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While the saying goes "Anything can happen in WWE", another appropriate aphorism might be "No job is really safe in WWE." This was proven right again with the release of long-time WWE announcer Tom Phillips today.
When it comes to the announcer position, leaving the employ of WWE (whether willingly or not) is hardly the end of the world. Like their superstar counterparts, many talented folk have gone on to have equal, or even greater, success afterwards - although it really depends on what your - or, more importantly, their - definition of success is.
Let's take a look at 5 former WWE announcers who still did pretty well for themselves after leaving. Keep in mind, we're not counting announcers that previously came in from high-profile announcing positions in other sports (such as Mauro Ranallo, who already came into WWE as a respected boxing and MMA announcer). It does include those who came in from other broadcasting careers.
#5. Todd Pettingill (in WWE from 1993-1997)
For anyone who grew up with the then-WWF in the 1990s (before the Attitude Era began and the "New Generation" was in full swing), Todd Pettengill was a very familiar face.
Taking over for Sean Mooney in 1993, Pettengill was more of a "hype man" of sorts - making major announcements regarding pay-per-views or transitioning between segments on shows. He also conducted on-air interviews, as well. Basically, anything on camera that didn't involve calling matches, Pettengill was their guy.
Pettengill left WWE in 1997 of his own accord, citing travel as well as balancing his WWF job with his other job as a radio DJ (Todd started in the radio business and continued that career throughout his WWF tenure). He would personally recommend his replacement, however - a former news journalist who now goes by the name Michael Cole.
Since then, Pettengill (how WWE didn't make him change his name at the time is still a mystery) has continued his radio career - and to pretty darn good success. He's won yearly "Major Market Air Personality" awards from both Billboard Magazine (six times) and Radio and Records (four times). Most recently, he's worked for WPLJ FM in New York City.
Not bad for a guy who once gave away a house during a wrestling show.
#4. Todd Grisham (with WWE from 2004-2011)
When you look at - and hear - former WWE announcer Todd Grisham, there's just something about him that just yells "broadcaster" (and we mean that as a compliment). Grisham was working as a sportscaster for CBS affiliate KOLD-TV in Tuscon, AZ when he was offered a contract to work for WWE in 2004.
Grisham spent his WWE tenure mostly as a play-by-play announcer, but also worked as a backstage and in-ring interviewer, primarily on Raw. This frequently didn't turn out well for him.
In August of 2011, Grisham decided to leave WWE. It seems to have been a pretty good move, as two months later he was working for ESPNEWS, beginning with an overnight sports highlights show with, interestingly enough, Adnan Virk. It would only be two months after then that Grisham would sit behind the desk as an anchor on ESPN SportYou. So, you could say he bounced back pretty quickly.
Grisham would have a five-year run at ESPN before moving on. Nowadays, he does play-by-play and studio desk work for both Glory MMA and UFC.
#3. Jonathan Coachman (with WWE from 1999-2008, and 2016 - 2018)
There's a pretty good possibility that Jonathan Coachman will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame someday. Not for his commentary - don't get me wrong, it was good, but not Hall of Fame good. He wasn't much of an in-ring performer, but he played a great toady authority figure during his run. Instead, he deserves to be put in the Hall alone for how the Rock treated him while he was there:
Seriously, did any other interviewer take as much abuse from The Rock as The Coach did?
Coach would go from a commentator and backstage interviewer to an actual character, becoming the assistant to then-Raw GM Eric Bischoff. This also led to him actually particiating in matches - and usually (if not always) losing. John Cena even showed a video of him singing "I'm Too Sexy" in front of a restroom mirror, but I can't find it anywhere.
Coach left WWE for greener pastures... for a while.
In 2008, Coachman decided to leave WWE after his contract expired. Shortly thereafter, much like Todd Grisham, he found himself behind the desk on SportsCenter on ESPN. In 2015, the network formed a partnership of sorts with WWE, and Coachman was picked to interview WWE talent and introduce WWE-related stories.
It was clearly not having to do WWE content that caused Coachman to leave ESPN, because after a handful of months of leaving ESPN in 2017, he signed a new deal with WWE. He was placed in the Raw commentary booth along with Michael Cole and Corey Graves, although that only lasted for a little while. Near the end of that year, Coach was off commentary (replaced by our next contestant) and handling pre-show duties for pay-per-views - which I feel like I'm making sound like a horrible job when the fact of the matter is I'd do that job in a heartbeat if I was asked. Anyway, moving on.
With WWE not having much for him to do, he was able to use the company's arrangement with NBC Universal and, has since, covered the PGA for them.
#2. Renee Paquette (aka Renee Young)
Renee Paquette - or, as she was known while in WWE, Renee Young - hasn't exactly had a showy, glamorous life since leaving the company. And it's more than likely that she likes it exactly like that.
Starting in 2012, Renee began working for WWE after four years as co-host of Right After Wrestling for the Score Television Network in her home country of Canada.
After working as a backstage interviewer for the WWE and host on programs such as host of pay-per-view Kickoff programs, NXT, and SmackDown, she made her actual commentary debut on an episode of NXT on September 13th, 2013. She would also work commentary duties on WWE SuperStars.
After filling in for our previous entry, Jonathan Coachman, on the Raw commentary team - making her the first woman to commentate during a full episode of the show - she was eventually made a permanent part of the announcers team. Her performance was a little hit-and-miss, understandable for someone calling a major show like Raw for the very first time.
At WWE SummerSlam 2020, Renee announced that she was leaving the company following the pay-per-view. She had, at the time, been co-hosting a major WWE show for Fox, WWE Backstage, which had recently been canceled. There were other factors, too, but none of them involved animosity with WWE.
What has she been doing since leaving WWE?
Since leaving the company, Renee has been hosting her own very successful podcast, Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette, where she has interviewed a wide variety of people - not just wrestlers, but they pop up there, too. She has also recently published a cookbook, Messy In The Kitchen: My Guide to Eating Deliciously, Hosting Fabulously and Sipping Copiously (yep, that's the whole title).
She's also expecting her first child with her husband, Jonathan Good - you may know him as Jon Moxley of AEW.
She hasn't totally forgotten her WWE roots however, as she returned to co-host a special new edition of WWE Backstage, along with Paige and Booker T, to promote the Royal Rumble this year.
#1. Jesse "The Body" Ventura (with WWE from 1986-1990)
Who else was it going to be other than this WWE Hall of Famer?
In 1975, after years as a Navy SEAL and a bodyguard for the Rolling Stones, Jesse "The Body" Ventura entered the professional wrestling business. His in-ring career would find its way to the AWA and eventually WWE (then, obviously, the WWF) where he would work until 1985, when a blood clot in his lungs would force him to retire from the ring for good.
Of course, Ventura would transition into commentary, frequently playing the heel to Vince McMahon's white bread babyface persona on the mic (note to younger readers: Vince McMahon was once an announcer. I know, right?).
He was involved in a number of memorable moments in the company at the time, including the run up to the Hulk Hogan/Andre the Giant main event at WrestleMania III. He also formed an iconic announcer duo with Gorilla Monsoon at the time.
Ventura left WWE in 1990, following being released for - and I'm not making this up - making a video game with Sega. That year, WWE had a contract with Nintendo, and one of their performers working for Nintendo's rivals simply would not stand.
A year later, Ventura would sign with WCW, where he would work until 1994, when he was released for falling asleep during a PPV or because he didn't want to work with Hulk Hogan, depending on who you ask.
What happened to Ventura following leaving WWE and WCW?
He became Governor of Minnesota in 1998. Is that good enough for ya?
What other announcers found great success after leaving WWE? Did we miss anyone? Let us know in the comments down there.
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