Todd Pettengill

Last updated
Todd Pettengill
Birth nameTodd Clark Pettengill
Born (1966-04-18) April 18, 1966 (age 58)
Hagaman, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Carrie Pettengill
(m. 1987)
Children2
Professional wrestling career
Debut1993

Todd Clark Pettengill (born April 18, 1966) is a former American radio disc jockey who most recently worked for WPLJ 95.5 in the New York area. [1] From 1993 to 1997, he also served as an on-screen backstage interviewer for the World Wrestling Federation.

Contents

Career

Radio

Pettengill started his career in radio at the age of 13 at a local radio station in Amsterdam, New York. In 1986, he hosted the morning radio show on the Albany, New York area's WFLY "Fly 92", called the Wake Up Service. It was the highest rated show in Albany history. Later on, he was promoted to program director and then vice president of Albany Broadcasting Company. Pettengill left the station for WIOQ in Philadelphia and eventually WPLJ in New York. He was the youngest morning show host in New York radio at the age of 25, when he became co-host of the WPLJ morning show with Scott Shannon, where he is known for his "phone scams". Pettengill and Shannon were seen on Dish Nation. Todd Pettengill has been named Billboard Magazine Major Market Air personality of the year six times and Radio and Records Major Market Air personality of the year four times. He founded Pettengill Productions, Inc in 1993 and 17Black, LLC in 2007.

On February 7, 2014, Shannon announced he was leaving WPLJ. Pettengill then announced his newest venture: The Todd Show in the Morning on WPLJ. From January 2016 until the radio station's sale and sign-off in 2019, Pettengill co-hosted Todd & Jayde in the Morning alongside Jayde Donovan from Sacramento's KDND.

Pettengill was the host of a Saturday night 1980s music program known as Saturday Night at the 80s (later renamed Todd Pettengill at the 80's). The show was broadcast in twenty-seven markets, including New York, Washington, D.C., Detroit and Miami. It was distributed by ABC Radio Networks.

World Wrestling Federation

Pettengill also worked for the World Wrestling Federation in the mid 1990s, as a backstage interviewer. He replaced Sean Mooney, who had elected not to renew his expiring WWF contract. He made his WWF debut as host of the Saturday morning program WWF Mania on January 9, 1993. Pettengill also hosted WWF Blast-Off, WWF LiveWire and WWF Action Zone . Pettengill made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania IX. He performed the opening number "WWF Superstars" at the 1996 Slammy Awards. [2] [3] The following year, he presented the Slammy for "Miss Slammy" to Sable. [4] [5] His final WWF pay-per-view appearance was at SummerSlam in August 1997. Pettengill had informed WWF executives that he wished to leave the company, as the grind of juggling his WWF duties and his radio career was proving to be too hectic. [6] His last WWF appearance was to provide voice over for a promo package about The Patriot at Ground Zero: In Your House.

Sporadic appearances (2013–present)

In 2013, Pettengill returned to the WWE (formerly known as WWF) for the first time since August 1997, and hosted segments of the WWE DVD and Blu-ray release The Best of In Your House: Pay-Per-View Classics 1995–1999, a compilation of several matches from the 1990s In Your House pay-per-view series. On January 26, 2020, Pettengill appeared on the watch along event that took place alongside the Royal Rumble. [7] He appeared again in a June 2020 promotional video for the NXT TakeOver: In Your House event and did so the following year for the 2021 edition of In Your House. [8]

Personal life

Pettengill resides in Texas. [9] He is married to Carrie and they have two daughters. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WWE</span> American professional wrestling and entertainment company

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings, a global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into fields outside of wrestling, including film, football, and various other business ventures. The company is additionally involved in licensing its intellectual property to other companies to produce video games and action figures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vince McMahon</span> American professional wrestling promoter (born 1945)

Vincent Kennedy McMahon is an American businessman and former professional wrestling promoter. McMahon, along with his wife Linda, is a co-founder of the modern WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Outside of professional wrestling McMahon has occasionally ventured into promoting other sports; his projects have included the World Bodybuilding Federation and the XFL football league. He is the owner of Alpha Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shawn Michaels</span> American retired professional wrestler (born 1965)

Michael Shawn Hickenbottom, better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he is the Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative and oversees the creative aspects of the NXT brand, the promotion's developmental territory. Regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is known by the nicknames "The Heartbreak Kid", "The Showstopper", and "Mr. WrestleMania".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Layfield</span> American professional wrestling commentator and retired professional wrestler (born 1966)

John Charles Layfield, better known by the ring name John "Bradshaw" Layfield, is an American retired professional wrestler and football player. He is currently signed to WWE, where he is an ambassador and commentator for the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted DiBiase</span> American professional wrestler

Theodore Marvin DiBiase Sr. is an American retired professional wrestler, manager, and color commentator. He is signed to WWE as of 2024, where he works in their Legends program. DiBiase achieved championship success in a number of wrestling promotions, holding thirty titles during his professional wrestling career. He is best recalled by mainstream audiences for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he wrestled as "the Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. He has been named as one of the best technical wrestlers, and greatest villains, in pro wrestling history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WrestleMania</span> WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event series

WrestleMania is a professional wrestling event held annually between mid-March and mid-April by the American company WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Since premiering in 1985, 40 events have been held, with its most recent 40th edition occurring at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 6 and 7, 2024. WrestleMania was WWE's first-ever pay-per-view (PPV) produced and is the most successful and longest-running professional wrestling event in history. The event has been broadcast through traditional PPV since 1985 and has been available via livestreaming since WrestleMania XXX in 2014, which was WWE's first major event available through this medium. WrestleMania was conceptualized by former WWE executive chairman Vince McMahon and named by ring announcer and WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel. It is the company's flagship event and along with Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Money in the Bank, it is referred to as one of the "Big Five", WWE's five biggest annual events of the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">In Your House</span> WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event series

In Your House was a series of professional wrestling supercard events created by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The events originally aired on pay-per-view (PPV) from May 1995 to February 1999 when the promotion was still called the World Wrestling Federation. In 2020, WWE revived In Your House for its developmental brand NXT. The 2020 event was streamed exclusively on the WWE Network with the 2021 event also available via traditional PPV and the livestreaming service Peacock, while the 2022 event was only available via WWE's livestreaming platforms. A total of 30 In Your House events were held between May 1995 and June 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Cole (wrestling)</span> American professional wrestling commentator

Sean Michael Coulthard, better known by his ring name Michael Cole, is an American professional wrestling commentator and journalist. Since 1997, he is signed to WWE, where he serves as the play-by-play commentator for the SmackDown brand and as the vice president of announcing since 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WPLJ</span> K-Love radio station in New York City

WPLJ is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. It carries a Christian adult contemporary radio format and is owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), based in Franklin, Tennessee. It broadcasts EMF's flagship programming service, "K-Love." The station seeks donations on the air and on its website.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Okerlund</span> American wrestling interviewer and announcer (1942–2019)

Eugene Arthur Okerlund was an American professional wrestling interviewer, announcer and television host. He was best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. Okerlund was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006 by Hulk Hogan. He was signed to a lifetime contract with WWE and later worked for promotional programs. He has been described by some journalists as the best interviewer in the history of professional wrestling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slammy Award</span> Professional wrestling award

The Slammy Awards, also known as the Slammys, is a concept used by WWE, where awards, similar to the Academy and Grammy Awards, are given to professional wrestlers and other individuals within WWE, such as commentators and managers. Introduced in 1986, there have been 13 editions of the concept. The awards are a mixture of "serious" and "tongue-in-cheek". Winners of the award receive a statuette that depicts one wrestler holding another over his head.

WWF Mania is a professional wrestling television program that was produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It aired on Saturday mornings on the USA Network between 1993 and 1996 and summarized the weekly events in WWF programming. In its earlier years, Mania usually featured a show exclusive wrestling match. For roughly the first year of its run, Mania also took viewer calls live and only viewers in the Eastern and Central time zones could participate in that portion of the show.

Sean Edmund Mooney is an American news anchor and former World Wrestling Federation play-by-play announcer. He now works as an anchor for KVOA, the NBC affiliate in Tucson, Arizona and the National Wrestling Alliance. He was born in Rochester, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owen Hart</span> Canadian-American professional wrestler (1965–1999)

Owen James Hart was a Canadian-American professional wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He received most of his success in the WWF, where he wrestled under both his own name and the ring names The Blue Angel and The Blue Blazer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of WWE</span> History of American professional wrestling company WWE

The history of American professional wrestling promotion WWE dates back to the early 1950s when it was founded on January 7, 1953 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC). The public branding of the company has undergone several name changes throughout the years, from the CWC to the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in 1963, then the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979, and to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002. Since 2011, it has branded itself solely as WWE. On September 12, 2023, Endeavor, the parent company of mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship, and WWE merged the two companies into a new parent company, TKO Group Holdings. WWE and UFC continue to operate as separate divisions of the company with WWE focusing on professional wrestling and UFC focusing on mixed martial arts. In 2023, WWE's legal name was changed to World Wrestling Entertainment, LLC, though the branded name remained WWE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">In Your House 1</span> 1995 World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event

In Your House was the inaugural In Your House professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. The event took place on May 14, 1995, at the Onondaga County War Memorial in Syracuse, New York. The In Your House series was established to be held as monthly PPVs to take place between the WWF's "Big Five" PPVs at the time: WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Badd Blood: In Your House</span> 1997 World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event

Badd Blood: In Your House was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It was the 18th In Your House event and inaugural Bad Blood and it took place on October 5, 1997, at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Seven matches were contested at the event.

Stephanie Wiand is a producer and actress who previously worked as a host for the World Wrestling Federation.

References

  1. Todd Pettengill, New York Radio Entertainment: 95.5 WPLJ Archived 2006-11-14 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "WWF Slammy Awards (1996)". TWNP News. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  3. "WWF Slammy Awards (1996)". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  4. "WWF Slammy Awards (1997)". TWNP News. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  5. "WWF Slammy Awards (1997)". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  6. "WWE.com: Where Are They Now?: Todd Pettengill". Archived from the original on 2012-10-19.
  7. "Former WWE interviewer Todd Pettengill to be a guest on Rumble's Watch Along show". 25 January 2020.
  8. "Todd Pettengill Previews NXT TakeOver: In Your House". WWE. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  9. Barrasso, Justin (11 June 2021). "NXT's 'TakeOver: In Your House' Is a Homecoming for On-Air Legend Todd Pettengill". si.com. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  10. Farrell, Paul. "Todd Pettengill: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know", Heavy.com, April 19, 2015. Accessed September 1, 2019. "He’s married to Carrie Pettengill. The couple were wed in 1987. They live in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, where Todd Pettengill’s production company is also based."