In August 1999, Finkel became a lackey of the recently debuted Chris Jericho. On August 26, during the network debut episode of "WWF SmackDown," Jericho encouraged Finkel to attack SmackDown announcer Tony Chimel and take back his place as lead announcer. Finkel ran down the aisle, shoving Chimel and ordering him to step aside. As Finkel started to announce, Chimel threw Finkel from the ring. While Jericho helped Finkel to the back, they crossed paths with Ken Shamrock, who jostled with Jericho. Jericho convinced Finkel to distract Shamrock during his match. After Finkel berated Shamrock, Shamrock began twisting Finkel's finger, permitting Jericho to hit Shamrock from behind with a steel chair. Several weeks later, Finkel adopted the role of El Dopo, a masked referee who unfairly officiated a Shamrock match, awarding the win to Curtis Hughes. On the October 14 episode of "SmackDown!", Jericho defeated Hughes with help from Finkel, but gave Finkel to Curtis Hughes after the match. Four days later on "Monday Night Raw", Hughes bet and lost Finkel in a game of poker, to The Acolytes.