Even though Mauro Ranallo remains under WWE contract until August 12th he will be able to commentate for other shows, other than pro wrestling, until then.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter recently noted that when Mauro was hired last year it was because WWE wanted him to be himself so that SmackDown could feel different than RAW. After a few months Vince McMahon reportedly wanted Mauro to be more like Michael Cole. McMahon was reportedly frustrated by Mauro’s style and Tom Phillips addition to the SmackDown announce team was the first public sign of it.
Then Mauro began being made the butt of jokes. Meltzer added that Ranallo was basically seen as “weird” backstage and, “the production room was filled with a lot of people who were emotionally still in high school.”
JBL lashing out at Mauro on the most recent Bring It To The Table was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Mauro. Mauro being buried on the show was planned ahead of time and there were discussions before the show regarding what should and shouldn’t be said.
There was also another incident that The Wrestling Observer made a note of regarding JBL and a non-wrestler whose name was not mentioned was discussed. Apparently the person in question had a close family member dying and had to miss a couple of weeks of work due to a minor operation. JBL then went off on the person for taking time off and harassed the person while noting that he didn’t miss shows after he had hernia surgery. JBL kept going on until the person was in tears even though the person noted that it wasn’t the week to do this.
