Former WWE Announcer Says He Still Hears Vince McMahon's Voice In His Head

Josh Mathews will step away from broadcast at Impact Wrestling's Slammiversary pay-per-view on Sunday and return to the ring as he'll team with Scott Steiner to face Jeremy Borash and Joseph Park in a tag team match. The 14-year veteran recently spoke to Wrestle:List, where he promoted the pay-per-view and talked about who has affected his career. Mathews also revealed that he still hears the voice of Vince McMahon in his head.

"There are quite a few people who helped me on the way," said Mathews. "When I first started I was in the car with Michael Cole and Taz and learned a tremendous amount from them. I also learnt from Jim Ross and Paul Heyman had a tremendous influence on my career. When Paul Heyman was the lead writer for SmackDown, and SmackDown was produced on Tuesday, postproduction was done on a Wednesday, and the show was put out on Thursday, Paul would be there for the edit of the show."
Mathews first broke into WWE as a runner-up in the first Tough Enough in 2001. He was eventually hired by the company and began as a backstage interviewer. Mathews shifted into a commentary role in 2006 and worked for WWE until 2014.

"We would be there; Michael Cole, Paul [Heyman], Taz and myself would be in the studio until 5 o'clock in the morning and changing the call of the show," Mathews recalled. "Those guys would be in the booth, and learning from Paul [Heyman] how to do this from a commentary standpoint."

One of the things many commentators have talked about while with WWE is the tremendous "hands-on" approach used by Vince McMahon. Vince is known for talking to the commentators through his headset backstage, something that Mathews said had a tremendous effect on his career.

"When you sit down and do the main shows you're working directly for the man who owns the company [Vince McMahon] and he's listening to every word you say," said Mathews. "He also had a tremendous effect on my career and still continues to to this day. I can hear him in my head when I call things, 'Don't scream at me' and 'Don't over sell this' I can hear it. That has molded me in to the play-by-play announcer I am today."

Mathews replaced Mike Tenay as Impact's lead play-by-play voice when the show moved from Spike to Destination America in 2015. He'll give way at Slammiversary to a different announce team as he climbs back into the ring.

You can listen to Wrestle:List's complete interview with Mathews embedded in the video above. More quotes are available by clicking here.