WWE commentator Mauro Ranallo worked for the Wwe Smackdown Live show for over a year, and was a huge help to the brand when the split happened last year. He was able to give nicknames to people that the WWE is still using now such as Alexa Bliss' "five feet of fury" nickname. He was what many felt the "new Jim Ross." This was said due to how similar his calling style was in that he told stories needed by WWE, but he was able to also call the matches like a real fight, too.
Mauro comes from a world where he had to do that. He voiced the Strikeforce MMA company for years along with various other MMA and Boxing fights.
This is in addition to his work with pro-wrestling promotions like New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
His work in these areas caught the attention of WWE, but more so, Michael Cole. In fact, it was Cole who reached out to Ranallo and tried to get his interest. Working for WWE was a dream job for Mauro, the question is, why would he leave said dream job?
Why Mauro is leaving WWE
Dating back to last year Tom Phillips was added to WWE SmackDown Live as the "host" of the show, despite him literally being useless there as Mauro could do the same thing Tom did. Apparently, Vince McMahon did not like how Mauro did advertisements and took people in and out of breaks so Tom was added to help that along a bit.
Most fans of the show did not see an issue with the way Mauro handled things, but this is the WWE after all.
Soon enough, we began hearing JBL troll Mauro Ranallo every single show and even online.
It was assumed that this was just a playful back and forth, but rumors surfaced after Mauro missed an episode of SmackDown Live that JBL had been bullying Mauro for quite some time and far more than what we saw and heard on television.
Soon enough, Mauro missed another show, then another.
Eventually it was widely assumed he would not be coming back and all due to the bullying he went through in the WWE.
Mauro has a very well-known history of depression and bi-polar disorder. All of this would have been disclosed to the WWE when he signed a contract to join the company a few years ago. Rumors stated that JBL was told to mess with Mauro more and more, and if true this would have been the main issue that caused Ranallo to not want to come back.
He was in a clinical depression after dealing with all of this, and even had orders from his doctor to not talk with anyone online and just try to lay low and recover from things.
Some saw Mauro as weak to want out of WWE due to small attacks on television, but it does appear that things went much further. Mauro has been around pro-wrestlers and fighters for nearly two decades and has been hazed at times by many of them over the years. He would know a joke from something completely different. That is the problem that most still have to understand in the end.
After such a public exit, what is next?
Mauro spoke to Newsweek via email and told them, “WWE and I have mutually agreed to part ways. It has nothing to do with JBL.” It has been reported that Mauro reached an agreement with the WWE to not talk about things regarding JBL or the WWE in his departure.
This may lead many to assume that Mauro would make this claim to hopefully take heat off the WWE and JBL in particular. Some fans took what Mauro said to mean that all the reports about JBL had been false, but that could not be further from the truth if WWE reached a settlement.
Usually settlements allow the talent to leave the WWE with a bit more money in the departure. This is due to the fact that the company had done something wrong and this insured that Mauro, in this case, would not discuss it. JBL indeed may not be the main reason for Mauro leaving the company. It could be due to the WWE management, who allegedly told JBL to go after Mauro more. They also did not stop things to make Ranallo feel comfortable either.
Mauro is said to be under contract with the WWE until August even still. However, he has already done commentating work for another company and is technically free to work with wherever he wants through the remainder of his WWE contract. This may very well have been an additional perk Mauro had in his settlement.
