Career
A native of Newark, New Jersey, Finkel began announcing for wrestling shows at Madison Square Garden in 1977. By 1979, he had become the WWF's first employee, as lead ring announcer for the their biggest events. Throughout his career, Finkel's distinctive voice was sometimes used in the title sequence for the company's various television programs. Finkel's signature call was his announcement of a new champion following a title change, in which he would place extra emphasis on the word "new", in order to draw the greatest reaction from the crowd. Finkel came up with the event name "WrestleMania", as well as Ricky Steamboat's "Dragon" nickname.
On January 19, 1987, Howard Finkel was presented a plaque by Gene Okerlund, commemorating ten years of announcing at Madison Square Garden. In 1993, at the "Roman"-themed WrestleMania IX, Howard Finkel was introduced as Finkus Maximus. In a 2011 interview, Finkel said he had also played a part in the talent relations and creative departments during the early days of the WWF.
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