In an interview with the The Angle Podcast (via Fightful), Jonathan Coachman spoke about a possible return to WWE, which he said he would be open to if it didn’t involve a role on commentary.
He said: “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. 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.“
