Jim Cornette Shares His Reaction to Howard Finkel’s Passing, Recalls Finkel’s Dedication to WWE And Positive Atttitude

On the latest episode of the Jim Cornette Experience, Cornette shared his reaction to the passing of the legendary Howard Finkel. As reported on Thursday, the WWE Hall of Famer passed away at the age of 69 and Cornette learned of the news just before the podcast recorded. Cornette recalled Finkel’s famous positive attitude and talked about the ring announcer’s long-standing dedication to the company. You can check out the highlights and full video below:

On his immediate reaction to Howard Finkel’s passing: “Probably the most popular, most universally-liked WWF employee of the last 40 years. I don’t know if anybody ever got mad at Howard Finkel or had anything bad to say about him. They’d kid him and rib him. But you know — I’m verklempt now, which was Howard’s favorite word, right? That’s how I learned it, verklempt … but Fink was the most dedicated employee they ever had. Sometimes they didn’t treat him that way. I know people say, ‘Well, you rib people in wrestling if you like ’em. I think they went too far sometimes with, you know, stripping him on TV down to his underwear or whatever.”

On Finkel’s dedication to the company: “He was always cheerful. He was the first one to get there to the office in the morning. He’d do what we called the Finkel Report, where every morning back in those days, when there was really no internet to speak of and there was a lot of hotlines, and of course the newsletters. Fink would get there the first thing in the morning and he’d listen to all the hotlines, or he’d go through all the newsletters. And then when websites started becoming a thing, he’d go through all of those. And he’d type up — and my God, he must have been able to type like the wind. I don’t know, it was 7:00 in the morning, I was never at Titan Towers at 7:00 in the morning. But he typed these long Finkel reports summarizing anything that he thought Vince or the creative staff, or the talent relations office oughta be aware of. And it was to the point where he was so reliable, that if a writing day, when me and Bruce were at Vince’s house. And it would be 9:30, quarter to 10 and the Finkel Report wouldn’t have come out yet. Vince would actually ask, ‘Have you seen the Finkel Report, pal?’ And it was almost never late, so that’s why it was a concern, because he’d have it by the time everybody got to the office by 9:00 or, even Vince at 8:00 or 8:30 or whatever, he would have that thing ready.”

On Finkel keeping a positive attitude: “He was always happy and cheerful. If bad s**t happened, Fink could look at you with that beaming face and those big cheeks. And he’s smile and [say], ‘Well, Jimmy, what are you gonna do? We must press on.’ And s**t just, nothing got him cranky. I never saw him mad at anybody. And he would get frazzled when he was rushed and hurried and et cetera, but never upset.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Jim Cornette Experience with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.