome. Because I know Rome has the chance to pull it off. He is a trained singer. But imagine somebody who is just a ring announcer not necessarily able to do that, and they were on Raw and he’s calling for it and they couldn’t do it. That would be awful! So thank God it’s Rome over there, because it’s difficult.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.