An absolutely brutal week in pro wrestling got even worse Thursday as longtime ring announcer Howard Finkel died at the age of 69, the WWE announced.
Finkel, quite simply, is one of the voices of pro wrestling. His ring announcing career actually preceded the current-day WWE (previously known as the WWF) and joined the then-WWF in 1980. As the organization notes, Finkel became the promotion’s first and longest-serving employee.
He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.
Here’s video from the WWE’s YouTube page of Finkel making his in-ring debut in the ’70s.
Finkel’s passing comes one day after WWE announced a slew of layoffs, including multiple in-ring performers, as it tries to deal with the economic fallout brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
