Jonathan Coachman spoke with SI about ESPN covering SummerSlam this weekend. Check out the highlights:
On how ESPN plans to cover the event: “We’re doing a lot of sit-downs on Saturday with guys who have cross-over appeal. We’re going to sit down and talk with different wrestlers that either played football in college, like Roman Reigns or John Cena, to the Miz, who was a reality star, so there are a lot of guys the casual sports fan would know. We’ll meet with them on Saturday, and those interviews will be on ESPN.com and our SportsCenter feed on Twitter, and then we’ll be doing live shots on Sunday morning from outside the arena to show people the atmosphere. Then we’ll interview a few people about what Sunday night means to their careers.”
On how he will approach covering the event: “We’re used to dealing with athletes and asking, ‘What does this game mean to you?’ Well, performing at SummerSlam is just like performing in the NFC Championship game. You’ve got to bring your top game so you can make it to the Super Bowl in WrestleMania. We want to introduce a lot of these guys to the part of the sports world who don’t watch Raw.”
On possibly working for WWE again and his plans at ESPN: “ESPN is not a place you come to take the next step, it’s a place you come to spend your career. I plan on retiring at ESPN, but I would love to be involved with ESPN and WWE. The biggest network in America for credibility in sports and entertainment is ESPN, so the best way to make your product credible is to be on ESPN. I’m proud of the fact that I am the liaison for the WWE. I appreciate the executives at ESPN opening their hearts and their minds, and I can’t think of anything cooler than what we’re doing this weekend at SummerSlam.”
