Howard Finkel

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Howard Finkel (born June 7, 1950) is a professional wrestling ring announcer. Hired in 1975 by Vincent J. McMahon's World Wide Wrestling Federation, "The Fink" was one of the first people brought in to the Vince McMahon's nascent World Wrestling Federation and is widely credited as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s first and longest lasting employee.

Finkel, a native of Newark, New Jersey, began announcing wrestling shows at Madison Square Garden in 1975. By 1980, he was made lead ring announcer for the WWF's biggest events. Across two decades, Finkel's special voice was one of the trademarks of WWF programming. His signature call was his announcement of a new champion following a change in titles, in which he would place increased emphasis while stretching out the word "New" in order to draw the greatest reaction from the capacity crowd.

Finkel has occasionally taken part in gimmick matches, including feuds with wrestling manager Harvey Wippleman and current "RAW" announcer Lilian Garcia. He actually was trained as a professional wrestler. Finkel was also involved in a feud between X-Pac and Jeff Jarrett after Jarrett shaved the already near-bald Finkel's head. This culminated in a Hair vs. Hair match at SummerSlam 1998 with Howard Finkel in the corner of X-Pac. X-Pac won the match and Finkel assisted him in cutting Jarrett's hair. On an edition of RAW, Finkel fought Lilian Garcia for the ring announcing title of RAW. During this match, Stacy Keibler and Trish Stratus ran into the ring and stripped him to his underwear.

Finkel currently does behind-the-scenes work for WWE's various companies, including doing interviews for various WWE.com programs and being WWE's chief statistician. He is known for his precise knowledge of dates and records. Such odd trivia as this is usually referred to from people in the business as a "Finkel Fact".

Although Finkel's current television appearances are sporadic (appearing only at major pay-per-view special events and the occasional episode of RAW or SmackDown!), he remains the only WWF/E performer to appear on-screen at every single WrestleMania event. In fact, Finkel suggested the pay-per-view name "WrestleMania," which Vince McMahon immediately accepted.

He has been known to come into events like house shows, to different entrance themes. Currently he uses Welcome to the Jungle by Guns 'n' Roses.

Also, recently, is is used as the person who speaks in the opening into for The Dirt Sheet.