From the Podium VI+IV: An Adamle Original

[Leonard]

Since I first arrived on the scene here in the Columns Forum back in mid-January, I have pointed out Mike Adamle as one of my favorite non-wrestling personalities in professional wrestling history. For equally as long, I have been thinking about ways to successfully justify that stance. While I may not succeed here, I think I can make a pretty good effort. The column will be broken into several sections that will give you more insight to the man that is Mike Adamle, and comments on his WWE tenure. Think of it as a Wikipedia article and with “Podium”-worthy insight thrown in. Come with an open mind, try not to judge too harshly, and enjoy!

Here we go…

The noticeable beat of a conductor’s pattern.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

Mike Adamle was brought into this world in late-1949, around Kent, Ohio (close to where I’m from, so there’s another point for you, Adamle). Mike was born into a moderately successful family, as his father had played (and done well) for the Cleveland Browns football franchise in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s. An interesting note about Adamle is that he suffers from epilepsy, a neurological condition that is characterized by recurring seizures. This hits home for me because I have a relative who suffers from this condition. Before we get into group therapy here, Adamle denied his condition for several years, but eventually became a leading spokesperson for the Epilepsy Foundation, as well as currently serving as a member on Chicago’s board of directors for that organization.

Most of his career in playing sports was in the realm of football, with his most notorious tenure being with Northwestern University in Chicago, from which he graduated in 1971. There he was an All-American fullback, as well as Big Ten MVP (not Montel…), both in 1970. After that he was a fifth round draft pick to the Kansas City Chiefs. He played there until the end of the 1972 season, and then was traded to the New York Jets for a few seasons. He finally ended up in Chicago with the Bears, where he would end his career at the end of the 1977 season. Mike was a pretty well-recognized player in all three of these franchises. He is still an avid athlete; in fact, he participated in the Ironman Triathlon (which is invitation only, by the way) in Hawaii in 2003.

THE HOST WITH THE MOST

Mike’s best known stints on television have nothing to do with playing sports…it has more to do with his announcing duties and, more specifically, Adamle as a host. He had many football-related hosting duties with NBC Sports, serving as a sideline reporter, and as a host of various events. His stint on GrandStand is one of his best known. This show was primarily a pregame show for the NFL, but also served as a type of “anthology” or segment show for the league during the offseason. He also took part in covering three Super Bowls. To stay with football, he also joined the XFL (the “EXTRA-FUN LEAGUE,” as Vince would put it) during its maiden season (and its only) as a sideline reporter (with other NBC Sports anchors). Obviously, that didn’t last very long. His football resume doesn’t end there, however; he also did several reporting jobs for ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU, where his duties ranged from sideline reporter, studio host, and play-by-play man.

As you can tell, the majority of Mike’s work has been done with NBC. He was a key anchor in the coverage of the Summer Olympics in 2000 and 2004 as well. If you understand anything about the Olympics, you know that this is a huge deal, and you have to be very good at your job to have a post of this magnitude. Also, he became a color commentator for the Professional Bull Riders “Built Ford Tough” series in 2006. So, he’s clearly not bad at announcing.

Outside of the realm of specific sports, he has spent many years as a sports anchor for various news stations in the Chicago area (he is currently in a position such as this—a position he held while employed by the WWE). Also, he hosted 2005’s Battle of the Network Reality Stars on Bravo. Of course, most of us know Mike Adamle best for his hosting duties during the run of American Gladiators, which was a show pitting ordinary people against each other and against strongmen (and women) known as the “American Gladiators.” The show lasted from 1989 to 1996, and during those years I was an avid watcher. The competitors, events, gladiators, and co-hosts always changed, but Adamle was the mainstay of the show, and is probably best known for that stint to this day. He also played a big role in the International Gladiators show that pitted those from all over the world against each other. I can remember how I envied Mike for being a part of all of that grandeur and sportsmanship, and wanting to be on the show as a child. Of course, when the show was revived and I was old enough to audition, I didn’t. I’m not stupid, after all (and whoever thought that Hulk Hogan would be a suitable replacement for Adamle is stupid and dumb).

WWE TENURE AND HOW THEY DROPPED THE BALL

I will be the first one to admit that Mike Adamle’s stint with World Wrestling Entertainment was less than stellar. In fact, it was downright terrible. But, I believe the creative department could have used Mike’s blunders and errors to their advantage, rather than just trying to play them off as flukes. After all, WWE is all about emphasis on character, right? Why not give Adamle a character? More on that later.

As a fan of the American Gladiators franchise growing up (I even had some of the toys!), I was more than ecstatic when WWE.com announced that they had hired Mike Adamle to a contract as an announcer. He memorably debuted at the 2008 Royal Rumble, referring to Jeff Harvey’s anticipation for his WWE Championship match…who was that again, Mike? I’ll be the first one to admit that I was royally let down by this development, but attributed it to “first day jitters.” He was standing in the middle of a ridiculously rabid crowd, and it was his first night on the job. I think the right thing to do would have been to give him another chance to show what he could do.

But of course, the Internet Wrestling Community jumped right down his throat, didn’t they? Perhaps due to the enormous pressure placed by the creative administration (which was displaced pressure from the criticism they felt from the IWC), Adamle never really did get a chance to shine in his first several months with the company. He was relegated to the position of backstage announcer for RAW. He really never did a glaringly bad job at this duty, but he never got a chance to show what he’s made of, or to show us the American Gladiators Adamle of old. Here’s an interesting note, though; Mike Adamle was the last person to interview Ric Flair as an active wrestler. Take that, Adamle haters!

On April 15, 2008, however, the stagnation of Mike Adamle’s development came to a close, as he took on an entirely new type of duty—play-by-play announcer. In what many people (including Paul Heyman) believe to be Vince McMahon’s personal vendetta against Joey Styles, Styles was assigned to the head of WWE.com, and Adamle was promoted to the new announcer on the ECW brand. I could sense that there was a bit of trouble ahead when Joey stayed with him to help him announce the first match. Mike struggled through the rest of the broadcast, notably referring to Shelton Benjamin as “Sheldon.” He didn’t do a very good job of anything that night and the IWC spoke louder than perhaps it ever has. I would say that this was exactly the type of reaction that Vince was seeking. I’ll be the first to admit that Adamle didn’t fit at the announce table. Sure there were memorable quotes, such as “Jamaican me crazy!” and “The Tazz,” but it was painfully obvious that he didn’t belong on the headset. This is when I started kicking around the idea of Adamle becoming an on-screen personality or authority figure, much in the spirit of Jonathan Coachman several years earlier.

Why the whole issue of Adamle’s announcing seemingly wasn’t addressed is still puzzling to me. Especially when it was evident as to how bad Mike actually was, the veterans on the announce team, such as Jim Ross, Michael Cole, or even Joey Styles, should have been more eager to coach the new kid on the block, and help him succeed. Whether Adamle was actually open to doing this was a moot point; the powers-that-be at the WWE could have (and should have) made him work harder towards the goal of being a better announcer, and helping him learn his craft. While he likely didn’t know the product as well as he should have, maybe he would have been more likely to learn if he could actually be successful at the mechanics of announcing.

On the July 28 edition of RAW, Shane McMahon promised the announcement of the new General Manager, and had spoken to the mystery GM about making some changes to the matches that night. The only really big change in the matches occurred to the matchup of Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase in tag team action against Jim Duggan and Jerry Lawler. Lillian Garcia, however, announced that Duggan would be replaced by Michael Cole, as specified by the new General Manager. So, after Cole got his ass handed to him, Mike Adamle appeared at the announce table with Lawler, saying he was told to be there by the new GM. By the end of the evening, Shane McMahon announced the new General Manager as none other than Mike Adamle. While there was a dead silence in the arena, I was as pumped as could be. Mike made the decree of his first of many “Adamle Originals” at the close of the show, making the match-up of John Cena v. Batista for SummerSlam.

The major fact that bothers me here is that Michael Cole was put in a match (and in essence, “sent to the lions”) by Adamle. Why this was never played up as a heel move, I’m not sure. I understand that it was a method to get Adamle in the equation in a more interesting way than just him coming out at the end of the evening. But, he still put Cole in a position that was unfavorable (just like when Jim Ross was put in a wrestling match several years ago), and should have reflected on Adamle in a “heelish” manner.

Okay, fine. That didn’t happen, but I was okay with it. While the IWC was (yet again) up in arms, I just patiently waited for the creative team to strike oil, and successfully integrate a general manager into RAW programming (which, unfortunately, hasn’t been done for more than a few months since 2005). Adamle had a pretty good first day at the job, making three title matches for the upcoming SummerSlam (including a tag match for the Intercontinental and Women’s Championships, another “Adamle Original”). Adamle was being treated more and more like a “tweener,” or one who is neither “good” or “bad,” but is on the fence and unbiased. Unfortunately, they never went full-tilt with this practice, as he increasingly began to favor the faces over the heels.

Over the history of the wrestling profession, there have been very few on-air authority figures who have truly been unbiased. The last really good, and truly fair, kayfabe authority figure I can think of was WWF President Jack Tunney, who served from 1984 to 1995. Yes, there have been terrific authorities since then, but they have leaned either toward face or heel tendencies (those marked “heel/face” began as heels, then later turned face). Let’s take a look at on-air authority figures of this decade, taken almost directly from Wikipedia:

Vince McMahon, WWF Owner/RAW General Manager, Heel/Face
Shawn Michaels, WWF Commissioner, Heel
Ernest Miller, WCW Commissioner, Heel/Face
Mick Foley, WWF Commissioner, Face
Debra, WWF Commissioner, Face
Mike Sanders, WCW Commissioner, Heel
Lance Storm, WCW Commissioner, Heel
William Regal, WWF/Alliance Commissioner/RAW General Manager, Heel
Ric Flair, WCW President/WWF Owner, Face
Eric Bischoff, WCW President/RAW General Manager, Heel
Stephanie McMahon, SD! General Manager, Face
Paul Heyman, SD! General Manager, Heel
Kurt Angle, SD! General Manager, Heel
Theodore Long, SD! General Manager, Face
Jonathan Coachman, RAW Executive Assistant/General Manager, Heel
Vickie Guerrero, SD! General Manager, Heel

I didn’t include TNA in this one, but they’re no different. Every authority figure in this decade have held either face or heel tendencies, always favoring one or the other. How genius (and innovative) would it have been if Mike Adamle’s General Manager character had been truly, one-hundred percent, unbiased? I think it would have made for some very interesting television, to say the least. The creative team could have even played up the fact that Mike has little-to-know actual “wrestling” knowledge, and therefore treats everyone equally because of that. There are so many ways that the writers could have gone with this; I am merely suggesting a few.

Coming out of SummerSlam, the wrestling world seemed like it was going to stagnate again. After all, C.M. Punk wasn’t doing much as champion, and what exactly would come out of that “Adamle Original?” The kayfabe Mike Adamle character saved the day when he announced another “Adamle Original” Scramble Match for the World Heavyweight Championship. The match became popular among the authority figures even before the match took place: Fellow GM’s Vickie Guerrero and Teddy Long both jumped on the bandwagon, creating Scramble matches of their own. Adamle’s announcement led to more diversity in the main events than there had been for many years. Athletes who had not seen the main event for a long while, or those who had never been there, got their chance to shine in their brand’s championship match. This includes Kane, Rey Mysterio, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, The Brian Kendrick, The Miz, and Finlay. Mike Adamle therefore indirectly affected all three of the brands—this fact wasn’t played up nearly as much as it should have been.

After booking this match, then replacing John Cena with Rey Mysterio due to an injury, Mike kept the ball rolling by becoming involved in Chris Jericho’s title reign. Adamle was even responsible for making the No Mercy Ladder Match between Shawn Michaels and Jericho that we all loved so much (or, at least I did). The downfall began in between Unforgiven and No Mercy, when Adamle decreed that Randy Orton could not touch anyone, and nobody could touch him, or the perpetrator would be suspended. After C.M. Punk slapped Orton following this announcement, the General Manager obviously suspended him. Shane McMahon, however, came out and reversed this decision. If there were any way to kill the credibility of an authority figure that was already fighting extremely hard for it, it would be this scenario. Since that moment, Adamle was essentially in place to be a glutton for verbal punishment by the main event players on the RAW roster (I will grant you this much—his last “Adamle Original” was by far his worst; he had Jericho and Batista face the same three guys in a gauntlet match…it was really weird).

Mike Adamle’s last night as General Manager was on November 3, 2008, when he resigned because of pressure laid on him by Randy Orton and, to a lesser degree, the McMahon children (especially Stephanie…if you want to make a case for an Orton/Steph conspiracy, it starts here). The week before, he had slapped (albeit, he sort of missed, but the point was still made) Orton after he insulted Adamle’s wife and children. Before his resignation, Mike said that he didn’t want the job to corrupt him, as it clearly had done the week before. With that, he left, but not before telling Stephanie McMahon how much he hated her (I know, I’m paraphrasing here).

MY POINT—AND I DO HAVE ONE…

Most people hated, loathed, or in some way disliked Mike Adamle. Rather than just letting his paycheck go to waste and letting him sit on the sidelines, he should have been utilized more, perhaps playing into the things about him that people hated. My suggestions:

1. PLAY THE “MAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE” SCHTICK FOR ALL IT’S WORTH. What people hated most about Mike was that he didn’t know the wrestling business. He was definitely not a student of the game, as most people who succeed in the business are. Why not use this to your advantage, creative team? I mentioned above that the “powers-that-be” never really went full-tilt with anything they did with Mike, whether it was backstage interviewer, play-by-play man, or General Manager. For example, if they would have gone with the “bumbling buffoon” theme, he could have played on perhaps his biggest strength, and added intentional humor and freshened up Monday nights.

2. TRULY MAKE HIM A TWEENER. I don’t need to talk much more about this point, as I rambled quite a bit about it above. The simple fact is that authority figures that are unbiased come off as more authoritative and as a more effective brand leader (because they’re making decisions that do not intentionally favor anyone—face or heel). This method would also add a fresh perspective to the RAW brand, and Mike could be in more of an emcee role, just announcing his decisions every week, and doing just a little acting when a superstar has an issue.

3. TURN HIM ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, AND THEN KEEP HIM THAT WAY. While I don’t like this option, because it would have required more acting, this would have been just fine for his General Manager role, as well. This wouldn’t have been nearly as fresh, and probably wouldn’t have worked for him. However, people did hate him; much like Vince McMahon drew on the fans’ outrage after the 1997 Survivor Series, they could have done the same with Mike (although not nearly to the same degree).

4. FORGET THE GENERAL MANAGER ROLE, AND MAKE HIM A HEEL MOUTHPIECE. Look at Vladimir Koslov for a good example of an athlete that needs a mouthpiece. Granted, Adamle would have to work very, very hard at this, but the writers could have (again) drawn on the hatred from the fans.

5. SEND HIM TO FLORIDA CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING, AND HELP HIM DEVELOP HIS SKILLS. Maybe he could have started to work with Josh Mathews, and become a very effective color commentary. Perhaps he could have been an authority figure. He could have been a mouthpiece, too. What about a ring announcer? The bottom line is he needed to hone in his skills. That’s where they send wrestlers to help them, so why not non-wrestling roles?

The fact of the matter is that Mike Adamle wasn’t given enough time to develop his skills (no matter what job they gave him) and become a better on-air personality. The “powers-that-be” have allowed other non-wrestling personalities to develop their skills. Anybody remember how atrocious Lillian Garcia was in 1999? What about Michael Cole? The example that most resembles Adamle’s situation was none other than Jonathan Coachman, another guy from the world of legitimate sports. Mike never even got to spend more than three months in the same job title, so that was a big problem in my eyes. Simply put, neither the WWE nor the Internet Wrestling Community gave Mike Adamle a fair shake at improving his craft.

APPENDIX: If you want a completely different take on the man known as Mike Adamle, join The Creeping Death (there you go, friend) for “Story Time Book 2,” which includes some of Mike’s many blunders (and some legitimately great quotes) from the announcing table. Also, he has some very interesting thoughts on Mike’s tenure. While we both cover Adamle, we have differing ways of attacking the topic at hand, and the perspectives are varied as well.

Secondary gestures to signal certain moments or instruments in a piece of music.

Voting for your favorite WWE Champions is still happening! Please vote to help make the eleventh edition of “From the Podium” as reader interactive as possible! Feel free to validate your choices, if you so desire. You can leave your choices in feedback, or send them to me via Private Message. You may also e-mail your choices to me at lenjr04@gmail.com, on AOL Instant Messenger at the handle lenjr04, or at the similarly titled thread over in the WWE forums (there's a nice debate going on over there, by the way).

List of WWE Champions (please click me)

1. [Your top choice, receiving 2 points]
2. [Your penultimate choice, receiving 1 point]
3. [Your third choice, receiving .5 point]

ONLY CHAMPIONS WHO HELD THE TITLE LONGER THAN A WEEK CAN BE CONSIDERED! This means no Andre the Giant, Kane, or Vince McMahon (I know, you were all dying to show your love for Vinnie Mac!). Results will be featured in “From the Podium XI.”. Thanks for voting!

The last additional note (mostly in marches) that signals the end of a piece.

This is my first attempt at a “non-analytical” column, and I hope you enjoyed it (that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to agree). Please tell me what you think of what I’ve presented (please give me the positives and negatives), and if you haven’t already, be sure to vote for your favorite WWE Champions. Don’t worry guys; the championship analyses aren’t going anywhere.

Until the next downbeat…

[James_A]

Yay! Somebody took it upon themselves to support a claim they made! Joy time for me!

But seriously you've actually had me change my position on Mike Adamle. I fell into the category of one of those that thought that Mike Adamle was a big waste of money and was given a huge contract before anyone could see what he could do. Now reading your column I understand that many of Adamle's blunders might have been because he felt so pressured by insiders and fans alike.

There definitely were a lot of things that you mentioned that WWE could do with him but they have a bad habit of quitting on character development halfway through. Plus with all of the stuff that was going on during that time (Cena-Batista feud, CM Punk as WHC, Kane's push, Mysterio's return, etc.) Adamle must've been pushed aside for the other angles. Not justification but perhaps an explanation.

Good column dude. It's good to see you step outside your boundaries a bit but still keep in mind what made you popular in the first place. Can't wait to see your next effort Leonard.

[Martin Riggs]

Excellent stuff. A riveting argument, well backed up and supported. It's clear that everything was genuine as well, which is always a good thing.

Very, very good work, sir!

[JoeyShinobi]

Mike Adamle was a big waste of money, and there's not much denying that. I still thought there must have been a bigger plan for him, having been rushed into the GM spotlight. Still, he didn't get shown a lot of respect, either by the fans or his employers, so I'm not surprised.

This was really good, Leonard. Well-reasoned, thorough, and it demonstrated that there's more than one string to your bow. Tricky subject, too, so kudos for taking it on and delivering on it. As Jimmy said, it's nice to see people back up their outlandish claim. Well done, sir.

[Jason Boy]

Great Job, Made me rethink my thoughts on Adamle, I think you should alternate every column between your title columns and this type of column, great job

[The Maz]

You certainly proved you are not a one trick pony here and I really enjoyed this column which despite being something really different to normal, still seemed like you... what I mean here is your style still came across which is a great thing for a writer.

Being British, I know as much about Adamle as I know about Todd Pettingil so it was nice to find out that he is an American equivalent of a mix between Des Lynam and Fash... awooooooooga! So this was really interesting and then backed up with some controversial things. I had absolutely zero problems with Adamle and I think he was entertaining as a Regan loving nincompoop of a GM and it could have led to some golden interaction. I guess the world will never know what could have been now.

Great job.

[Leonard]

Feedbacking the feedback:

James--Indeed you are correct about the lack of focus in character development with Double-Double-E. My biggest fear was that Vince made the call to have Adamle as GM simply because he wanted to justify the salary he was paying Mike, and really had no plan. We will never know, unfortunately, and that's a damned shame. At any rate, I'm glad I could "convert" you...

JBoom--I'm glad I came off as genuine...Man, I envied Adamle on Gladiators, hanging out with the likes of Nitro, Gemini (THE MASTA BLASTA) and Blaze (my personal favorite). Not only did he hang out with them, but he also got to hang out with the McMahons, Cena, Batista, and Kelly Kelly, among others, and heroes of the gridiron and the Olympics. What a hell of a life this guy's had.

Mr. Shinobi--I'm glad I could show my "versatility." I really wanted to come out of the "titles guy" shell with this one, and I hope it worked (although, believe you me, I know what I'm good at...). I thought the GM position would have brought something bigger, but I guess we'll never know.

Jason--Thanks for the kind words. I will probably stick to my "bread and butter," as Mazza so eloquently said, but this "nonanalytical" stuff will be brought out from time to time. Glad I made you think about Adamle.

Mazza--I'm glad my "voice" didn't change here, and that I was able to teach you a little about Adamle. Thank you, sir.

--Leonard

[BeyondKnight]

The problem with Adamle is that the WWE thought that they were buying someone who was ready to go from day 1. He obviously wasn't and rather than admit their failure, poor Mike seemed to take the burden of it all. I was hoping that he'd go all shoot on Steph McMahon right before he was fired, but it was not to be.

I've got to stay that I think you are developing into a great columnist, and I am glad you are stepping out of your comfort zone. A couple more like this and you'll definately have risen to the main event of the CF.

~BK

[Cult Icon]

very nice job leonard. your arguements were very well thought out, this was well written and you showed you can easily transition from writing about championships to writing about other topics. very well done

[Leonard]

Some more feedbacking the feedback:

BK--Thanks for reading, as well as the kind comments, and I'm glad you enjoyed (I love your Colbert satire-type column). You're right about Adamle, though...imagine a world where the WWE could admit when they got something slightly wrong, and be willing to improve on it! 'Tis the life, I suppose.

Cult--I'm glad you thought I stepped out of my "championship zone" well. Thanks for the comments!

--Leonard

[ca$hmoney]

Leonard,

This was a great piece on what was truly a waste. I think the problem was that the WWE truly didn't care about Mike, so they didn't spend any time trying to develop his character. Heck, he didn't even have his own music.

Great job, Keep it up!

[NightofDay]

My 100th post! You should feel honoured that I've bestowed this honour on one of your columns!

This was a good column. I despised Mike Adamle from the moment he said Jeff Harvey. Adamle being the last person to interview Ric Flair before his retirement is something that gyps me to this day. My hate grew when he became a commentator on ECW and escalated to the point where I wanted to kick my TV with my foot when he became RAW GM. Eventually I got used to it. I didn't like him, it was more of a 'well he's going to be around for a while so better get used to it' mood.

Great job. Looking forward to the next one.

[cicero]

This was the most convincing argument I've heard in quite some time, really awesome work. Arbitrary rating- 10.6/11.

[Leonard]

Feedbacking some more feedback:

ca$h(typing that was weird...)--Thanks for the kind words. I guess you're right in that the WWE doesn't care about anything that doesn't go over right away. But how bad-ass would it have been if Adamle used the American Gladiators theme? Indeed.

Night--Thanks for that honor! By the time you got used to him, he disappeared. Lucky for you, I guess. Sad for me...[mumbles under his breath] stupid Stephanie McMahon...Thanks for reading.

cicero--I've been secretly waiting for an arbitrary rating from you since you started using them. This did not disappoint (even though it was, indeed, arbitrary). In all seriousness, thanks for the kind words.

Dear all of my columnist friends,
I still need votes for my WWE Champions poll to make it legitimate. If you could just PM me your top three, that would be terrific (if you haven't already). Thanks guys.

--Leonard