Mauro Ranallo Shoots On WWE! New Raw Commentator Revealed!

Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk News!
I’m Oli Davis, and I’ll be replying to as many comments on this video as I can.
Easter is a time for families to come together over chocolate eggs.
And something about resurrection.
Families, resurrection - in professional wrestling terms, that pretty much describes The Brothers
of Destruction, but Kane’s Happy Easter message and photo on Twitter makes absolutely
zero reference to his Deadman half-brother The Undertaker.
I guess there’s the whole Undertaker burning Kane’s family alive and permanently scarring
his face thing.
But whose family is perfect?
Certainly not the office environment of WWE.
Lead Smackdown Live commentator Mauro Ranallo hasn’t been on WWE TV since early March
because of depression, and it looks unlikely that he’ll return before his contract expires
in August.
Ranallo is a well-known sufferer of bipolar disorder, which he was first diagnosed with
aged 19, and WWE’s reported bullying corporate culture, specifically the actions of Mauro’s
Smackdown Live commentary partner JBL, apparently caused this most recent bout of depression.
All but confirming reports he’s done with the company, Ranallo is now taking announcing
jobs outside WWE.
The first of which being last night for Japanese MMA promotion RIZIN, broadcast live on the
FITE TV app.
Ahead of the show, Ranallo took a shot at Smackdown Live’s 19-man commentary booth
on Twitter: “I'm so excited to be back!
The fact it's ONLY a 2 man booth makes me even happier!
😎🙏” And then, on the actual broadcast when introducing
Jazzy Gabert, Ranallo made fun of WWE’s infamous ban on the phrase professional wrestling:
“Professional wrestler - and boy does it feel good to be able to use that term again
- turned mixed martial artist The Alpha Female!”
Not done there, when promoting his on-air role for this coming weekend’s Andre Berto
vs Shawn Porter fight on Showtime, Mauro tweeted: “You best believe I'll be calling PRO WRESTLING
again too.👊” Ranallo’s WWE contract expires on the 12th
August, a date the company seem to be preparing damage limitation for, according to the Wrestling
Observer Newsletter: “Ranallo’s contract doesn’t allow him to give unauthorized interviews
on WWE and the belief is that WWE is working hard to come to a settlement that would include
an agreement that he not publicly talk about the issue.”
The Mauro situation appears to be so irreparable with WWE, that Vince McMahon didn’t even
try moving JBL and Ranallo away from each other in last week’s Superstar Shake-Up.
Instead, the only announcers who made the switch were David Otunga to Raw and Byron
Saxton to Smackdown.
But Otunga won’t actually be making his Monday night commentary debut for another
six weeks.
Mr Jennifer Hudson is starring as “edgy DEA agent James ‘World’ Lawson” in the
new movie Katrina.
Rather than just making it a much-more preferable two man booth, or even getting Mauro to fill
in to save face, WWE have announced that Booker T will join Michael Cole and Corey Graves
on Raw for the next month and a half.
Talking to The Roman Show, however, Booker might want it to go a tad longer:
“I bring my own style.
I don’t speak like they do.
I speak for the people.
I think it’ll be refreshing.
I am going to be there for six weeks for now, but you never know.”
Nothing against Booker T, but WWE have a perfectly good Jim Ross sitting right there.
JR returned to the company for Wrestlemania 33, calling what appears to be The Undertaker’s
final match.
This was not a one-off appearance, as the Wrestling Observer Newsletter are reporting
the new two-year deal is for him to work between 30 to 40 dates for the company.
This is, sadly, quite a way shy of the 52 date schedule needed to call weekly TV.
The brand new episode of WrestleSketch is now live, about how the Superstar Shake-Up
was decided, and watch Luke Owen and I work out whether Matt and Jeff Hardy should turn
BROKEN in WWE.
Click the videos to the left to find out more, and press subscribe.
I’ve been Oli Davis, and that was wrestling.

Mauro Ranallo Shoots On WWE! New Raw Commentator Revealed! | WrestleTalk News April 2017

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