Renee Paquette Reveals The Role In WWE She “Enjoyed The Most”
Renée Paquette recently spoke with NBC Sports Boston and explained that despite wearing many hats while in WWE, being the host of 'Talking Smack' alongside the former Daniel Bryan was her favorite time with the company.
"The thing that I enjoyed the most, I'll always, always say was Talking Smack," Paquette admitted. "Because Talking Smack, to me, was so Gorilla style. We were not married to any kind of a script, it felt like we were running loose on the side and were like, 'Is anybody watching this?' Like, what are we getting away with here? So that's what felt fun to me, that flying under the radar aspect that Talking Smack had. Of course, it only flew under the radar for so long and then people were like, 'wait, we like this show' and it became a little bit of a cult hit. But that was one of my favorites, working with Mike Mansouri. He's one of my best friends, he was the producer of the show at the time, and of course, working with Daniel Bryan when he was not an in-ring talent at the time. So, there were so many different aspects to that that I loved."
Circling back to her many different roles in WWE, Paquette explained the difference between being a backstage interviewer, hosting a panel, and doing commentary.
"They were very different jobs. As much as I like to consider myself a jack of all trades and I like to try all these different things out, they're very different jobs. Whether I was doing a backstage interview, or I was hosting a kick-off panel, or I was doing commentary, they were all very different hats. Doing a backstage interview is essentially like an acting job, you're reading a script, you're asking a question and you have to react accordingly. Hosting a kick-off show, that's far more conversational. We have to ask questions, we can ask things, it's just people hanging out, enjoying wrestling, and talking about it.
"When you're doing commentary, you're talking in sound-bites. I changed the register of my voice so I could try and blend in with the men so that it wasn't this higher-pitched voice kind of cutting in there. Trying to talk faster to get my points in there, you have to emphasize moments when someone's getting hit instead of just talking. They're just very different things and I have a different appreciation for all of them, and I have a mega appreciation for those that do commentary, especially in the professional wrestling space because it's a lot of moving parts. There are so many different little details, you got Vince [McMahon] in your ear, the show is changing, there are so many different things happening."
Renée Paquette signed with WWE in October 2012 and would take on a multitude of roles with the company including ring announcing, backstage interviewer, pre-show panel host, and most notably, becoming the first woman to hold a regular role as a commentator in the company. Paquette would leave the company following SummerSlam in 2020 after WWE Backstage was cancelled and she claimed she felt that she accomplished everything she wanted in WWE.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit NBC Sports Boston with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.