When did Mean Gene's voice/delivery change?

[willywonka666]

he was one of the longer running announcers and was 51 or so when he joined WCW and in his mid 50s by the time I was watching wrestling again in the mid 90s.

But I noticed there was a difference between WWF Gene and WCW Gene-his voice or delivery was different, of course more of his interviews were out there live in the ring or the runway on Nitro and he had to be a bit louder and some people's voices change a lot with age-when did you notice it, or did you not?

[Deleted]

If this is indeed Mean Gene singing, his voice changed A LOT.

[Deleted]

Never really noticed it, but it makes sense. I think the amount of time he had to find/develop his voice when he came to the WWF and then later when he came to WCW were much different, with many factors mixed in.

When he was in AWA and the WWF, he was working on what he could do and still learning, and the adjustments seemed more active and vital - he HAD to find his voice, fit in....or else.

When he got to WCW, he was older, knew what worked and he knew what he could do - any adjustments were going to be less dynamic and more stoic because no one was going to press him at this point, they knew what Mean Gene could do and let him do it.


The only time I ever noticed Mean Gene's voice really change was a video clip (on YT, a RF Video interview) of him talking about Hogan from last year (that I only just saw a few days after his death). He was 75 and did not sound well and couldn't get the words out so quickly. That's it, that's the one time.. Kudos to that man for practically having the same voice, to me at least, for 35 years.

[Deleted]

I honestly never noticed any difference between WWF and WCW Gene.

[johnnyk9]

he always had the same voice I thought

[Deleted]

I was expecting during his AWA run. He was even-keeled sports broadcaster Gene early on. Later he started showing excitement and remarking on the chaos around him with stuff like "Holy Toledo, it's gonna be a happening at the Chicago Amphitheater this Saturday Night! Don't you dare miss it!"

Which is weird, because Vince did the same exact thing around the same time. Watch McMahon doing MSG shows, he's straitlaced and calling it like Howard Cosell; even adopting the yellow jacket like they'd wear on "Wide World Of Sports".
Then on All-Star or Championship Wrestling, he's more animated and more "Vince-like".
(I'm sure the MSG people were like "Look, we know it's for show. But call it like you'd call a Knicks game. We're a sports channel.")

[RowdyRobbyPiper]

Jan 10, 2019 10:22:17 GMT -5 @wvguitar said:

If this is indeed Mean Gene singing, his voice changed A LOT.

It is. There was a segment on the 6:05 Superpodcast’s Mean Gene tribute episode about that period in Gene’s life.

[Deleted]

the stress of the kidney problems

[James Fabiano]

Not what the OP meant but I did notice that his voice seemed to be going slightly on the newer Story Times, which made me think that I should have felt something was up then...

[auph10imitated]

I get what you mean but it’s hard to explain. Gene in WWF seemed a lot more “chilled” (expect for times were he had outbursts) and WCW he seemed a bit... bingo caller? I dunno it’s hard to explain but I get what you mean it was his delivery

[jason1980s]

He had a much higher pitched voice and delivery when he returned to WWE (I think 2002) and did the Confidential shows.