What's the story?
CBS Sports has received word from a source close to the situation that Mauro Ranallo will not be back on WWE Television even though he has months left on his WWE contract.
In case you didn’t know...
Mauro Ranallo first missed the March 14 episode of SmackDown, and the announcers blamed inclement weather for the same. When he missed another week of television, the announcers admitted that he was not well. The man has not been seen on television since. It is public knowledge that Ranallo has been battling bi-polar disorder for many years now. Tweets from his friend, Bas Rutten indicated that Ranallo’s broadcast colleague JBL might have aggravated the situation with his scathing remarks.
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The heart of the matter
Mauro Ranallo signed a WWE contract in December 2015, and it expires in August of 2017. If the report on CBS is to be believed, Ranallo will not be back for the duration of the contract.
Also read: Mauro Ranallo removed from WWE’s social media
This essentially means that Tom Phillips will take over the lead announcer role, alongside JBL and David Otunga on SmackDown Live, in addition to manning the booth on 205 Live with Corey Graves. WWE has received much flak online for championing a movement against bullying while at the same time, letting JBL go unpunished.
What’s next?
Mauro Ranallo has publicly been talking about appearances for Showtime Boxing, so one assumes that his career as an announcer in combat sports is still far from done. One wonders if Jim Ross, who’s signed a two-year deal with WWE, will be considered to fill the void left by Ranallo's departure.
Author’s take
As a fan of Mauro Ranallo’s work, I’m going to miss the man. Tom Phillips does not inject the same enthusiasm into the action that Ranallo does, with his amazing play-by-play. I wish Mauro Ranallo a speedy recovery and hope that he has a long and happy career yet. I also hope that WWE punishes those responsible for aggravating Ranallo’s condition.
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