What’s the story?
Former WWE commentator and on-air personality Jonathan Coachman, who now works for ESPN, has announced that effective immediately, he will be stopping all professional wrestling/WWE coverage for the channel.
Coachman’s statement of quitting WWE coverage came after he had a Twitter argument with renowned wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer. The argument was about the situation concerning estranged SmackDown LIVE commentator Mauro Ranallo and the bullying/mental abuse allegedly targeted towards him by John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL).
In case you didn’t know...
Jonathan Coachman has been a long-time WWE personality. Starting off as a backstage interviewer in 1998, he worked his way up in the company. eventually becoming a commentator and an on-air character. Coachman enjoyed a 9-year tenure with the company before quitting in 2008 to take up a job at ESPN instead.
Coach has since been an important part of ESPN’s broadcasting team. Following WWE’s partnership with ESPN in October 2015, he became the host of all wrestling-related programming on the channel, most notably the “Off the Top Rope” segment on Sportscenter.
The segment has since featured almost all of WWE’s main roster, including names such as Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, Dean Ambrose, The Wyatt Family etc and had played an important role in introducing Goldberg back to the WWE Universe in 2016.
Also read: 5 of JBL’s alleged bullying incidents
Mauro Ranallo, who is the commentator for SmackDown LIVE, has been missing from tapings since March 14th, 2017. Following much speculation, credible information has surfaced attributing Ranallo’s absence to a bout with depression which was allegedly triggered by backstage bullying, courtesy of JBL.
Prominent wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter was the first to report on Ranallo’s mental health issues being the cause of his absence from WWE programming and has since been very vocal on social media and his reporting, in support of Ranallo.
The heart of the matter
Dave Meltzer was asked by a fan on Twitter about whether or not JBL would be released from the WWE following the aforementioned accusations of improper backstage behaviour, Meltzer replied by stating that unless mainstream media picked up on it, that wouldn’t be the case.
Meltzer then went on to direct a jibe towards ESPN and, by extension, Coachman, for not providing any coverage to the story about Ranallo on their programming. The Tweet was as follows:
Coachman, on behalf of ESPN, replied to Meltzer’s Tweet and stated the following:
To this, Dave Meltzer responded by stating that Ranallo’s absence wasn’t a rumour:
Coachman would then go on to accentuate his point about not reporting on “rumours” by Tweeting further:
Dave Meltzer would respond by Tweeting the following:
After arguing with fans about ESPN’s content and the WWE coverage for a while, as well as targeting several of his own jibes towards Dave Meltzer and his “negativity”, Coachman would make the following Tweet, which has since been deleted:
"After serious sole searching have decided that I will no longer be doing Off the Top Rope or WWE related content. Will leave to the pros."
However, Coachman Tweeted another response to a fan, confirming that he will not be doing WWE related content for ESPN any longer.
After Coachman’s now-deleted Tweet, Meltzer responded by suggesting that Coach’s reaction to the situation with Mauro Ranallo was improper:
Meltzer would continue bringing attention to the workplace mental abuse situation between Mauro Ranallo and JBL over his next Tweets. Coachman, on the other hand, would speak about Meltzer’s negativity and ended up concluding that he’d be focusing on the coverage of Golf from now onwards.
The following Tweet from Coachman confirms the same:
Coachman and Meltzer didn’t have any further interactions after this, besides the loosely-worded jibes aimed at each other.
What’s next?
Coachman hasn’t deleted the majority of his Tweets about quitting WWE coverage, which implies that his decision is final and official. According to Coach, ESPN will continue their coverage of the WWE, but he will no longer be a part of the segments.
Dave Meltzer, on the other hand, is still rallying the cause of Ranallo and from the looks of it, he will be continuing to report on it.
As far as Mauro Ranallo himself is concerned, he has been in a state of recovery from his bout with depression and has most recently removed all references (except one) towards the WWE, along with all WWE related Tweets from his Twitter account. It has been reported that Ranallo is still, however, under contract with the WWE.
Ranallo will be returning to broadcasting, as he has confirmed that he will be calling the Shawn Porter vs. Andre Berto Welterweight Boxing match on 22nd April 2017 on Showtime. His “Rutten and Ranallo” podcast alongside MMA legend Bas Rutten will also be making a return this week.
Author’s take
Jonathan Coachman, as well as ESPN, are contractually bound to the WWE for their coverage of the company and its’ programming. Coachman’s response to Meltzer’s accusations, therefore, seems understandable, even if it’s not the right one on principle.
Dave Meltzer is an independent journalist and is not limited in his journalism by the WWE or any other organisation. Coachman, on the other hand, is merely a presenter and not a journalist, something that he has stated himself.
It is clear that while Meltzer is free of any contractual obligations to report and state whatever he pleases, Coachman does not enjoy the same luxury, and it is also thus understandable why he would be looking to leave the professional wrestling side of things altogether, as long as he’s still with ESPN.
However, Meltzer’s efforts at bringing attention to the situation with Ranallo are certainly admirable and I hope that the increased awareness translates into action by the WWE in this regard.
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