News recently broke that John “Bradshaw” Layfield decided to step down from his position as an announcer on Smackdown every week. Layfield confirmed that he is going to be working in Bermuda, but did also say that his relationship with WWE is not completely dead. Interestingly enough, one of names that fans immediately wanted to replace Layfield with was none other than Mauro Ranallo. He was asked about possibly joining Smackdown by a fan on Twitter, and Ranallo’s response indicated that he will not be joining the blue brand again anytime soon. JBL was accused of bullying Mauro Ranallo earlier this year. Ranallo is currently an announcer for WWE on the NXT brand.
@mauroranallo, so you are hinting that you will be on #SDLive soon?!???? I’ll mark out if that happens! ???? https://t.co/Iyl342qzXd
— Ram Kumar (@imramsrk) September 2, 2017
Nope. https://t.co/cORvd8CcOH
— Mauro Ranallo (@mauroranallo) September 2, 2017
While Ranallo returning to Smackdown has been ruled out, some have suggested another name currently working in the company should take up JBL’s chair. Multiple fans have been pleading with WWE to put Renee Young on commentary. Young did briefly serve as an announcer on NXT, but she was phased out and made into a backstage interviewer instead. The Twitter page for Gorilla Position also asked if Renee would be interested in returning to the announcer’s table. Renee saw the message and responded with a tweet that also seemed to indicate that she will not be joining the commentary table. There is currently no word on who will in fact replace JBL on commentary.
While I truly appreciate all of the support on this,I would just like to remind everyone that I was never very good at commentary for NXT ???? https://t.co/aQpysHDx6o
— Renee Young (@ReneeYoungWWE) September 3, 2017
PWInsider has reported that WWE Hall of Famers Beth Phoenix and Madusa are set to appear at the Mae Young Classic finale. It is also being said that WWE decided to pull a documentary on Madusa that they had planned on airing this month to coincide with the tournament. Madusa also apparently filmed a ton of material for the Mae Young Classic, but none of her footage has been used in any of the episodes thus far. She had been rumored to be a backstage interviewer for the show, but WWE has uploaded videos of the tournament competitors speaking with their other backstage interviewers. She was backstage at the show though, and she is set to attend the finals as well.