A former WWE star has reacted to an accidental shoutout during a match at WrestleMania 42, courtesy of Wade Barrett.
Night 1 of WrestleMania 42 saw Liv Morgan defeat Stephanie Vaquer to become the new WWE Women’s World Champion.
It wasn’t Liv who would be the subject of a mention during commentary, though, with Wade Barrett naming another Morgan entirely.
With Barrett stating “well, Matt Morgan has barely got anything in” on the offense front during the match, the former WWE would share the footage in a post on Twitter, reading:
“Let’s go, @StuBennett!
“Accidentally shouting out “Matt Morgan“ during the Liv Morgan match Lol! Much appreciated, my friend!
“Popped my house watching @WWE#Wrestlemania tight now. Thx from an old man now lol! ”
Now retired, Matt Morgan is a former two-time TNA World Tag Team Champion and competed in WWE between 2002 and 2005, with his in-ring career coming to an end in early 2019.
As for Liv Morgan, her WrestleMania entrance saw the star with full dance troupe as she entered to Trouble, a track she has described as “probably a one-and-done” when it comes to her music career.
The Challenge Of Capable Commentary
Wrestling commentary is hard, particularly when it’s a live product and more so on the scale of WWE WrestleMania, and it’s likely fans have heard the odd slip-up here and there from time to time.
While some commentators may bring notes with them, the free-flowing nature of capable commentary teams is more than reading words on a page. The interaction between a play-by-play and color commentary team is a hallmark of engaging the audience in the action. Indeed, fans will no doubt recall the occasions where a single comment from one has led to the other reacting and scrambling to get things back on track, all while the action continues in front of them.
The live-action aspect of wrestling, be it in WWE or beyond, is a challenge in itself. While commentators may have an understanding of what’s going to happen in any particular match or moment, they can hardly just check off a list of points on a page, as it’ll become apparent to the audience that they are merely waiting for the next big spot, and it ends up sounding forced and inauthentic.
Through the likes of Michael Cole, Wade Barrett and Corey Graves, WWE Raw and SmackDown have become something of a benchmark for quality commentary, with Joe Tessitore joining in July 2024 and quickly finding his feet in a world very much different from his sports background.
It won’t always go right, something that Michael Cole reflected upon when naming his biggest regret on WWE commentary, namely during the finish of Bianca Belair vs Sasha Banks at WrestleMania 37 in 2021.
