WWE star set to leave imminently - Reports

A recent report has shed light on a popular WWE SmackDown star expected to leave the Stamford-based promotion's television for some time. It is none other than the blue brand's commentator, Joe Tessitore.

Joe Tessitore has been an integral part of the blue brand's commentating team alongside Wade Barrett since January 2025. On the latest edition of SmackDown, neither Barrett nor Tessitore was present to call the action inside the squared circle. Instead, Michael Cole and Corey Graves took their place at the commentary table.

According to a recent report by Fightful Select, Barrett's colleague, Joe Tessitore, will also be off television for some time to call the action for the start of the college football season.

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Joe Tessitore's colleague, Wade Barrett, will also be off WWE TV for a while

Similar to Joe Tessitore, former WWE Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett will be off television. Barrett recently took to X/Twitter to confirm the reason for his absence. The star also hit back at reports that mentioned he was taken off TV because of his controversial comments about Nikki Bella.

Wade clarified that he had asked for a couple of weeks off for some personal time and will be back on the commentary team as usual. He also debunked the rumors surrounding his absence because of Bella.

"I usually ignore BS reports like this, but it’s causing needless hate to be spewed towards people I work with. WWE have kindly given me a couple of weeks off for personal time (booked nine months ago), and then I’m back to business as usual. A complete non-story. The end," he wrote.

Check out his post below:

Stu Bennett 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇺🇸

@StuBennett

I usually ignore BS reports like this, but it’s causing needless hate to be spewed towards people I work with. WWE have kindly given me a couple of weeks off for personal time (booked nine months ago), and then I’m back to business as usual. A complete non-story. The end.

Amid Wade Barrett and Joe Tessitore's absence, it seems like Michael Cole and Corey Graves will be on the commentary team for SmackDown and RAW as well. It will be interesting to see when Barrett and Tessitore will return to the Stamford-based promotion's weekly programming.