Gary Michael Capetta Talks The Secret To Being A Great Ring Announcer, How WWE Has Changed

Wrestling Inc.'s Andy Malnoske spoke with longtime ring announcer Gary Michael Capetta (WCW, Mid-Atlantic, WWE, and AWA). During the interview, Capetta discussed what the secret is to being a great ring announcer, his best moments, and how the wrestling business has changed over the years.

When it came to his ring announcing, he was so energetic because Capetta said he was simply a fan of the business.

"You know what the secret is? If you're a fan that comes through," Capetta said. "You can't fake that. So that when I was giving you a rousing introduction of whichever wrestler it was, it was because I was excited. I've always been a fan and that's the secret sauce."

After working in the business for four decades, Capetta has called plenty of matches, but two series stood out to him in his career. "Superstar" Billy Graham defending his title against Bruno Sammartino in the 70s, and Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat in 1989 and 1990.

"I break it down to decades because four decades I've been involved," Capetta responded. "One was when I was with the WWF, it was Superstar Billy Graham?when he was the champion?Bruno Sammartino was coming back for his title. I was the house announcer for the WWF in Philadelphia at the Spectrum. Three months in a row, 19,500 people, sold out. That was a series of three matches. Move into the '89-'90, it was Ric Flair [versus] Ricky Steamboat, three matches in Chicago, Nashville, and New Orleans. I knew at the time, you could just feel the importance of that."

Being in the business for so long Capetta has seen how things have evolved over the years. Specifically, he noted how different WWE is now with how it runs live events more like a festival these days.

"We're so fortunate today that we have so many different alternatives," Capetta began. "If you're talking about WWE, they're looking for a different feel. They're looking for a festival experience, not so much a dirty, kind of, drag down kind of match. Even though they talk that way. If you go to see one of their live shows, half of the show is the guys and gals taking selfies on the way to the ring, wrestling is a little bit of it.

"They don't even announce the main events or the matches in advance, so it's a whole different feel. Nobody does what they do, better than they do. But there are different?Ring of Honor, which I did backstage interviewing for?it's more of my style of wrestling, even though it's really today, really current and cool, they stick with the traditional of wrestling."

You can check out the full interview in the video above.

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